Dark Hollow Band

Dark Hollow Band is, from left, Jamey Oran, Tom Bates, Randall Kent Wilkerson, John Gillespie, Terry Phillips and Chris Voorhees.

Dark Hollow Band is, from left, Jamey Oran, Tom Bates, Randall Kent Wilkerson, John Gillespie, Terry Phillips and Chris Voorhees.

Dark Hollow Band founder Randall Wilkerson spent three years in the wilderness. He camped on Clinch Mountain, trapping and hunting to survive.

"I just felt like I had to get away from people," says Wilkerson, sitting on the deck of Downtown Grill and Brewery. "Really, I was just trying to get away from the things in myself."

Wilkerson says he would spend weekends at his mother's, but he was never comfortable.

"I got so that I couldn't sleep indoors," says Wilkerson. "When I came off the mountain I was a more accepting person. The things I wanted to change in other people I had to change in me first."

Perhaps those changes are in the lines of Dark Hollow Band. The group's new album, "Real Monsters Look Like Men," contains 13 tracks that address the human condition. Wilkerson's songs are definitely born of experience, although Wilkerson says his songs are more often inspired by the lives of friends.

Wilkerson grew up in north Knox County and was, admittedly, the last person school friends would've expected to be filled with songs. Yet songs were probably brewing all along.

Wilkerson's song "Child of Heaven" is about a cousin Wilkerson spent a summer with. Both were 9 years old.

"They said he was 'tetched in the head' and I was kind of 'tetched,' " says Wilkerson. "I remember we built a fort out of corn stalks and he got stung by a packsaddle. I can't sing without thinking about him."

When Wilkerson was 21 he went on a church tour to visit biblical sites in the Middle East. While visiting Tiberias he and a friend ran up a goat trail on a mountain. He says the wind was blowing so hard he had to run his hand along the cliff wall to keep steady. In doing that he accidentally slipped off the side of the cliff.

"I had accidentally pushed myself off, but the wind blew me back," says Wilkerson. "From that point on, it made me think I'm in God's hands. He controls the wind."

It was at that point that he began writing songs.

"My sister says I disappeared in my room and a year later I came out with all these songs and playing instruments."

Still, it wasn't until 1999, when a long illness seemed on the verge of laying Wilkerson low, that he decided to document his songs.

"I still don't know what was wrong with me," says Wilkerson. "The doctors couldn't figure it out. I couldn't eat and I kept losing weight. I was down to 115 pounds."

Wilkerson's wife told him he should preserve his songs in case he died. He gathered some musical friends and began practicing once a week.

"It took me all week to gain enough strength to practice just one night," he says.

In the ensuing years, the group released several albums, performed two shows at the Bijou Theatre and underwent an ever-changing lineup. In late 2008, however, the band's momentum ended when the group's beloved bass player, Rod Erwin, died on Christmas Day.

"When he died, the band just fell apart," says Wilkerson.

Wilkerson considered joining a local bluegrass group, but instead reformed the Dark Hollow with a mostly new group of musicians.

Eventually, his strength and health began returning. The group began recording and, eventually, performing concerts.

Wilkerson says the Dark Hollow Band has always tried to keep most of the material original and has learned how to deal with fans who want covers.

"I was at a bar and some woman was screaming 'Play some Willie Nelson!' So I said, 'Here's an obscure Willie Nelson song that you've probably never heard. 'Then I sang 'The Old Man Song' (a Wilkerson original). Afterwards she hugged my neck and said, 'Thank you. That's one of the best Willie Nelson songs I ever heard!' "

© 2010, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
Want to use this article? Click here for options!

© 2010 Knoxville.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.