Dark Hollow (song)

"Dark Hollow" is a popular folk song made famous by the renowned American rock band Grateful Dead on their 1973 album History of the Grateful Dead, Volume One (Bear's Choice). "Dark Hollow" was originally written by folk singer/songwriter Bill Browning in 1958 and appeared on the "B" side of his single Borned With the Blues. Though writing credits typically go to Browning, Dark Hollow has some lyrical similarities to the traditional songs "East Virginia Blues/East Virginia" and "Come All You Fair and Tender Ladies", likely the source of Browning's inspiration. Dark Hollow is widely considered to be the biggest hit of Browning's short career, but the song did not reach the peak of its popularity until it was covered by Grateful Dead in the early 1970s. Grateful Dead began performing acoustic covers of the song in 1970. Electric covers soon followed in 1973 followed by more acoustic covers in 1980. In total, Grateful Dead performed "Dark Hollow" around 30 times, allowing the song to reach the heights of its popularity.