Strung-Out Troubadours

BIOGRAPHY

Strung-Out Troubadours is a writing/recording project that arose from the public response to Rik Emmett's instrumental duo performances together with Dave Dunlop during Rik's concert gigs. The material on the album showcases acoustic folk / roots for serious guitar lovers. These guys are essentially romantic balladeers, with a penchant for dramatic intensity on their guitars: addicted to making music and writing songs on their guitars, they are Strung-Out Troubadours. 

Dave has been first-call guitar accompanist on Rik's rock band dates for over a decade now. And while Rik has a long and well-documented history as a hall of fame musician & recording artist, Dave brings a younger, fresher perspective to the duo, from his time in the dark and bruising rock band, Full Nine, as well as his wide range of studio experiences. Ranging from country to roots-y singer-songwriter projects, Dunlop co-wrote and co-produced material with an inventive, creative flair and a direct minimalist approach that caught Rik's imagination. A partnership on a guitar duo record seemed like an organic inevitability, and the comfortable rapport that the musicians have captured bears this out. 

On a song like Light of Day, Rik rewrote some lyrics on Dave's original demo ideas, but the melody and vocal performance choices drawn out of Rik through Dave's production & direction clearly pushed the veteran rocker into fresh territory.

Some material grew out of snippets of instrumental pieces: a deeply spiritual State of Grace, for example, blossomed from a main theme in Dos Arroyos. A core value that the duo strove for was melodic: as Rik explains, "Songs grew from melodies - each new idea from either one of us functioning like a card in a house of cards, with the other guy adding something, until a larger form started to become apparent." 

The smooth jazz styling of Good Thing features a form and melodies almost totally intact from one of Dave's personal demos he'd played for Rik. Again, a rewrite of lyric and a few twists in delivery gave the singer a comfort zone, and the bridge became the final piece of the collaborative puzzle. Dave offers the insight: “I think that’s the key to this whole record. It’s collaborative all the way. "Troubs" is what it is because each of us lends his sensibility to the other’s vision." 

Some material gives the Troubadours an excuse to exercise their guitar fluidity, and the virtuosity is apparent without ever becoming inaccessible. Other tunes have the tenderness of a folkie pop sensibility, harkening back to a simpler '60's vibe. Throughout, the process was one where song fragments morphed through revision, which is one of the wonderful by-products of the modern digital recording age. 

At the heart of this collaboration, a deeper kind of brotherhood is apparent - like jocks who are having the time of their lives, shooting baskets in the driveway, or playing a goofy game of road hockey, these two rockers are taking a vacation from their day jobs, and doing something just for the sheer challenging love of the game. The charm is in the way they have created a style of music in which they are so dependent upon one another, and have taken advantage of each other's talents (and quirks). 

If & when people give this music a chance, they may well find it highly addictive.