MALCOLM HOLCOMBE North Carolina music staple Holcombe, with the joyously gruff voice, a life drenched in the blues and folk, simply sits on a stool, acoustic guitar in hand, head shaking, while howling out bruising numbers. His latest CD, For the Mission Baby, is about as potent as it can get — gutsy, rootsy, bluesy, Americana where Holcombe’s lyrics mark him a wordsmith of legend proportions, comfortably perched on the upper rungs. With Aaron Wood. $12, The Evening Muse, www.theeveningmuse.com
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BABYSHAKER This winter Charlotte’s Babyshaker will mark a dozen years of steady rocking. The quartet straddles the fence between raw garage/punk and groove-laden glam where shards of punk chords and classic rock riffs intermingle and converge into, well, damn catchy pop-rock songs. Their new album, Legendary, produced by the ever-reliable Don Dixon, is now available on vinyl and includes a link to download the album digitally with bonus tracks. Also on the bill: The Vicious Guns, One Another. $5, Snug Harbor, www.snugrock.com
This article appears in Jul 27 – Aug 2, 2010.
