THE FACT that former Cedarburg High School student Jay Holcomb is still playing piano is probably of no surprise to those who remember him. But what may be of surprise is that Holcomb has finally gotten around to releasing his first CD, Save It for a Rainy Day.
“I’ve been playing music as long as I can remember,” Holcomb explains. “I always thought that I would make a CD at some point, but I didn’t know when.”
Holcomb and his family left Cedarburg after his completed his junior year in 2002. “Before I left, I was able to record a few songs with one of my friends from Cedarburg, Andrew Dowling,” he remembers. “Andrew attended Crossroads Presbyterian and I found out that they had recording equipment. The two friends recorded a few songs at the church before Holcomb moved, but after that initial attempt, Holcomb’s recording career stalled. But that was okay; he was busy finishing high school, deciding on college and, of course, playing music.
By all accounts, it’s hard not to think of Holcomb without underscoring the memory with music. He’s mostly self-taught, but his mother did provide some piano lessons – Holcomb was homeschooled through seventh grade - for Holcomb and his twin sisters while they were growing up.
In Cedarburg, he took the stage as an accompanist for several music groups and two drama productions that occurred while he was student. After moving to Washington, he continued to play music and began seriously composing during his senior year of high school.

As a college student in Seattle, he decided to major in French with a minor in music. “Those are the two things that have been pretty constant in my life: French and music,” he says. “I decided not to pursue a music major because it would have meant four more years of school.”
His sophomore year of college proved to be the charm when it came to finally recording his CD of original piano compositions. “I finally decided that I had something that was of good enough quality to use,” he says.
Holcomb invested the time and money – he took about five months and all of his money (plus $500 of his sister’s funds) to record a real CD. We’re not talking something recorded in a garage and repeatedly duped on a home computer’s CD burner.
This is the real deal.
“It even has a bar code on the back,” Holcomb says with a laugh.
The CD includes 12 original compositions, including the two tracks he recorded back here in Wisconsin.
“When the time came to finalize production, I turned in those recordings to see if there was anything of high enough quality that could be used,” he says. “They weren’t the same quality as what we’d recorded in the studio, but they were good enough to include as bonus tracks. I thought it was important and cool to have them on my first CD.”
Accompanying Holcomb, who plays piano, keyboard and a little electric bass on the CD, are four other musicians playing viola, cello, guitar and piano. Holcomb, however, did all of the composing and arranging.
At the same time as he was involved in the first CD, Holcomb also founded his own company, JAYwalkin’ Productions.
“I’d like to make a living performing, but if it doesn’t work out, my ‘Plan B’ is to be involved in producing,” he explains. “I’ve learned how to do the production and ‘agent-type-thing’ for myself, and that is a part of being a musician. Only about 10 percent of what I’ve done is actual performance – there are a lot of other things involved when you record a CD.”