Pitchmen Perfect
Belton brothers play key roles in a cappella championship
Andrew Holcomb (left) and brother Daniel are all smiles after their a cappella group, The Pitchmen, won the international championship last week in New York City. The young men are graduates of Belton High and big brother Ben helped pave the way by turning the group into an international a cappella powerhouse. Courtesy photo
The International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella was held last week in New York City and won by a group from Belmont University in Nashville. Two Belton brothers were part of the championship group, The Pitchmen. Courtesy photo
DAVID STONE | OUR TOWN TEMPLE
In a story that would make an amazing Pitch Perfect 4 movie: A Belmont University vocal group featuring two Belton brothers captured the international a cappella championship just a few years after nearly disbanding.
Andrew and Daniel Holcomb are part of The Pitchmen, an a cappella group from the Nashville-based university. They can thank brother Ben for transforming the group from a struggling act on the brink of dissolving into champions.
Ben, who graduated from Belton High in 2016, led the struggling Pitchmen during his college years at Belmont. During the 2018 school year, the group had dwindled to a handful of members and were talking about breaking up. With Ben’s encouragement, The Pitchmen stuck together and paved the road for this year’s championship run.
“When I took over the group at the end of my sophomore year, we had about five members,” Ben Holcomb said. “I felt strongly that I had a lot to give in a leadership role, and I was able to inspire folks to stick around. In the fall of my junior year, I probably spoke to every male on campus trying to convince them to audition. After tryouts, we had 18 strong singers.”
“I spent the next year working my butt off trying to find the right guys to fill the roles and letting go of folks who weren’t committed to the vision,” he said. The end of my junior year I had a great group united in my vision. My senior year we had an extremely high-level ensemble that laid the groundwork for the 2022-23 season.”
Andrew Holcomb graduated BHS in 2019 and joined Ben at Belmont. He auditioned and was accepted into the group almost immediately. In 2020, with Andrew and Ben, the Pitchmen advanced to the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella finals, but COVID hit and shut down the world. The championships were cancelled.
Andrew said the wait between the two runs to the finals was tough but well worth the effort the group put into its return.
“To me, it feels like things have come full circle,” he said. “After we qualified my freshman year, we tried everything to get back to where we were. We worked extremely hard those two years, and both times came up short.”
“We almost didn’t compete this past year because we felt my freshman year was just lightning in a bottle, but we decided to give it one last shot,” Andrew continued. “It has been an incredibly gratifying experience and has almost felt like it was scripted in a way.”
It was — indeed — like a story conceived in Hollywood.
As the pandemic began to fade, The Pitchmen readied themselves to regain their position as a cappella elite. Daniel enrolled at Belmont in fall 2022, and soon the group would begin its championship run.
After winning the quarterfinals and semis, The Pitchmen and nine other groups competed for glory at Town Hall Theatre in New York City on April 29. The finalists included legendary a cappella group SoCal VoCal from the University of Southern California, but The Pitchmen delivered an electric performance and scored tops with the judges.
“We knew the competition was going to be the best of the best,” Daniel Holcomb said. “SoCal VoCals had never lost — ever. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to hear any of the other groups at the show, but we knew that SoCal’s set was very clean. They were a group we had to watch out for.”
According to Carol Holcomb, mother of the singing brothers, Belton High School choirs helped prepare the young men for The Pitchmen’s success.
“Andrew and Daniel were members of the Texas All State Choirs,’ she said. “All three boys were members of the Madrigal Show Choir at BHS. Andrew played Uncle Fester in the production of The Addams Family Musical, and Daniel sang lead when Madrigal opened for Foreigner at the Bell County Expo Center in 2022.”
“My husband David and I are proud of the musical education our boys received in Belton,” she added. “We are a walking commercial for the BISD fine arts departments.”
Daniel said time spent in Belton High School choirs helped prepare him for the New York City competition.
“When I was in Madrigal, we competed and were able to perform in front of many people,” he said. “In fact, we performed two of our songs at The Expo during the Foreigner concert last spring.”
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