Following Valentine’s Day, country music staples Drew and Ellie Holcomb visited the Carolina Theatre for their “Feels Like Home” tour with two-night performances Feb. 15-16. 

Though they pursue separate music careers — Drew leads his band Drew Holcomb and The Neighbors, and Ellie has a solo career — the couple came together for a duo tour throughout February.

The pair bounced on stage with an opening song of “The Wine We Drink,” a homey love song from Drew Holcomb and The Neighbors’ “Good Light” album and expressed their gratitude for being back in Bull City.

“We’re so glad to be here; we love your city,” Ellie said.

The duo serenaded the crowd with “I Like To Be Me When I’m With You,” a ballad about being yourself with the one you love. They charmed the local crowd with the lyrics, “If I could live on the moon, I’d rather live in North Carolina with you.”

Drew said he played the song in part because an attendee of a previous concert at The Orange Peel, a concert venue in Asheville, complained when he did not play it.

“Every time I play in North Carolina, I think he’s in the room,” Drew said.

Drew said his band released an album last year and had their first No. 1 song on the radio, “Find Your People,” a wholesome tune about the importance of friendship.

After playing the platonic “Find Your People,” Drew honed in on a classic country sound for a fingerpicking solo of “American Beauty,” during which Ellie exited the stage, making it appear that Drew was singing the tune to her directly.

Engaging with fans, the pair played “Dragons,” a song about conquering challenges in life, after an audience member shared that the song helped them along their sobriety journey.

The couple closed out the first act with “Feels Like Home,” the name of their tour and a family-oriented song reminiscing on childhood memories, with lyrics reading “You can almost smell the cake that your grandma made on your birthday” and “Like Elvis and Dolly singing a melody that’s bringing you home.”

The show’s second act began with “Coming Home,” another folksy love song, before transitioning into deeper lyricism about loss with Ellie “Canyon” and piano ballad “Constellations.”

“[We] walked through a heavy season of loss, but to be human is to be broken,” Ellie said. “[I’m] overwhelmed by the way you’ve let our music into your lives.”

After Ellie’s two solos, Drew switched places with her for a fingerpicking solo of “What Would I Do Without You,” serving as a dedication of his love for Ellie.

The pair then transitioned to a bubbly performance of “We Can Go Dancing,” a cutesy duet with ad-lib whistling from Drew.

Continuing the lighthearted vibe of “We Can Go Dancing,” Drew brought a ukulele to the stage for a mash-up cover of Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero” and Oasis’ “Wonderwall,” with audience members knowing more of the lyrics to the aged tune than Swift’s newer one.

“I know how old our crowd is,” Drew said.

Following the ukulele performance, the duo brought out guest performer Jac Thompson, an up-and-coming Nashville-based artist, for an original tune alluding to unrequited love.

“[The song is about] when you meet someone and have a connection on a molecular level but it’s a little one-sided,” Thompson said.

After Thompson’s performance, the Holcombs took a plethora of song requests from the crowd — one of them from a young girl at her first concert and others from audience members who traveled from Arizona, Kansas and New Jersey to attend.

“The show is very wheels off, if you didn’t notice,” Drew said. 

Once requests subsided, the pair played “Live Forever,” the uplifting, simple song they proclaimed brought them into the music world.

“Dance with the girl that brought you,” Drew said. “This is the song that brought us into the dance.”

For the closing encore, the couple covered Sting’s “Fields of Gold,” and played “Family,” an upbeat tune that had the audience joyful while exiting the theater.