The Giving Tree Band w/ guest artist The Cerny Brothers

For over a decade, the Giving Tree Band has been connecting with music lovers left and right, frequently converting them into Giving Tree-huggers. Formed in 2004 by enigmatic brothers E and Todd Fink, the Illinois quintet has been called America’s answer to Mumford and Sons. Describing themselves as New Age outlaws, they’ve evolved a musical sensibility that somehow unites the spirit of Pete Seeger with the musical chops of The Band.

The brothers, joined by longtime friend and multi instrumentalist Norm Norman, and a long-haired rhythm section made up of their college roommates, Charlie Karls and “Z”, have meticulously developed a sound that’s greater than the sum of its parts. It’s a winning combination. They’ve toured with Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, and have shared the stage with Joe Purdy, The Avett Brothers and Trampled by Turtles.

Not content to stop at musical innovation, the band brings an environmental sensibility to everything they do. Sharing a home and studio outside Chicago, they play instruments that have been fabricated from fallen trees and reclaimed woods. They record with renewable energy and package their albums with recycled materials. During one lengthy recording session, the band camped in a nearby state park and commuted over 500 miles by bicycle. Mother Earth News has dubbed the group “the greenest band in the land.”