Tuck and Patti Andress to play Bearfest

The artistry and musical magic of duo Tuck and Patti Andress will be at the forefront of the entertainment available to Wrangell during the 2012 Bearfest celebration – with two performances July 27-28 at the Nolan Center.

With a string of 14 albums, including a major-label release on Epic Records, and a career spanning more than 30 years, the pair still tour relentlessly with their unique style of Tuck’s guitar-oriented jazz and Patti’s lilting vocals.

Tuck, a guitar phenomenon and native of Oklahoma, was a session guitarist with the Gap Band prior to his solo career. In 1978, he met Patti, his future wife, at an audition in San Francisco, Calif. The two began to perform together that same year and married in 1981.

“We’re going on 34 years now, and the last four have been as great as the first 30,” Patti said. “We were both playing in different groups at the time and I had heard about this amazing guitarist and his playing, while he had also heard about my singing. We met at an audition and were both taken into the band.”

Their membership lasted in that band for only a short time before the duo decided to blaze their own musical path.

The two signed with Windham Hill Records in 1987 before moving to Epic for one release in 1995. The duo subsequently returned to Windham Hill before signing on with their current label, 33rd Street Records – where they are label mates with the likes of Peter Frampton, The Eagles, and Sammy Hagar.

“We are so excited to be coming to Wrangell for Bearfest, because we have never been to Wrangell,” Tuck added. “We have been to Haines and Homer, but never Wrangell, so this should be good.”

The duo’s Nolan Center performance on July 27 will start at 7 p.m., with their July 28 show starting at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free, though a donation to Bearfest will be accepted at the door.