Bill MacKay, Michael Zerang

Guitarist Bill MacKay and percussionist Michael Zerang are players of long time standing in the Chicago music scene. In their small part of eternity, they have led bands, played in others and played alone, hundreds of musical years flying beneath their hands. In recent memory, their duo playing has revealed: sturdy formulations in both players’ minds, their appreciation of similar strains of acoustic music and the habit of composing with the freedom to freely improvise composition. And vise-verse! You will find all that and a pleasurable lot more on their debut LP, Scarlet Hour.

They share an inspiration forged from varied traditional sounds of Arabian, Turkish, Indian and Iberian folk music, along with a love of the intimate sound that blossoms forth from two hands. Rolling with declamatory zeal, the hothouse Scarlet Hour flourishes with delicacy as well across eight songs. The luminous timbres of Zerang’s darabuka, tambourine and saz meet with MacKay’s guitar, requinto and piano in an open musical space, stretching back into time unknowable, earthy and of fire.

A strong pulse is essential to MacKay and Zerang’s exploratory flights, guiding with rhythmic and melodic inspiration alike, as they bridge musical places. Each song becomes a different dance, another tattoo. The Scarlet Hour track list mixes collaborative titles with compositions from both players in an elegant, physical recital that places the listener in the room, with the sound of the two bouncing off the walls around.

Bill MacKay and Michael Zerang’s good works in the music world draw the music of people together with friendly hands and a dancing beat, as should ever be. Zerang is a legendary presence, involved with playing and programming music and music education since the early 1980s, while playing with artists including Eugene Chadbourne, Ken Vandermark, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Joe McPhee, Peter Brötzmann, Jeff Parker, Hamid Drake, Karkhana, Spires That In the Sunset Rise, Rabid Rabbit, Bobby Conn and Bonnie ‘Prince Billy, while releasing dozens of albums over the years. MacKay too is a happy collaborator, making music with Katinka Kleijn, Nathan Bowles, BCMC, Ryley Walker and Black Duck, Bill Callahan & the aforementioned ‘Prince’, among delightful others.

Sparked by their clear and open playing, the head-to-head encounter builds in power and presence as their Scarlet (half) Hour ticks forward, a flickering of musical images reaching out far and wide as they gallop on.

Fans of Richard Thompson, Sandy Bull, Billy Strings, The Morris On Band, Sir Richard Bishop and all the rest will find much love in Bill and Michael’s Scarlet Hour inventions.

LP. Drag City, DC982. Release date January 29th 2027.