THE WATER IS WIDE (2025)
Teja Gerken and Doug Young released their first album of duets in the spring of 2020, just before the world shut down due to COVID. The praise the album received was bitter-sweet, as the duo was unable to perform the album’s material live for almost a year after its release. However, Teja and Doug soon 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. Album Liner Notes.
TEST OF TIME (2024)
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 Timerepresents 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. Album Liner Notes.
Listen to or purchase CDs or downloads of Test of Time on Bandcamp, or listen on Spotify!
“A sonic marvel from top to bottom” – Acoustic Guitar
DUETS (with Doug Young, 2020)
Duets is all about the organic, honest sound of two guitars. Inspired by the examples set by instrumental guitar duos ranging from folk-baroque legends John Renbourn and Bert Jansch to the sophistication of the Duo Assad, Gerken and Young 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, classicals, and an archtop jazz guitar. Album Liner Notes
“Duets represents modern fingerstyle guitar at the highest level” – Acoustic Guitar
Listen to or purchase CDs or downloads of DUETS on Bandcamp, or listen on Spotify!
POSTCARDS (2005)
A collection of solo compositions for acoustic fingerstyle guitar, the album continues the direction of Teja’s critically acclaimed debut, On My Way. Teja has chosen to use the opportunity of a new release to offer a glimpse into the current state of the Bay Area fingerstyle guitar scene. In this spirit, Postcards features originals, as well as tunes penned by five of Teja’s local colleagues: fingerpicking legends Duck Baker and Dale Miller, Celtic guitar sensation Steve Baughman, San Francisco Guitar Quartet member Patrick Francis, and bluesman Pete Madsen. Album Liner Notes
Listen to or purchase downloads of Postcards on Bandcamp, or listen on Spotify!
ON MY WAY (1999)
Released in 1999, On My Way was Teja’s debut CD. Consisting of nine studio recordings and two live documentations On My Way showcases Teja’s mature and unique style of composing and performing on the instrument. With its combination of lyrical melodies, texture and form, unusual guitar tunings, and sometimes surprising playing techniques, the album is sure to please guitar-buffs and more casual listeners alike. Album Liner Notes
Listen to On My Way on Spotify!