THE DREW HOLCOMB I KNOW

I had the great pleasure recently of attending a concert performance by Drew and Ellie Holcomb. Just them and a couple of guitars. Simple, sweet, joyful. And there were a couple thousand other adoring fans in the opulent surroundings of the Gogue (pronounced ‘Googe’) Theater in Auburn, Alabama. What a night.

The Drew I know is ‘all that’ — superb songwriter, charming stage presence, thoughtful soul — whose notoriety is a good thing for the world. But the Drew I know begins when he was a teenager in Memphis, Tennessee; Hamp and Nancy’s son: YL kid; beginning guitar player. A few years later, he decided to take a crack at being a vocational musician. He stayed a night or two with me when he was playing a gig at a Bar in Opelika, AL, Eighth and Rail, pictured here.

I went to see him perform there — years ago, pre-Ellie, pre-Jimmy Kimmel, pre-sellout-shows-all-over-the-country — and marveled at the tenacity it took to perform in that environment. It was the kind of place where good songs go to die. Drew did a yeoman’s job back then.

The other day, in the morning, after Drew and Ellie played at the Gogue, I wrote him a note to simply say, ‘You’ve come a long way baby.”

Talented, witty, energetic. Drew is all that. But what I see is one of the hardest working, focused, disciplined, diligent guys I know. He earned his success. He worked for it. If he and/or Ellie ever get to your town, buy a ticket.