The musical duo of McGettigan & Gilbert was launched six months ago at the Greenfield Farmers and Crafters Market.
It was there that Larry Gilbert of Greenfield and Suzanne McGettigan of Peterborough met and started talking about music. Both had played in other duos for about 14 years, and decided to try performing together.
“It was easy to play together because we knew a lot of the same stuff,” said Gilbert, 61, because he and McGettigan, 60, share the same musical background of the late 1960s and early 1970s.
“I could jump in and harmonize and so could he,” McGettigan said.
That shared history has helped them merge the different styles they have played over the years, as Gilbert’s career has mostly been jazz and rock, while McGettigan’s has been more folk.
“I’m a little more country and he’s a little more rock ‘n’ roll,” McGettigan said with a laugh. “It’s interesting, but it works.”
Their latest project has them in the studio recording an album, which grew out of people hearing more about them and them getting more jobs, including a show at The Park Theatre in Jaffrey.
“It was a full house,” Gilbert said. “People started asking us, ‘Where’s your music?’ The Park Theatre was a great gig.”
The duo is recording at Blackheart Sound in Manchester. Their songs include material each has written and never recorded, including a McGettigan song from back in 1989, along with two newer songs they recently wrote together.
So far, they have 11 songs, and are shooting for a dozen. They agreed that while getting in the studio is exciting, it can be nerve-wracking.
“It’s very humbling,” Gilbert said.
“You want to not waste time, and you want to get things right,” McGettigan said.
They are working with producer Eric Sauter at Blackheart.
“I love the input from him,” Gilbert said.
McGettigan and Gilbert both said singing in the studio is different than singing live.
“You might sing a little more monotonously,” in the studio, McGettigan said.
“Sometimes, when you’re doing tracks over and over, you lose the energy,” Gilbert said.
So far, they have done all the basic recording, performing guitar and vocal tracks themselves. The next steps are working with musicians they know to add other pieces.
“There’s one song I can hear steel guitar,” Gilbert said.
However, while they are adding more layers to their songs, they want to keep things fairly simple.
“We don’t want to put down something that we can’t reproduce live,” Gilbert said.
“Maybe we should do vinyl,” McGettigan said.
“Vinyl’s big now,” Gilbert replied. “Then everyone would have to buy a record player.”
Speaking of records, it’s still a working title at this point, but they’re thinking of naming the album “McGettigan & Gilbert: On the Record.” The title, Gilbert said, was McGettigan’s idea.
“I can’t take credit for that,” he said. “I’d like to, but I can’t.”
After the album comes out, Gilbert hopes to start playing bigger venues.
And even before this album is done, McGettigan’s thinking about doing more.
“I can hear this kind of album and this kind of album,” she said.
“She’s talking about doing a jazz album and a gospel album, and I’m all in,” Gilbert said.