A common musical and personal philosophy has kept guitarist Eric Tingstad and oboist Nancy Rumbel together for 15 years. They are happily married - but not to each other.
"We both have wonderful families who support us in our music," Tingstad said during a phone call from his home in Issaquah, Wash."We have a responsibility to each other as well as our own families," Rumbel said during a call from San Antonio, Texas. "I think that's the secret."
The acoustic duo known as Tingstad and Rumbel were originally scheduled at the now-defunct Wooden Dog, Saturday, June 7. Instead, they will perform at Green Street, the same date and time.
Tingstad began playing the guitar when he was eight. Being the oldest of three brothers, he was the type of boy who liked to hang around older kids. And, naturally, became interested in the artists they were listening to.
"It was pop music back in the early days," Tingstad said. "The Beatles. Then I became very immersed in English progressive rock. Led Zeppelin's first album was very progressive, and I was the first child in my neighborhood who was my age to own that album. From there my tastes moved to King Crimson, Genesis and Wishbone Ash. It was the lyrical and melodical elements that the guitars were playing that grabbed my attention."
Rumbel, like Tingstad, was surrounded by music when she was a child.
"My mother was a pianist," Rumbel said. "My dad also played music. The early influences included the symphony and big bands. I don't remember a time when there wasn't music playing in my home."
While Rumbel went on to music school after she graduated, Ting-stad, still hanging out with the older crowd, got hooked on the jazz/-fusion sounds of Paul Winter and Pat Metheny.
"Eventually I returned to college and began studying classical guitar," Tingstad said. "I was tired of the rock scene by the end of the '70s and early '80s and wanted to build a classical repertoire. I also began writing my own songs then."
"I was gearing up for a career in classical music," Rumbel said. "But in college I became very involved with other types of purer, improvised ethnic music - it wasn't called `World Music' back then. I began wondering what I could do with the oboe in a setting other than classical."
In 1984, Tingstad was looking for an artist he could work with on a Christmas album.
"Nancy and I had met while I was on this quest," Tingstad said. "It didn't matter what type of instrument the other person played. I just wanted to play music with someone for the album."
"The Gift" teamed the duo in an acoustic mode - a sound they would return to after more than 10 years in a full-fledged band called the Tingstad and Rumbel Quartet.
"The recent years have been our `getting back to our roots' years," Rumbel said. "With a band, there are sounds you can hide behind. But a duo is different. You need to be aware of the other artist more, and the sound is clear and more exposed."
"The dynamics are definitely different," Tingstad said. "While in the band, I essentially became a part of the rhythm section, and Nancy would play her music on top of our base. Although I loved the band, there were times when I would come away and feel I hadn't really connected with Nancy musically. And that's when we decided to go at it as a duo again."
Tingstad and Rumbel are heavily involved with conservation - whether it concerns endangered species, plants or historic buildings.
The duo is the first act that was originally scheduled at the Wooden Dog, which is being forced to move to Green Street Social Club because Trolley Square is turning the former venue into retail space for Eddie Bauer and the Pottery Barn.
"Hmmm," Tingstad said. "That's a shame."
"How disturbing," said Rumbel. "I wonder if there's anything we can do."