Rob Edgar spoke to TUCK AND PATTI by phone at their home in California about their first UK appearance since 2005, on 20th October at the Union Chapel, on the closing night of Georgia Mancio’s ReVoice! Festival

There must be fifty ways to construct a set-list. Maybe because of their closeness as a couple, and the fact that there are just two of them, Tuck and Patti don’t plan theirs at all. Patti explained: “you know, of course there will be songs from I Remember You (their most recent album, from 2007)…but I don’t make a list, we do have some stuff that we’ve been working on that people haven’t heard before that we’ll throw into the mix but I never make a list because I like to be spontaneous and feel the energy when I walk out onto the stage. I let that guide me.”

This is just one example of what makes Tuck and Patti tick. They have been a duo for thirty-four years now and have been married to each other for most of that time. This closeness, intimacy and the conversational quality of their collaboration allows them the possibility to keep things very much on the spur of the moment. As Tuck put it “[writing a set list] would be throwing away a valuable opportunity to stop scripting things any more than necessary when you’ve got a two person band. It’s different with a big band; you can’t just change the form of the song or segue this song into another. With a duo that’s part of the conversation.”

Nevertheless, they do have a consistent reputation for high quality, Patti explains that “We consider it an amazing luxury to have been able to have this conversation for so long, there’s usually the pressure to come up with something new at every moment and we really have had the amazing good fortune to just explore the voice and guitar.”

Tuck and Patti have not played in the UK since 2005. This gig also happens to coincide with their 34th anniversary of playing together. Not many people currently do the duo thing as well as Tuck and Patti; the 20th will be a rare opportunity to hear in London, one of the closest acts that America has to offer.

This gig in London is on the 20th of October at 7:00PM at the Union Chapel and is the closing concert of Georgia Mancio’s ReVoice! festival. Tickets cost £20. Support is Mancio herself, with Gareth Lockrane and Geoff Gascoyne.