Blair Combest - Going Back

April 25th, 2006 by Rachelandthecity

This site is turning into a Makeshift Music fan site. I’ll never forget the first time I saw Blair Combest play at The Hitone back in 2004. He was playing with Cory Branan, just the two of them on the stage trading stories and trading songs. Then Combest played a song off of his first album, Prettier than Ugly, called Diamond and I was hooked. I’ve been anticipating his latest record for a while now and it does not disappoint. He freely admits being heavily influenced by Dylan, and you can hear it in his music, but it’s the kind of influence that makes you want to go back and buy more Dylan records.

Add Blair on Myspace. You can stream his last album on his website.

Here’s what Mark Jordan has to say about his new self-titled album:

Blair Combest has always stood out as perhaps the most traditional of the artists associated with Makeshift Music, home to such local indie darlings as Augustine, Snowglobe and the Glass. Eschewing the sonic experimentations of those groups, Combest plays comparatively straight-ahead folk rock, but he does it with such conviction, sure-footedness and feeling that it seems fresher than it really is. In short, it’s a classic sound, reminiscent of Vic Chesnutt and, mostly, Bob Dylan. But then, what singer-songwriter of the past 40 years isn’t.

Combest’s song “Diamond,” off his 2003 debut album Prettier Than Ugly, a simple number about a love that is as sparkling and enduring as the titular gem that Combest self-effacingly dismisses as one of his earliest efforts, remains one of the best local singles of the past 10 years. It represents what is best about Combest’s music. Driven along by Combest’s acoustic guitar and his raw, Dylan-esque vocal, there is little artifice to the track, just a beguilingly plaintive melody and direct, sentimental, yet poetic lyrics.

A few songs on Combest’s eponymous sophomore effort approach the heights of “Diamond,” a better average than most records. Most notable are the biting character study “Her Eyes” (listed as “In Her Eyes” when it appeared on February’s Makeshift #4), with its la-la chorus, and the slow-burning rock ballad “Just Like a Landslide.”

On other songs Combest experiments with traditional mountain music, and on “Disarray” producer Kevin Cubbins (who is apparently required to work on every record in town) gives the singer the Snowglobe swirly-circus treatment with mixed success.

It’s the kind of stretching Combest is likely to try more of as he tries to define and distinguish his sound. It’s experimentation I’m willing to put up with so long as his songwriting remains so blissfully solid.

Check out my interview.

Here’s some pics from a show Combest played last year with Brad Postlethwaite (who gets credit for producing his latest effort), Cory Branan, and Ben Nichols of Lucero.