Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Fred Gillen Jr. of Peekskill and Matt Turk of Hastings-on-Hudson have been playing music professionally in the Lower Hudson Valley for more than a decade. Turk was a founding member of the popular club-band The Hour, and Gillen made a name for himself playing with the Rain Deputies.

The two artists joined forces five years ago after being introduced at a meeting of the songwriters collective Tribes Hill in Valhalla. Since then, they've created a sound, separate from their earlier projects, rich with folk tradition and as loud as Crazy Horse when they go electric. "Basically, it's like someone like Neil Young," Gillen says. "He can play a song solo and it's pretty mellow ... and then he can play a song with Crazy Horse and it's really loud and rockin'. It's more like Led Zeppelin than the acoustic thing."

The two string players, with a washboard and harmonica thrown in, stopped by The Listening Room at LoHud.com headquarters this month to perform an acoustic set and show off their harmonies.

Gillen & Turk perform throughout the region and New England. Notable performances include the Clearwater Festival in Croton-on-Hudson and regular gigs sponsored by the Woodie Guthrie Foundation of Mount Kisco.

Gillen & Turk haven't released an album, but the band says one is nearly complete, recorded in Gillen's studio in Croton. "We really want to get some new stuff," Gillen says, "that hasn't been released in any other form before we put out a record together." The two have plenty of solo material to choose from. Gillen's latest release is "Gone, Gone, Gone," and Turk just released the album "Washington Arms."

Gillen can also be heard on the recent release "March" by his side project Hope Machine. "March" features the playing of Listening Room favorites Abbie Gardner and Laurie MacAllister of Red Molly; the songwriting of Steve Kirkman and Gillen; and reworkings of popular Woodie Guthrie songs such as "This Land is Your Land" and "This Train is Bound for Glory." Turk will contribute to the next Hope Machine project, which is in the recording process.