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 takes advantage of the timbres

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 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.”

Closing Time is Doug Young’s second solo release, following on his well-received debut, Laurel Mill. With Closing Time, Doug continues to explore original compositions with a strong focus on melody, but also expands from pure solo guitar to a broader array of colors. The tunes on Closing Time include a number of purely solo guitar compositions and

Closing Time is Doug Young’s second solo release, following on his well-received debut, Laurel Mill. With Closing Time, Doug continues to explore original compositions with a strong focus on melody, but also expands from pure solo guitar to a broader array of colors. The tunes on Closing Time include a number of purely solo guitar compositions and arrangements, while other tunes are arranged as duets, with Doug playing both parts. Besides traditional six-string guitars, Doug also incorporates a baritone guitar, a resonator, and ebow. He also collaborated with some outstanding Bay Area musicians to add other instruments, including guitar, mandolin, violin, percussion, and harmonica to the mix.

The songs range from some old favorites, like the Celtic aire, Jock O’Hazeldean and Doug’s novel take on the bluegrass and folk classic Wildwood Flower to tunes inspired by moods, like Autumn Roads, Rainy Sunday and the title track, Closing Time. Others are reflections on events, like the somber Cairo, and some are just plain fun, like Curly Q, Elephant Dance and Red Snapper.

Closing Time was recorded on a wonderful collection of instruments, mostly hand-built by some of today’s best luthiers, including Ed Claxton, John Mello, Kevin Ryan, and Tony Yamamoto, as well as classic guitars by Martin Guitars and National.

Closing Time was recorded, mixed and mastered at 96Khz, 24 bits using state of the art recording gear, including Brauner, AEA, and Schoeps microphones, Great River and AEA preamps, Cranesong analog to digital conversion and UAD, TC Electronic and Lexicon reverbs and other processors. For those with playback systems that can reproduce the full fidelity, a full resolution HD-Audio version is available as a download.