BOK, MUIR AND TRICKETT PLAY A CONCERT FOR TIMELESSNESS (CONCERT REVIEW)

On cursory listening, the music made by Gordon Bok, Ann Muir and Ed Trickett sounds a bit like tunes that in the 1950s and 1960s were heard at that little lamented dinosaur the hootenanny. "Michael row the boat ashore, Hallelujah -- everybody sing." It was wholesome, it was in tune and it was bland.

But Bok, Muir and Trickett invest their songs about harvest time, about sunken ships, pigs that want to better themselves, and haunting loves with an affectionate sincerity carried on harmonies that at times sound like a human bagpipe. Though they perform songs that most people have never heard before, in their hands the tunes sound timeless even if written only yesterday.

The New England-based group performed before a crowd of about 85 Monday in a coffee house setting at the University Center. The concert was sponsored by KRCU-FM.

Bok, Muir and Trickett also treat their material to idiosyncratic and inventive arrangements that, besides the traditional guitars, employ viola da gamba, flute, penny whistle and hammered dulcimer.

The songs gleaned from all over the world tell stories -- even the instrumentals. The Australian tune "From the Lambing to the Wool" is about sheep ranching but it's also a metaphoric examination of a life. Their songs are simply told but they are not simple.

Not that the night was all seriousness. There was, after all, a song about a pig with higher aspirations who rebels against this motherly advice: "That's how it is when you get older, You're bacon, butt and picnic shoulder."

The three have their own solo careers but have been making music as a trio for 25 years now. It shows.

Bok's resonant baritone sounds a bit like Pete Seeger's in his much younger days. He performed on 12-string guitar and a tenor viola da gamba played like a cello. Muir adds flute and penny whistle and the high harmony. Trickett plays guitar and hammered dulcimer, and his tenor is featured on a few tunes.

Maybe their ageless sound emanates from the wealth of their repertoire and longevity of their association. When Bok introduced tunes written by a friend who knows too many songs, he said, "When he makes something up it sounds a little familiar."