Occasionally, some things are born out of need for simplicity.
Two Live Dogs arrives on the scene just in time of such
need. A couple of guys with decent pipes, several guitars,
a few surprises, and a lot of music hitting you right
between the ears when you listen. What could be simpler?
Emphasize the "Live" because this acoustic
duo does nothing in the studio that it can't reproduce
faithfully in performance, and onstage that amounts to
quite a lot. Accent on "Dogs," and although
there are only two of them, their musical diversity will
sometimes make you swear there's a whole pack. With solid
two part vocal harmonies and tricks like banjo, flute
and harmonica up their sleeves, the experience of living
that Chris and Steve weave into their lyrical and melodic
stories is the theme Two Live Dogs brings home again
and again. Sometimes the music's pretty. Other times
it's sad or funny, but it's always alive.
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Steve Cohagan and Chris
Lugar hail
from contrasting regions of Western Pennsylvania. Steve
calls a century-old farmhouse north of Pittsburgh home,
while Chris lives in the heart of the city. Perhaps this
contrast is evident in the candid starkness of the influence
Steve adds to the duo's repertoire, the pure beauty of
words and uncompromising solidity of a heart close to
the earth. The rock n' roll edge Chris mixes in comes
from none other than that street-wise, sarcastic, urban
defiance that growing up next to the tracks provides.
The result is undefinable to those with a bent towards
pigeon-holing: not quite the blues, never really country,
not always folk... yet daring to rock. Whatever the blend,
the brand of music Two Live Dogs makes has simply never
been more entertaining.
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