On Americana trio The Deep Hollow’s sophomore record, Weary Traveler (out 11/9), Micah Walk, Liz Eckert and Dave Littrell dig into a sorrowful life of getting older, longing for a stable home and the sometimes unbearable weight of the open road. With the assist from producer Gary Gordon (Montgomery Gentry, David Davis & /the Warrior River Boys), the band shoots for a much grander sound than their 2016 self-titled debut. “I wasn’t totally sold on having a fuller sound. I was a little nervous going in,” Walk admits. “I was prepared to do it the way we did the last one. I’m really happy with the way it turned out, but it is a little different than our debut.”
Plump cello, violins, and muddy guitar intensify the stories, which are cut from both their personal lives and through the eyes of strangers. “Freedom Street,” which features Gordon tapping on a suitcase for some mellow palpitations, is another one of great misery among the bunch, depicting the reality of homelessness and glossed over with considerably charged political and religious overtones. The trio play off each other quite effectively, often trading songwriting credits, too, and with each honest-to-goodness, off-the-cuff life lesson they share, they bare witness to life’s most critical points.
The Deep Hollow came together as you might expect. Staples of the local music scene of Springfield, Illinois, Walk, and Littrell has an especially long list of previous credits and musical explorations, from collaborating in other Americana bands to touring extensively in a prog-rock band. Notably, Walk worked on a project with Jamie Candiloro, whose biggest collaborators include Ryan Adams, Willie Nelson, and The Eagles, among others. Eckert comes from a predominantly community theatre background, and she did try out for American Idol once and made it all the way to Hollywood. While her star wasn’t catapulted into the stratosphere then, her talents would come of great use around town, leading her to serve as a fill-in for a cover band, a side project of Walk’s. The two would strike an instant chemistry, and the duo formed in 2013.
Sometime later, when Littrell was itching to try out some new tunes he wrote, he turned to the duo ahead of an upcoming show. With no rehearsal, the trio hit the stage and something truly stupendous happened. A smooth blend of three-part harmonies poured out and set the foundation for an already impressive catalog of work together. “That was when we knew what we wanted next,” remembers Walk.
It was the song “Devil” that proved to be groundbreaking for them. They submitted it to American Songwriter’s 30th Anniversary Song Contest and ended up winning. “Not to sound jaded or disheartened or anything, but when you apply for a lot of contests for a few years and you maybe make it through a round or something, you almost assume nothing is going to come of it. We were excited to just be a finalist. When we won, it was like holy cow.”
They went on to play the City Winery to celebrate, performing alongside Jim Lauderdale, Jason Isbell, and John Oates. Then they hunkered down and made their debut record which included the award-winning track. They toured, they grew as songwriters, they developed their relationship as a band and wrote more musi
Weary Traveler, recorded in Inside Out Studios in Sparta, Illinois, is not only a grainy snapshot of life but their ever-transforming live performance style, too. “I think that was just the way we were evolving live. We just decided to record the album that way,” says Walk. That feeling of being truly, unquestionably alive keeps the album afloat even in the darkest of times.
Glide is proud to premiere “Misplaced Love” from the trio, a melancholy beauty reminiscent of David Rawlings/Gillian Welch and the poetic grace of John Prine. The Deep Hollow represents a sound of pure Americana where the quality and serenity of the vocals create a therapeutic reprise from our day to day craziness.
“I grew up in a rural community and my family went to a small town church every Sunday with very few exceptions,” saws Walk. “As a young adult, I spent a lot of time sifting through the things I questioned about what I learned there. Misplaced Love’s main theme is actually religion (tucked into a story that appears to be about a relationship in disrepair). It’s kind of an examination on how some folks seem to look to religion to solve anything from personal issues to social ones, without considering what we can do for ourselves with the knowledge and tools that we already have.”
