In a eulogy posted to his Facebook page last week, Warren Haynes remembered late singer-songwriter Malcolm Holcombe, one of the Asheville, NC musicians who took the eventual Allman Brothers Band and Gov’t Mule guitarist/vocalist under their wing when he was a young musician. Holcombe passed away on March 9th due to respiratory failure caused by his long battle with cancer.
Haynes has often been known to wax nostalgic about the musicians who impacted his journey. He has written similarly lengthy and heartfelt remembrances of greats like Tower of Power bassist Rocco Prestia and Mountain guitarist Leslie West. In 2020, Warren also penned a touching tribute to bassist Alan Woody, his Gov’t Mule and longtime bandmate in the Allman Brothers Band, to mark the 20th anniversary of his passing.
Read the full eulogy for Malcolm Holcombe by Warren Haynes below:
When I was 14 years old I started “sneaking” in to a small hippie folk club in my hometown of Asheville, North Carolina called Caesar’s Parlor. It was a different time then- the drinking age was 18- and that somehow made it more justifiable for me to be allowed to hang out in this den of inequity [sic] where there was “live” music almost every night.
The stage in Caesar’s Parlor was tiny- no room for an actual band- and most of the acts that played there were either solo, duo, or trio. I recall a lot of bluegrass and some occasional blues but mostly what I witnessed in Caesar’s were singer-songwriters. Being a young guitar player/ singer who was just discovering a lot of “outside the box” music for the first time, I found myself enthralled with the local “folk scene”.
There were a lot of talented songwriters in the Asheville area (which had not yet blossomed into the thriving art/music Mecca that it has since become) but the 3 that stood out to me were Ray Sisk, Larry Rhodes, and Malcolm Holcombe. I found myself frequenting Caesar’s (as everyone referred to it), especially on nights when one of them was playing. They all immediately took me under their wing, often inviting me to join them on the tiny stage, and eventually they would each mentor me, helping me become a songwriter and introducing me to a lot of great “folk-influenced” music including their own.
Malcolm and Ray had a group called Redwing which varied from being a duo to, at times, including bass and even drums (God forbid) and they played at many of the local clubs and even toured from time to time, mostly around the Southeast. I became an honorary member and joined them every chance I got.
Malcolm was a really cool acoustic guitar player with a unique smoky voice who, although older, was closer to my age than Ray or Larry and consequently we spent a lot of time together, playing and listening to a lot of music. He and Ray complimented each other perfectly but would eventually go their separate ways, pursuing their own careers- as we all would.
I have very fond memories of those days which in many ways helped shaped my future path. Regretfully, Malcolm and I hardly saw each other in recent years- the last time being at a festival in the Netherlands where we were both performing and although we were on different stages I managed to see part of his set and he sounded great.
Malcolm leaves behind a legacy of wonderful music, having recorded quite a few solo records (some of his best being his most recent) and garnered a reputation as an eclectic modern folk artist. He touched a lot of people’s lives.
Watch the late Malcolm Holcombe perform “Mister In Morgantown” below. Dig into Holcombe’s lengthy catalog of recorded material here.
Malcolm Holcombe – “Mister In Morgantown”
Warren Haynes has a busy spring and summer ahead. In addition to a Gov’t Mule appearance at Atlanta, GA’s SweetWater 420 Fest (April 20th) and a guest-filled headlining slot at New Orleans, LA’s Daze Between New Orleans (May 1st), Haynes will gather a new-look version of the Warren Haynes Band for summer shows ranging from orchestral amphitheater plays to performances as part of Slash‘s touring S.E.R.P.E.N.T. Music Festival. For a full list of upcoming Warren Haynes tour dates, head here.
