Teja Gerken and Doug Young are excited to present their new album “The Water is Wide” with a show at one of the Bay Area’s great listening rooms. Please join us at Berkeley’s Back Room on Sunday, February 9th. Show starts at 7PM, and advance tickets are available here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/teja-gerken-doug-young-duo-tickets-1120233070269?aff=odcleoeventsincollection

Teja Gerken and Doug Young are excited to be releasing their second album as a duo, The Water is Wide. Having released their first joint album, DUETS in the spring of 2020, is was right before the world shut down due to the COVID pandemic. The praise the album received from the press (Acoustic Guitar said it offered “Modern fingerstyle guitar at the highest level”), fans, and peers was bitter-sweet, as the duo was unable to perform the album’s material live for almost a year after its release. However, not long after the initial adjustment to the reality that was 2020, Teja and Doug began discussing new pieces to arrange, working via video calls and recordings in their respective home studios to start adding to their repertoire. Several of the tunes on this album got their start during this time, while others were worked out in real time and road-tested at the gigs that eventually returned. All the tunes on this album continue Teja and Doug’s approach of creating interlocking guitar arrangements that take advantage of the sonic possibilities offered by pairing different types of guitars, tunings, and capo positions. The repertoire on The Water is Wide represents new interpretations of some old favorites, standards from the folk/Celtic tune book, some pop tunes, a bit of classical, a piece written by a dear friend, and more. In other words, the album is not unlike a typical Teja and Doug concert, which is bound to be more about presenting a varied program of tunes that the duo enjoys playing than about any particular genre.

San Francisco Bay Area guitarists Teja Gerken and Doug Young are releasing their second album as a duo. Following their acclaimed debut DUETS (which Acoustic Guitar magazine praised as “Modern fingerstyle guitar at the highest level”), THE WATER IS WIDE continues the duo’s path of creating interlocking arrangements that take advantage of the sonic possibilities offered by pairing different types of guitars, tunings, capos, etc.

Opening with an arrangement of Eric Skye’s contemporary fiddle tune “The Locktender’s Reel,” the album moves on to two standards of the instrumental folk repertoire, Turlough O’Carolan’s timeless “Si Bheag, So Mhor,” and Roger Tallroth’s more recently penned “Josefin’s Waltz,” before landing on Gerken’s Leo Kottke-inspired original “Takoma.” In the span of four pieces, Teja and Doug already demonstrate their finesse at expanding the range of what two guitars can sound like together, eschewing common “rhythm” or “lead” roles, instead crafting cohesive performances that sound like one voice. Teja and Doug find creative ways to navigate fingerpicking classics “Little Martha” (Duane Allman), “Bermuda Triangle Exit” (Stefan Grossman), and “Embryonic Journey” (Jorma Kaukonen), they tackle Erik Satie’s famous “Gymnopedie No. 1” (with Teja’s baritone guitar lending a piano-like quality to the arrangement), play the Renaissance piece “A Toye for Two Lutes” (Thomas Robinson) on steel-string and classical guitars, navigate their way through Gordon Lightfoot’s “If You Could Read My Mind,” and give “Greensleeves” a slide guitar treatment. Do they play “The Water is Wide,” you ask? Indeed they do, and their version has become an audience favorite at the duos live shows.

THE WATER IS WIDE was recorded using a stunning collection of acoustic guitars: Six-string steel-strings by Martin, Lowden, Ed Claxton, and Kent Hamblin, a Kenny Hill nylon-string classical, Mario DeSio baritone, a metal-bodied National Tricone Resonator, and an Eastman archtop jazz guitar. 

THE WATER IS WIDE will be available on all major streaming services in January 2025, and the duo will celebrate the album with a special release concert at Berkeley, California’s Back Room on February 9^th.

Teja recorded his composition “Takoma” as a solo 12-string piece on the Test of Time album, and more recently, he and Doug Young also recorded a duet version, which is available on Apple Music, Spotify, and other streaming services. Teja and Doug gave the piece its live debut at the Side Door in Sacramento, California, and the performance was captured on video.

Please join the Teja Gerken & Doug Young Duo in a double-bill with Boston-area fingerstyle jazz guitarist Peter Janson at Berkeley’s Back Room on Thursday, May 30th! Click HERE for tickets, and check out this video for more info!

“A Sonic Marvel from Top to Bottom” Read Blair Jackson’s full review here:

https://acousticguitar.com/review-teja-gerkens-test-of-time-is-a-sonic-marvel-from-top-to-bottom/?fbclid=IwAR1LXXirxFbhUjYu-9XU9x7oNwlcmYM7-AqzMNjaP-VeYx9AD2E8t6xpaTo

Teja is the featured guest on the Fretboard Journal podcast! Tune in to hear Teja and Fretboard Journal publisher Jason Verlinde talk about “Test of Time,” the guitar used on the album, Teja’s fingerstyle influences, Peghead Nation, and more!

Podcast 446: Teja Gerken

Dedicated to fellow guitarist and friend Vicki Genfan, “Vicki’s Red Boots” is the opening cut to Teja’s new album, “Test of Time.”

Purchase digital downloads or CDs of “Test of Time” on Bandcamp:

https://tejagerken.bandcamp.com/album/test-of-time

Listen to “Test of Time” on Spotify:

Teja’s new album of solo acoustic fingerstyle guitar will be released on all major streaming platforms on January 1, 2024. CDs and digital downloads will be available via Bandcamp. Consisting of pieces that he has played on stage, but never committed to a recording, Test of Time is San Francisco Bay Area guitarist Teja Gerken’s third solo album. Featuring originals, tunes from the Celtic repertoire, a jazz standard, and a classical piece, Test of Time represents Teja’s fingerstyle guitar playing the way a typical performance does. Playing six-string, 12-string, and resonator guitars, Teja applies his keen melodic awareness, experimental spirit, and masterful technique to a set of road-tested solo guitar favorites.

Pre-Save “Test of Time” on Spotify! https://www.distrokid.com/hyperfollow/tejagerken/test-of-time

For media inquiries, please contact Teja at teja[at]tejagerken.com.

Michael Ferrucci and Rotary Club of Livermore Presents A “Frets & Friends” Production on Saturday, December 9th, at 7PM. Click HERE for more info and tickets!

When thinking of great guitar pickers, many names come to mind. Chet Atkins, Jerry Reed, Glenn Campbell, Eric Clapton, Jimmie Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Tommy Emmanuel. There are so many! It is my pleasure and privilege to announce that Richard Smith is coming to Livermore on Saturday, December 9th to play a fundraiser for the Livermore Rotary Music Scholarship Fund.

Richard Smith at age 11 was asked by Chet Atkins to come up on stage to play with him at Her Majesty’s theater in London. Now in his 40’s, he’s carved his place as one of the very best in the industry. Smith won the National Fingerstyle Guitar Championship in 2001 and the National Thumbpickers Hall of Fame named him Thumbpicker of the Year in 2008 and 2021. This will be his second time Richard has come to Livermore to support music education in our community.

Richard will be joined by San Francisco Bay Area guitarist Teja Gerken. Teja has enchanted audiences ever since coming onto the acoustic fingerstyle scene in the late 1990s. Initially influenced by guitarists such as John Renbourn, Michael Hedges, and Leo Kottke, Teja ultimately began weaving together his diverse musical interest into a style that is his own. Teja has fine-tuned his sets to include original compositions, Celtic traditionals, classical pieces, jazz standards, and some favorite tunes by his fingerstyle guitar peers.

Michael Ferrucci is known for his acoustic music productions throughout the S.F. Bay Area. Now retired from his previous incarnation as Livermore’s own “guitar guru” and owner of Fine Fretted Friends, a community music store in downtown Livermore. He remains an active Rotary member and founder of the Rotary Music Scholarship Fund.“Bringing this level of musicianship to Livermore is a very special experience for the audience” Michael says, “these concerts are an opportunity for all guitar music lovers, regardless of the genre, to be treated to an intimate and close up guitar experience”.

The Rotary music scholarship has been suffering in concert fundraising post pandemic. “It is why I urge our community to come out and support these concerts” say’s Ferrucci. He adds, “the proceeds from these concerts provide the essential funds and ability for Livermore music students that need help.” There has always been scholarships for academic performance as well as for sports achievements. Historically, there has been very little if any support those students interested in seeking a career in music. Michael stresses, “scholarships are awarded to help repair or acquire a new instruments and also help to support private lessons and tutoring”. It is because of this, Michael has come out of retirement to spearhead along with help from Livermore Rotarians, the largest scholarship fundraising concert in many years. Michael has brought artists such as Al Stewart, Laurence Juber (Wings), Muriel Anderson, Thom Bresh, Peppino D’Agostino, and Stanley Jordan to name a few to help support the Rotary Music Scholarship in the past 20 years. He’s hoping that this concert success will rekindle the essential support needed for this longstanding scholarship.