Tommy Holcomb's Music Stirs Memories of 'Earlier' Roanoke
by MARGIE FISHER

Tommy Holcomb of Roanoke was among the first Jefferson High School students who were transferred to the spiffy-new Patrick Henry High School when it opened in 1962. While that meant leaving behind many friends and respected teachers, he took with him countless fond memories of his days at Jefferson.

Those memories became the basis for a song, “Looking Back,” that he wrote and recorded in 2000. Being a Jefferson High School grad myself, I was thrilled to discover “Looking Back” in connection with the (gasp!) 50th reunion of the Class of ‘54 last fall.

It came as the generous gift of a CD from classmates Robert and Elaine Early to all us old fogies who attended the reunion. (Sadly, Elaine became ill and died not long after the reunion.) They had used Holcomb’s song as the lead-in to a great mix of music from the Fifties. To mention a few of the included ditties: “Good Golly, Miss Molly,” “Stagger Lee,” and “Shake, Rattle & Roll.”

But it was Holcomb’s song, so very Roanoke-specific, that pulled at my heartstrings and had me singing along and dancing around my living room with such gusto that my black Lab, the lovely “Chloe,” threatened to call the SPCA and report me for child abuse.

Ah, the recollections that Holcomb’s sweet lyrics conjure up:

Movies at the Lee Hi Drive-In. The Powhatan Arrow ruling Roanoke’s railroad tracks. Hanging out at Garland’s on Grandin Road. Lakeside. The Sportsman. Mr. Peanut. Jefferson High football games. The S&W Cafeteria. “Cousin” Irvin Sharp on the radio. Cruisin’ at Lindy’s.

And, of course, Roanoke’s beloved American Theater.

Everybody who graduated from Jefferson High in that era should have a copy of Holcomb’s tribute to that wonderful time of life: Growing up when “newspaper boys” carrying big white sacks delivered newspapers to houses in neighborhoods where nobody locked the front doors.

It’s available, by calling him at 540-776-9877.

So just who is this guy, Tommy Holcomb?

He is, for starters, one heck of a good musician and a creative talent. He started playing the piano when he was 6. He started a band, “The Vikings,” when he was in high school, prominently featuring the late Freddie Freelance, a well-known WROV disc jockey and comedian. The Vikings drew crowds galore at the Coffee Pot in the band’s early years, and STILL does when its surviving members do a reunion gig.

Holcomb moved to Atlanta in the late ‘60s where he sang as a single performer for a while. When he moved back to Roanoke, he started an ad agency with Freelance and John Hartmann. Among his talents, he did “jingles” for retail establishments, including one for Smartwear-Irving Saks that received national acclaim.

At age 60 now (and not looking a day over 35), Holcomb works out of a well-equipped studio in his home, specializing in “post scoring.” That is, creating music, via computer and otherwise, for television or radio commercials or for videos commemorating special events such as the 80th anniversary celebration of Jefferson High School’s existence last year.

Displayed in his home is a picture of the old high school, now known as the Jefferson Center and home of the Shaftman Performance Hall, which was saved from the razing balls in the 1980s in a campaign of love launched by the late Judge Beverly Fitzpatrick of Roanoke, a 1939 graduate of Jefferson.

With a wry grin, Holcomb notes that Jefferson still stands, tall and majestic as ever, while much of Patrick Henry’s structure is being torn down and bulldozed out of existence.

Margie Fisher is a Roanoke freelance writer.