These two couples are partners in music, but not in love, unless one considers the partnerships are based on the love of music.
And this time of year, it’s all about Christmas music.
Ginny Reilly and David Maloney formed Reilly &Maloney in the early 1970s, and became well known as they sang American folk music up and down the West Coast. Earlier this year, they released an album of music from “The Club Years: 1973-1976.”
Eric Tingstad and Nancy Rumbel formed Tingstad &Rumbel in the mid-1980s, and won a Grammy award for best acoustic instrumental album of the year in 1998 and in 2003 for best New Age album of the year.
Tingstad and Rumbel have performed, recorded and toured together for nearly 30 years and have 19 albums to their credit. Their debut album, The Gift, quickly became a holiday classic. Each year, Tingstad &Rumbel come home for Christmastide concerts, including the one at the Thumbnail.
Rumbel, an oboe player, was a member of the Paul Winter Consort for several years prior to her move to the Pacific Northwest. Tingstad grew up in Seattle and studied classical guitar at Western Washington University. He says, however, that he was influenced by Led Zeppelin, Hawaiian slack key guitarists and Ravi Shankar.
In the old days, Reilly and Maloney packed houses in Seattle, where Reilly is based, and toured nationally, including to San Francisco where Maloney is based. They shared the stage with such performers as Judy Collins, Tom Paxton and Greg Brown. After many records and thousands of concerts, they took a break to focus on their own families and work on solo careers. The duo has been back together for about 15 years. They released a Christmas album in 2012, among many other recordings.
“The Club Years” is a collection of 13 songs they played and sang together in clubs, bars, cafes and coffee houses in the mid-1970s. These shows were recorded “live” by fans and have been restored from the original reel-to-reel tapes and cassettes for the CD.
Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @galefiege.
If you go
Tingstad &Rumbel will play a concert at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Historic Everett Theatre, 2911 Colby Ave., Everett.
For tickets, $20, call 425-258-6766.
Reilly &Maloney will perform at 4 p.m. Sunday at Tim Noah Thumbnail Theater, 1211 Fourth St., Snohomish. For tickets, $20, call 360-568-9412.
Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @galefiege.
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