About Allen Levi
Allen grew up in Columbus, Georgia, attended University of Georgia for degrees in English and Law, and worked as an attorney from 1980 to 1990. He left law practice for two years in 1990, moved to Scotland, and, while there, received a degree in Scottish fiction from the University of Edinburgh. He returned home, resumed law practice for three years, and finally ventured into vocational music in 1996.
Since then, he has worked as a traveling musician, sharing his whimsical, thought-provoking brand of songwriting and storytelling to audiences across the U.S. He has over twenty albums to his credit, as well as hundreds of other unpublished songs.
In 2014, he published The Last Sweet Mile, a memoir of the close friendship he shared with his brother, Gary, who died in 2012. He also wrote and published a children’s book,
Oliviatown, adapted from a song of the same title.
Allen published his first novel, Theo of Golden , in 2023. Learn more here.
When not reading or writing Allen cares for family acreage where he lives with his father, tries to spend time with family nearby, keeps a full schedule of involvement in the small community around him, and dreams of being an artist someday.
The Drew Holcomb I know
THE DREW HOLCOMB I KNOW
I had the great pleasure recently of attending a concert performance by Drew and Ellie Holcomb. Just them and a couple of guitars. Simple, sweet, joyful. And there were a couple thousand other adoring fans in the opulent surroundings of the Gogue (pronounced ‘Googe’) Theater in Auburn, Alabama. What a night.
The Drew I know is ‘all that’ — superb songwriter, charming stage presence, thoughtful soul — whose notoriety is a good thing for the world. But the Drew I know begins when he was a teenager in Memphis, Tennessee; Hamp and Nancy’s son: YL kid; beginning guitar player. A few years later, he decided to take a crack at being a vocational musician. He stayed a night or two with me when he was playing a gig at a Bar in Opelika, AL, Eighth and Rail, pictured here.
I went to see him perform there — years ago, pre-Ellie, pre-Jimmy Kimmel, pre-sellout-shows-all-over-the-country — and marveled at the tenacity it took to perform in that environment. It was the kind of place where good songs go to die. Drew did a yeoman’s job back then.
The other day, in the morning, after Drew and Ellie played at the Gogue, I wrote him a note to simply say, ‘You’ve come a long way baby.”
Talented, witty, energetic. Drew is all that. But what I see is one of the hardest working, focused, disciplined, diligent guys I know. He earned his success. He worked for it. If he and/or Ellie ever get to your town, buy a ticket.
The Drew Holcomb I know
THE DREW HOLCOMB I KNOW
I had the great pleasure recently of attending a concert performance by Drew and Ellie Holcomb. Just them and a couple of guitars. Simple, sweet, joyful. And there were a couple thousand other adoring fans in the opulent surroundings of the Gogue (pronounced ‘Googe’) Theater in Auburn, Alabama. What a night.
The Drew I know is ‘all that’ — superb songwriter, charming stage presence, thoughtful soul — whose notoriety is a good thing for the world. But the Drew I know begins when he was a teenager in Memphis, Tennessee; Hamp and Nancy’s son: YL kid; beginning guitar player. A few years later, he decided to take a crack at being a vocational musician. He stayed a night or two with me when he was playing a gig at a Bar in Opelika, AL, Eighth and Rail, pictured here.
I went to see him perform there — years ago, pre-Ellie, pre-Jimmy Kimmel, pre-sellout-shows-all-over-the-country — and marveled at the tenacity it took to perform in that environment. It was the kind of place where good songs go to die. Drew did a yeoman’s job back then.
The other day, in the morning, after Drew and Ellie played at the Gogue, I wrote him a note to simply say, ‘You’ve come a long way baby.”
Talented, witty, energetic. Drew is all that. But what I see is one of the hardest working, focused, disciplined, diligent guys I know. He earned his success. He worked for it. If he and/or Ellie ever get to your town, buy a ticket.