Album Review: Drew and Ellie Holcomb, 'Coming Home: A Collection of Songs'

Drew & Ellie Holcomb’s intimate vocals entwine like tendrils on a wisteria vine and wind higher and higher on the expansively intimate “Feels Like Home,” the sonic centerpiece of this new collection that has the singer-songwriters resting in each other’s arms and luxuriating in the familiar rhythms of home.

The songs that circle around “Feels Like Home” evoke the anticipatory pleasures of returning to home and hearth after a long tour, the affection of family life, and the yearning to return to the road—the musicians’ home away from home. The nine-song collection features a new single—the title track—some recently released songs, covers of Sting’s “Fields of Gold” and Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again,” and a new version of “Hung the Moon.”

Thrumming guitar down strums propel the spaciously unfolding “You and Me,” a rhythmically resonating celebration of love, shimmering with the vibrant light of diamonds glittering in a flame. The rollicking barn dance ramble “Hey Rivers” mimics the swirling, twirling energy of the couple’s son, their “joy tornado.” Sparkling piano runs elevate “Love Anyway,” creating layers of sound with the duo’s soaring vocals, while the symphonic “Electricity” sparks with the direct current of the love for the one who lights the singer’s way with her love.

The Holcomb’s warm, tender vocals on their cover of Sting’s “Fields of Gold” evokes the wistfulness and longing of the song, creating a gorgeous soundscape. “Hung the Moon” opens with the guitar phrasing from Jackson Browne’s “These Days”—rhythmic thematic lines that float under Ellie Holcomb’s vocals; re-recorded for this album, it’s Ellie’s riposte to Drew’s “Electricity.”

Just as the album opens with the title track’s joyful acclamation of coming home, the album closes with a sitting-around-the-porch guitar pull of Nelson’s “On the Road Again,” the anthem of the joy of heading out once again on tour.

Coming Home celebrates home in its many incarnations—whether sitting by the fireplace with family or out on the road, the musician’s home away from home. Drew and Ellie Holcomb’s tender and towering vocals convey the warmth, joys, hopes, and love of coming home, wherever it may be.

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Coming Home: A Collection of Songs is available HERE.