Holcombe Waller with guest Garrin Benfield

Show Description

Portland's Holcombe Waller has been writing, recording and performing music for the past 15 years. After studying art at Yale, he went on to release three albums on his own label, which have won the acclaim of critics and publications including Anne Powers, Spin and Paste Magazines, and TimeOut Chicago and New York. Holcombe has performed at such venues as Lincoln Center and Joe's Pub (NY), Great American Music Hall (SF) and in Portland at Doug Fir and Mississippi Studios. This past year he has shared bills with Feist, Bob Mould, The National, Nicolai Dunger, Clem Snide, Laura Veirs, Mike Jorgensen (of Wilco), Mia Doi Todd, and many others. Holcombe's songwriting combines personal introspection with political commentary and allegory, an understated reflection on the American political condition. Holcombe will be joined onstage August 10th by NYC musical artist Bora Yoon.

Garrin Benfield is a native New Yorker turned San Franciscan who combines wry and darkly tinted songs with modal improvisation in order to create new musical compositions every night. Benfield is a master guitarist who loops strands of music together and manages to get a band-like sound to create sound-scape excursions that are truly mind blowing. Benfield's playing is phenomenal and his voice is that of a wounded angel, seeping with emotion that projects the pain, alienation, anguish and hope of his songs. Mellow yet intense, the music has a psychedelic quality that is compelling and exciting in an unpredictable way. His material, described as "freestyle acoustic rock," is earthy, etheral and innovative! "Sounding like Jeff Buckley meets Steven Stills meets Neil Young, Benfield also channels the Beatles with a "Norwegian Wood" vibe that shimmers through most of his songs. Mellow yet intense, the music has a psychedelic quality that is compelling and exciting in an unpredictable way. Acoustic, maybe, but Benfield's approach to songwriting is much more than one expects from an acoustic artist!" -- Music Connection Magazine