History

Dark Hollow began in 1988 with the teaming of bassist Jerry Gormley and singer/guitarist Vince Farinaccio, formerly of Glory Road and Home At Last. The acoustic duo debuted at the Atlantic County Folk Festival that year, performing cover songs by such artists as Kris Kristofferson, the Grateful Dead and Bob Dylan. They followed this by opening for Home At Last in the fall of 1988 before deciding on an expanded electric lineup.

In 1989, drummer Mike Curry, keyboardist/vocalist Anthony Leonard and vocalist Katie Coltri, also formerly of Glory Road, were added along with a mix of original songs and covers. This lineup played coffeehouses and other venues throughout 1989 and early 1990 as well as recording, at a local studio, four original tracks in the spring of 1990 before disbanding.

Jerry and Vince spent the remainder of the year writing and recording three new songs including their first collaboration, Festival. The sessions included the duo along with Curry, Coltri and Ernie Trionfo, a member of Home At Last and a multi-instrumentalist known for his playing in South Jersey and beyond with groups like Timberlake, Glory Road and the Snake Brothers. An additional four songs written during the year were recorded in February 1991 by Vince, Jerry and Katie. All tracks from these sessions have not yet been officially released.

May 1991 saw the addition of another Glory Road & Timberlake alumnus, keyboardist Joe Bocchetti, to the lineup. Joe began by playing keyboards on another new recording as well as overdubbing keyboards for a track from the February session. Following the studio work, Vince, Jerry and Joe began rehersals. By summer they were preparing for a live performance for September, the lineup expanding again to include drummer Eddie C., Ernie and Katie.

Performing as a trio in early 1992, Dark Hollow developed new original material, arranging it to fit the keyboards-guitar-bass format. Over the next several years, this lineup would play bars and coffeehouses in the area, add accordion and mandolin to the sound, mix folk, rock, jazz and country material with original songs, explore the art of spoken word with musical backing, develop improvisational stretches in performance that linked songs a la the Grateful Dead and would be joined occasionally by Katie and Ernie.

The very first Dark Hollow live performance in the summer of 1988 at the Atlantic County Folk Festival.

Jerry (left) and Vince played an afternoon set.

By late 1994, Dark Hollow was ready to record again, this time in its own studio. Starting with a Yamaha four-track recorder, the band has developed its studio sound, from analog to digital, over eleven years and seven releases. The first three projects as well as annual Christmas releases were available only on cassette tapes before the group turned to the CD format. The group's first release, Dark Hollow, contained a mixture of original and cover songs by Dylan and the Grateful Dead. The second, Never Heard Spoken, was the band's first project of spoken word and music. Junction, the third release, was comprised of all original songs and spoken word selections. CD releases include Dark Hollow Christmas, which collected the various Christmas songs recorded yearly for family and friends and added several new recordings, If Your Memory Serves You Well, a covers collection featuring a wide variety of songs by such artists as Gordon Lightfoot, Bill Evans, the Everly Brothers, John Coltrane, The Rascals and Thelonious Monk, First Person Singular, the band's second spoken word project and the two-disc set Driftin', the current release.

After a performance in Stone Harbor in late 1997, Jerry's full-time involvement with the band lessened but he has continued to write and contribute to recordings. It was during this time that Joe and Vince were introduced to Mr. Blue whose wisdom and guidance have been invaluable in carrying on the Dark Hollow tradition. Under Blue's tutelage, Joe took on bass duties in addition to his keyboard responsibilities and Vince assumed drumming chores on various recordings.

After six years of exclusively recording, the band returned to the stage in fall of 2003 with former Timberlake drummer/percussionist Mike Spina joining full-time and Katie Coltri guesting on some old and new material. The new trio with Mike then began work on recording new original material and covers from the live rep while performing live in a guitar-bass-congas format. The recording sessions with Mike concluded right before the band's performance at the 2nd Annual Far Shore Fine Art and Music Festival in Fortescue, NJ on May 14, 2005, an event which added the talents of Ernie on dobro and electric guitar, but, because he is relocating, marked Mike's last gig with Dark Hollow.

With Mike's departure, Joe and Vince postponed the mixing process for the new CD, now tentatively titled Shadow of the Sun, in favor of adding three more songs to the project. From July to October, they joined Charlie Andaloro, Ernie Trionfo and Katie Coltri for a studio reunion of the Glory Road lineup to cut Parade of Souls, one of Jerry's songs.

In November, Mike returned, spending several weeks each month cutting percussion and vocals for additional songs for Shadow of the Sun. The trio also rehearsed several sets worth of material with Mike on drums and Vince on electric guitar and this electric Dark Hollow format nearly played the 2006 Far Shore Festival. Because of scheduling difficulties, Joe and Vince performed an acoustic set.

From November 2005 until February 2006, Joe (bass & keyboards), Vince (guitars & bass), Mike (congas & percussion), Charlie (drums) and Ernie (guitars & bass) held a series of rehearsal sessions. The material consisted of new selections as well as songs associated with the history of the players: Hot 'Lanta ( Timberlake), Sloth (Glory Road), and Hand of Kindness (Home At Last). The playing included a lot of jams, in particular Lost in the Shuffle which averaged 17 minutes and featured some incredible dual soloing by Charlie and Mike. The sessions during this brief period were recorded for the archives.

After the Far Shore Festival in May, work continued on digitally mixing Shadow of the Sun (with four songs added to the original nine) and cutting Mike's drum tracks for the group's follow-up project. During summer 2006, Dark Hollow received its New Jersey radio debut when The Bottle and Talkin' To Myself, two songs from the upcoming CD, were played on WSNJ's Down Jersey program. As Mike's schedule forces him to reduce his work with the band, Joe and Vince will continue to gig as a duo and to complete work on Shadow of the Sun.

First Person Singular

If Your Memory Serves You Well