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http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091006/ENT03/910060352Nathan Holscher's brilliance is in his storytelling with a CD full of rich characters who have some issues. There are road songs, love songs and plenty of soul searching. There is lots of yearning, restless hearts and pleading for personal identity in Holscher's writing. His husky, whispering voice sets the perfect storytelling mood for these often haunting tales.
Holscher, who says he's a voracious reader of novels, has crafted tunes in the best storytelling tradition - create a character, a setting and see where it goes. Not surprisingly, among his biggest inspirations is Bruce Springsteen's "The Ghost of Tom Joad."
"I think some of the most compelling stories to tell happen to have a haunted feel where perhaps the character is heading into some personal void," he says.
It's also refreshing that Holscher writes in the third person cleverly helping us observe his characters. As he puts it," "I'm not just taking pages from my diary. I keep my personal life personal and don't really sing about it. I let the stories become the focus."
Holscher is from a small town in Illinois, graduated from Earlham College in Richmond, Ind., and spent some years traveling the Southwest and Midwest. He landed here a few years ago working for a river conservation group. And he discovered local producer Ric Hordinski, who produced this album and a solo release three years ago.
"I thought if I had to do this kind of music I had to go to Austin or Nashville, but that's not the case with Ric being here. And it's a very supportive music scene."
Holscher's CD should surely get plenty of attention across the country and in Europe in Americana circles (It is getting airplay on WNKU-FM). Holscher will open for Robbie Fulks at the Southgate House Nov. 13.