Duke Sharp: Buy

"Melodic, upbeat, classically influenced Travis style finger picking" gets close to describing many of the tunes on Pickin After Midnight. It's a collection of instrumental duets and solo guitar pieces, written and played by Duke Sharp (mostly). Duke plays guitar, mandolin and dobro on this CD. Jim Averitt wrote two of the tunes and plays guitar, and Mike Parsons (from Two Grass Crew)plays mandolin and fiddle. "Fires of Spring" is a light and happy solo guitar piece played on a nylon string guitar. "Doin the Salesville Rag" and "Spanish Creek" are toe-tapping ragtime mandolin/guitar duets. "Snoring Dog" and "A Tune for Ted" are beautiful guitar duets, and were written by Jim Averitt, who plays guitar on both tunes. "Thanks, Leo!" is an energetic romp on a 12-string, and Leo's influence is apparent. "Embers" is a Grisman-esque mandolin/guitar duet, with Mike Parsons ripping on his mando. Mike is also playing his fiddle on "Inside Out" a waltz that also features dobro. "Joe Beam Ain't Here" is a driving bluesy thing with guitar and dobro. "There's a Tavern" is a flatpicking guitar and mandolin duet that has a wild klesmer/gypsy sort of feel to it. "Requiem" is a moody piece, and "Sarah's Serenade" is much lighter, both are essentially "classical" guitar pieces, even if "Requiem" is played on a streel string guitar.

Review from "The Lively Times" Jazzy Spanish flavored instrumentals replete with hooky rhythms and melodies flow from this release by Duke Sharp and a group of gifted Gallatin Valley musicians. Sharp, who wrote five of the album's seven tunes, plays guitars, mandolin, banjo and accordion. He is joined by Larry Barnwell - guitar; Scott Boehler - harmonica; Lib Caldwell - guitar; Craig Hall-guitar and bass; Mike Gillan - drums and percussion; Bob Nell - piano; Mike Parsons - violin; Rich Robiscoe - bass; Rich Ruggles - piano and organ; and Eddie Tsure - bass; The polished final product, recorded at Peak Recording in Bozeman, Montana reflects both the talents and professionalism of experienced musicians, says Sharp. "Since we all work in different bands there was virtually no rehearsal time for the project" he notes. "The 'team for the day' would show up, we'd listen to a rough demo and look over the charts while munching some of Debbie's (Stober) cookies, and then Gil (Stober) would turn on the tape recorder. Sharp wrote five of the tunes, including the catchy "Surfin Flamenco Cowboy Blues" and teamed up with Jim Averitt on Justin's Theme. His life-long friends and cohorts, (Lib Caldwell, Rich Ruggles, and John Regan) wrote Formica fandango, a tune with a distinctly Santana-like sound and feel. They're all such gifted players, as well as experienced studio musicians" says Sharp. "I can't even begin to express the excitement I felt hearing my little tunes grow into the music that is on this CD." "Several of the arrangements happened in the middle of the sessions. Mike Gillan is one of the finest percussionists in Montana, and while we were recording "Colo" he mentioned that he'd never recorded a solo. So we built one in. Justin's Theme was rearranged when I realized 'this is Bob Nell sitting here at the piano, let him play a while'. I dumped my guitar solo in Yucca Pie when Craig Hall said he'd have time to come by. I was having trouble with the guitar solo for Formica, and it dawned on me "hey dummy, Libby wrote it... call him on the telephone! It's just not an everyday thing to have players of this caliber available. I'm lucky and honored to have friends like these guys." As a consequence, most of the tunes are longer than the standard 'three-minute' radio format. The somewhat impromptu nature of the recording doesn't detract at all from its quality. Once you've heard these seven tracks, chances are you'll want to hear more from this musically adept crew. Reprinted by permission

Two Grass Crew is an acoustic duo based in Bozeman, Montana. Mike Parsons plays fiddle and mandolin, and Duke Sharp plays guitar and dobro. Their musical interests and inspirations range from J. S Bach to David Grisman to Vassar Clements to David Bromberg and Leo Kottke. Their first CD "Gavotte in A Minor" covers a wide range of genres, from traditional blues (You Don't Know My Mind) to a kicking Irish Jig (Swallowtail Jig) to J.S Bach (Gavotte in A Minor). There's a unique instrumental arrangement of A Handful of Laurel, also known as Streets of Laredo and a cover of a Bob Wills swing tune, Miss Molly. Mike rips a killer version of the traditional fiddle tune, Arkansas Traveller and Gunshy is an instrumental bluegrass original that Mike and Duke wrote. Ambrys, , Sheroqui are fingerstyle guitar pieces written by Duke Sharp, complemented by Mikeys mandolin mastery. Inside Out is a hauntingly beautiful waltz. Their rendition of Hello Mary Lou/Freight Train in a medley is a fresh take of both tunes with good vocals and dandy pickin.