Iconic duos are often defined by their inseparability. Batman and Robin. Bonnie and Clyde. Shrek and Donkey. Fans of the Nashville music scene probably wouldn’t be surprised to see country-folk artists Lynn Langham and Doug Gill listed in the same pantheon.
But that wasn’t always the case. Both singer-songwriters had successful solo careers before teaming up. And their first impressions of one another didn’t exactly line up.
“I was given a tape of his music, and a demo singer was singing real twangy on the first few songs, and I wasn’t sure about it,” said Langham, a Grammy Award-winning musician. “But then this other voice came on, and once I found out that it was Doug, I was in.”
When Gill—who scored a Grammy nomination in 2012 for co-writing a Don Williams hit—first heard one of Langham’s songs, it felt like “a breath of fresh air,” he recalled.
“I had been working in Nashville for about 10 years when I met Lynn. My publisher connected us for a writing appointment and we just hit it off,” Gill said. “Over time, we just sort of melded into a duo.”
Although Langham and Gill enjoyed writing songs together from then on, they never thought to promote themselves as an official musical duo, until their fan base started to perceive them that way.
“Because we wrote together, we were often booked together. It gradually became the way people expected to see us,” Langham said. “At some point we became a duo without really intending to.”
The pair aims to tour in California on a yearly basis, but both musicians currently live in Columbia, Tennessee—about 45 miles south of their primary musical stomping ground, Nashville.
“We are close enough to Nashville to enjoy the benefits and far enough to avoid the traffic,” Langham said. “I love the opportunity to come back to California and spend time along the coastline, north of the congestion of LA.”
One of the duo’s favorite spots to tour in California is along the Central Coast, where some of their close friends and family members reside.
“I am originally from Monterey and have family out here, including a new grandson in Santa Barbara, so we come to California at least once a year, and when we do, we usually book a few shows just to see old friends,” Gill said. “When we’re here, we usually hang around San Luis with Steve Key and the other ‘songwriters at play.’”
Key is widely known in the local music community for both his work as a performer and as the producer of the Songwriters at Play live music series. The program hosts a plethora of live concerts in San Luis Obispo County and occasional performances in Santa Barbara County as well.
Starting at the end of March, the 250-seat sanctuary of Unity of Santa Maria will be home to a new monthly segment of Key’s concert series. Langham and Gill will headline the venue’s first concert in the program on March 27, which also features Americana artist Aireene Espiritu opening for the duo.
For Langham, one of the reasons she enjoys touring with Gill as a duo for this concert and beyond is because “it’s a lot more fun to travel and perform with someone,” she said.
“Touring can be pretty lonely if you are on your own.”
Arts Editor Caleb Wiseblood likes to belt “On My Own” (from Les Mis) in the shower. Send comments to cwiseblood@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Mar 24-31, 2022.
