Drew and Ellie Holcomb Bring Warm Confidence to Bend’s High Desert

Hayden Homes Amphitheater proved a fine setting for a couple who look completely at home no matter the stage. Drew and Ellie Holcomb worked the Bend crowd with the easy confidence of performers who have long since stopped needing to prove anything, trading songs and stories like old friends catching up in front of a few thousand witnesses.

“American Beauty” set an early tone, and “Find Your People” landed just as well here as it has everywhere else I’ve caught it — a song that has aged into something like a mission statement for this act. Ellie’s turn with material from her album of psalms was gentle rather than preachy, an offering rather than a sermon, which is exactly the right register for songs built on scripture.

The married couple traded off instruments throughout, Ellie switching to mandolin and then guitar as the set called for it, while the backing band kept things loose without ever losing the thread. A duet medley found Drew and Ellie trading verses, a nice showcase of two songbooks that have grown up alongside each other.

The night’s highlight remained “Feels Like Home,” which the two sing together like it still means something to them: counterpoint vocals splitting off before folding back into those honeyed, blended harmonies that are the whole reason people assemble at Hayden Homes Amphitheater in the high desert for a Thursday night show. Drew’s solo turn on “What Would I Do Without You” — by his own admission his favorite in the catalog — was the quieter counterpart, a husband’s love letter delivered without any need for embellishment.

Some marriages don’t need the volatility to make for great music. This one just needs the harmonies.

(photos by Brad Auerbach)