One on America's most enigmatic and elusive singer-songwriters, one-time drifter Cass McCombs brings his narrative-driven and exquisitely crafted songs for a night of insightful and intelligent music.
Like JD Sallinger before him, Cass McCombs is something of an enigma as a person and a revelation as an artist. Notoriously shy of promotion, in 2010 Domino Records hired a private investigator to follow McCombs and take what would be the publicity shots for the launch of Wit's End album. For years, Kerouac-style, he simply drifted across the USA before even writing his first song. During that nomadic time, he viewed the underbelly of America through a wide-eyed lense - absorbing those experiences and later using them as the rich source material for his music. Indeed, McCombs worked as everything from janitor, stable-boy and soda jerk to truck driver, movie projectionist and construction worker. It is these experiences and more that informs his acclaimed lyricism and pervades all his work.
In contrast to his public persona however, McCombs’ music is generous, the melodies always infectious, the production and musicianship first-rate. And at the forefront of his craft are always the lyrics, which more than any songwriter today propels the avant-garde. Touring on the back of his most recent album, 2011's Humor Risk, this is a rare opportunity to see this wonderful artist live.
"If you don’t know McCombs, and you reckon there must be someone out there as great as Bill Callahan (and better than Will Oldham) in the Americana Gothic racks, then Cass is your man." BBC
