Duets by Teja Gerken & Doug Young

Fitting into the general description of “acoustic fingerstyle,” Duets is all about the organic, honest sound of two guitars. Inspired by the examples set by guitar duos ranging from the folk baroque combination of John Renbourn and Bert Jansch to the sophistication of the Duo Assad, Gerken and Young seek to create arrangements that are larger than the sum of their parts. The duo also takes advantage of the timbres available through a dazzling array of tunings and by pairing a wide variety of guitars, which include steel-string acoustics, low-tuned baritones, metal-bodied resonators, full-size and miniature 12-strings, nylon-string classicals, and even an electric archtop jazz guitar.

On Duets, Gerken and Young draw from their individual catalogs of originals, traditional folk tunes, classical pieces, an adaptation of a Beatles song, and as a left-field surprise, a tune penned by banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck. As such, Gerken’s contributions include the beautiful ballad “Her Red Hair” and the African-inspired “Nairobi,” and Young’s “Autumn Roads” opens the album with the rich sounds of baritone guitar and fluid steel-string, while his “Red Snapper” features Gerken playing electric jazz guitar. The duo twists 18th century Spanish composer Francisco Tárrega’s classical guitar “Study in Em” into a range-expanding interplay between low-tuned baritone guitar and high-strung miniature 12-string, a combination that is also featured on George Harrison’s “Here Comes the Sun.”

San Francisco Bay Area fingerstyle guitarists Teja Gerken and Doug
Young have performed together for more than a decade. Drawing from
their individual catalogs of original compositions, Celtic tunes,
arrangements of jazz standards, and the occasional classical piece,
Teja and Doug present a varied repertoire,
using a wide range of guitars.

TejaAndDougGuitar.com