Robin Holcomb
Robin Lynn Holcomb is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist who combines avant-garde jazz, classical music, and folk music. The New York Times described her music as "a new American regionalism, spun from many threads – country rock, minimalism, Civil War songs, Baptist hymns, Appalachian folk tunes, even the polytonal music of Charles Ives. The music that results is as elegantly simple as a Shaker quilt, and no less beautiful."[1] Despite her eclectic output, she has said that she doesn't try to "genre mash" intentionally; "it just kind of comes up because it's what's in the air.
Also recorded as Robin Lynn Holcomb
Robin Holcomb
Joe Mabel from Seattle, US · OK Hotel Reunion - Robin Holcomb 02 · CC BY-SA 2.0
- Name
- Robin Holcomb
- Birth Name
- Robin Lynn Holcomb
- Occupation
- * Musician
- Born
- 1954 · Georgia.
- Nationality
- United States
- Fields
- music composing
- Languages
- English
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
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Documentary summary
Robin Lynn Holcomb is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist who combines avant-garde jazz, classical music, and folk music. The New York Times described her music as "a new American regionalism, spun from many threads – country rock, minimalism, Civil War songs, Baptist hymns, Appalachian folk tunes, even the polytonal music of Charles Ives. The music that results is as elegantly simple as a Shaker quilt, and no less beautiful."[1] Despite her eclectic output, she has said that she doesn't try to "genre mash" intentionally; "it just kind of comes up because it's what's in the air.
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museum · 99c41ed0-b681-4c1a-b232-d3819a28adb0 · wikidata · Q1365786 · wikipedia · Robin Holcomb
In this article
Biography
Biography
I am drawn repeatedly to hymn-type harmonies. I was fascinated by Civil-War songs when I was a kid. I come back to those things."[2] She also describes her style as "minimalism without being a minimalist [..] when I write poetry, I go for the fewest words that evoke a lot or let the readers connect the dots, or relate it to their own experience, and the same with music." Holcomb began playing professionally in New York, in an avant-garde scene that involved her future husband Wayne Horvitz as well as John Zorn, Elliott Sharp, and Eugene Chadbourne. Her work during that period was recorded in the 1989 album, Larks, They Crazy. Her subsequent albums focus more on songwriting.
Robin Holcomb singing with Wayne Horvitz's Pigpen (not shown) at the OK Hotel Family Reunion, Royal Room, Columbia City, Seattle, Washington Sunday night, February 28, 2016.
Joe Mabel from Seattle, US · OK Hotel Reunion - Robin Holcomb 01
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Robin Holcomb • Birth Name — Robin Lynn Holcomb • Genre — * Avant-garde jazz • classical • folk • Occupation — * Musician • songwriter • Instrument — * Vocals • piano • Years Active — 1980s–present • Label — * Sound Aspects • Elektra • Nonesuch • Tzadik • Songlines • Westerlies • Website — https: www.robinholcomb.com
Identity
Identity
Robin Holcomb is recorded as composer, singer-songwriter, singer, pianist and musician.
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Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
US.
Country
Georgia.
Birth place
Discography
• Larks, They Crazy (Sound Aspects, 1989) • Robin Holcomb (Elektra, 1990) • Rockabye (Elektra, 1992) • Little Three (Nonesuch, 1996) • The Big Time (Nonesuch, 2002) • John Brown's Body (Tzadik, 2006) • The Point of It All (Songlines, 2010) • One Way or Another, Volume 1 (Westerlies, 2022) • One Way or Another, Volume 2 (Westerlies, 2024)
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q1365786: Robin Holcomb
Reputable secondary · Wikidata
- “Robin Holcomb”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Institutional database
- MusicBrainz artist record for Robin Holcomb
Scholarly · MetaBrainz Foundation
Literature
Scholarly footprint
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General references
* * * *
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Institutional database
MusicBrainz artist record for Robin HolcombMetaBrainz Foundation
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(MusicBrainz artist record for Robin Holcomb) • Country: US (MusicBrainz artist record for Robin Holcomb) • Kind Of Artist: person (MusicBrainz artist record for Robin Holcomb) • Born: Robin Holcomb was born in 1954 at Georgia.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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