IT was great to see North Carolina singer-songwriter Malcolm Holcombe not only back in the area but also with a new album, For The Mission Baby, and a great amount of new material to share.

A unique and genuine performer, Holcombe combines folk and blues with a smattering of country music. On first impression he would have you believe his act wasn’t structured, but since he pounds and picks his acoustic guitar like his life depended upon it, you realise it is.

He performed a never to be forgotten gig with lyrics to pierce the heart and a raspy, lived-in singing voice.

With the likes of For The Mission Baby, Doncha Miss That Water and a Woody Guthrie-hinted Whenever I Pray, plus an interesting anecdote or two, his music bounced merrily along the rural back roads of small-town America.

The entertaining Holcombe had some people take side bets on when was he going to slip off his chair as he rocked restlessly back and forth. But he didn’t.

For an encore he delved into his back catalogue of treasures for the smartly picked Marvelene’s Kitchen to leave us on a high, and it was legal.

The Minnikins, a brother and sister act comprising of Gabe and Ruth Minnikin, from Nova Scotia, Canada, opened the gig with an honest folk-based set in which Gabe’s standout true-life story Halifax Blues was a song worthy of special mention.

Maurice Hope