If you missed An Evening with Drew and Ellie Holcomb at the Tennessee Theatre last week, there’s no need to fret. The duo is on their biggest tour, culminating at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on May 3rd. The partners in life and music are showcasing their newest album, Memory Bank.
Ellie hasn’t always been a Holcomb but grew up as Ellie Bannister, the daughter of Brown Bannister, a multiple Grammy and Dove Award-winning audio engineer and producer, to be exact. Brown Bannister was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame and has helped write songs for successful artists like Amy Grant. There’s no wonder why Ellie was so influenced by music that she chose it as her life’s path.
Drew grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, where he began his songwriting journey. Growing up in a city full of history and soul contributed to his passion for music.
Drew and Ellie met at the University of Tennessee and have been making music, children, and memories together for 20 years since. Both Drew and Ellie graduated college in 2003, when Drew released his first EP, and just two years later, he released his first full-length album. Ellie taught eighth-grade English before deciding to hit the road singing and writing songs with Drew’s band, Drew and the Neighbors. In 2011, Ellie released her first EP, Magnolia, and in 2014, she released her first full-length album.
Since then, Drew and Ellie have followed their paths side by side, creating music for themselves and for Drew and the Neighbors. Memory Bank is the first full-length studio album the duo has created together, which has given them the opportunity to share the limelight, lead, follow, harmonize, and create a true collaboration of love and creativity.
The title of their new partnered album, Memory Bank, comes from something Drew remembers his father saying to him as a child: “Don’t expect an inheritance; I put all the money in the memory bank.”
The album starts with the headliner (Memory Bank, of course), which reflects on memories the couple has shared while on the road, from “singing Fleetwood Mac, reading Kerouac” to getting “snacks at a gas station” and receiving a “billboard education.” Ellie and Drew recently debuted the hit song on The Kelly Clarkson Show on January 10th, no doubt increasing their memory investment and savings.
Throughout the album, the duo maintains their classic harmonizing sound while contributing individual nuances. They experiment with classic soul and gospel sounds that flirt with country, classic rock, and pop, and they even throw a little Motown in.
Drew and Ellie Holcomb will be touring the United States until May 3rd and will hit cities throughout the Southeast, including Atlanta, Jacksonville, Charlotte, and more. They will visit the Northeast before heading West and ending in their hometown of Nashville, Tennessee.
