“Forget the critics’ superlatives, the misguided allusions to Waits, Van Zandt and Prine, and just check out the numerous live YouTube video performances by North Carolina songwriter/guitaristMalcolm Holcombe, or listen to his recent recording, To Drink the Rain, for evidence of a new and powerful presence in the overpopulated folk-roots/Americana universe. Holcombe’s bringing his killer songs, with their heartbreakingly sad, surreal and often venomous lyrics, and his brave, assertive guitar picking to town.” — Greg Quill, The Toronto Star