The Hollow Trees: Unplugged

When my husband and I played together in a band in college, our band's main "competitor" in our small, culturally-limited college town was Gust, a band so overloaded with synthesizers and effect pedals, no one was really sure if they were good musicians or just good computer programmers. Although we used amps and microphones in our performances, we often joked that we were superior to Gust because we would still be able to play if the power went out.

Around that same time, MTV introduced the show Unplugged, which turned out to be a great way to publicly test the musicianship of some of our favorite 90's artists. Could Nirvana possibly sound as good with just acoustic guitars and percussion? Yessiree. Could Poison sound as good? Not so much.

Unplugged is what came to mind when I first listened to The Hollow Trees. This Americana folk group from Los Angeles is led by Greg McIlvaine (a.k.a. Gregory Hollow Tree) on guitar and vocals and Laura Steenberge (a.k.a. Laura Hollow Tree) on upright bass and vocals. The Hollow Trees can indeed play "unplugged," and they do it incredibly well, without sounding pretentious or weak.

Their self-titled first album was released in December 2005 and introduces several traditional favorites - "Polly Wolly Doodle," "Shoo Fly," and "Jack was Every Inch a Sailor" among the strongest. The album also delivers a handful of original numbers, including the band's theme song, "Nelson," about a mythical forest creature who lives in (of all places) a hollow tree. As the mascot for The Hollow Trees, Nelson likes to gather his forest friends to make music.

A family-friendly folk group with a theme song and a mascot? Musicians using "Gregory Hollow Tree" and "Laura Hollow Tree" as stage names? I know what you're thinking.....Mrs. Davis, this sounds quite unlike some of your other recommendations.

Well, following the advice my husband once gave me when he tried to get me to eat at a sushi restaurant for the first time - try new things, and maybe you'll like new things - I tried this, and I liked it. And the more I listen, the more I like (but I still don't care for sushi). The Hollow Trees are solid musicians who don't take themselves too seriously. They can pull off the theme song and the mascot.

This is fun, rollicking folk music, not the look-at-us-in-our-black-turtlenecks-and-funky-glasses-singing-folk-songs-in-French-and-did-we-mention-we-both-went-to-Brown kind of folk music that Lisa Loeb and Liz Mitchell gave us on Catch the Moon. These songs are mostly upbeat and energetic, with masterful guitar picking and a clear, full sound. The Hollow Trees incorporate enough banjo, percussion, harmonium, and backing vocals to make the music interesting, but not so much that it overwhelms their natural, spontaneous style.

Songs like "Raccoon and Possum" and "Jack was Every Inch a Sailor" highlight the well-balanced guitar-banjo-bass combo, while "Forest Melody" and "Three Jolly Hunstmen" showcase Greg's fantastic guitar-playing. On the final track, "Buckeye Jim," Laura takes a bow to her upright bass and lays down a beautiful, flowing bass line beneath the mellow vocals and guitar.

As you listen to The Hollow Trees, you can tell they are having fun. And if an artist making children's music isn't having fun, they should just hang up their guitar and go back to their accounting job.

The Hollow Trees CD is available here, and you can hear four full tracks from the CD here.