Andrew Combs Melancholy Melodies Capitvate Audience
Published
Tonight’s hushed crowd are wonderfully attentive as Barna Howard takes to the stage, as he regales us with tales of being on the road. The lonesomeness and the misery it brings, yet the highs of performing. There is a distinct theme of sadness that runs through Barna’s set, yet he has this audience hanging from his every word as his warm American accent rings out.
A true delight of a songwriter his beautiful and heartfelt lyrics all delivered with exquisite integrity, which has this crowd firmly under his spell. His set albeit short is nothing short of brilliant, as he paves the way for Andrew Combs who is joined by his fine band. Despite the obvious change up the crowd still afford Andrew the same attentiveness, as he dives into another set of sad songs.
With Heavy being the early highlight, this heartfelt country track is packed with heart and sincerity as he mourns over the loss of a loved one due to them having the “Devil on their breath.” As the set flows on he takes on a variety of genres all with a country edge from his incredible attempt at a gospel song, to borderline psychedelic jams.
Yet the recurrent theme seems to be one of excess and the other aspects that come with music, tracks like "Month of Bad Habits" and "Too Stoned to Cry". Both focus on darker elements of life but this is where Andrew really shines, these delicate tracks provide the sobering moments against the funkier elements of tonight’s set.
Yet Andrew seems to have the ability to make the saddest songs funky, with "Devil’s Got My Woman" being the perfect exponent of this. The upbeat nature of the track is at total odds with the lyrics, but there’s a real charm to it as there is with the entire set.
He quickly returns to the downbeat sadness with another track filled with heart in the form of "Tennessee Time", all about missing home and loved ones. His words once again have this crowd stunned into silence as they watch on with intrigue. As he closes out the set with the beautiful "Nothing to Lose", it finishes off an incredible set by a phenomenal singer songwriter.
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Words by Lee Hammond
