Lunar Prairie by Lunar Prairie

"The insistent bass notes of 'Slow Rebound' underlie melodic passages in a recording so clean that it feels as if the musicians are playing live in the room. Feels like where the prairie opens up into a forever sky…."

Tracy Schoenle, former editor of Cricket Magazine

"Even with the sitar making it sound non-Western, there is quite an Americana feel to the music... Two men finger-picking away on a guitar and a sitar, and this seems smooth and well-spent. The music sounds very much composed and has a strong melodic touch to each of the ten pieces. Lovely stuff, I admit..."

Vital Weekly, Issue 1432

Drawing from the Fahey school of finger picking, David Van Auken’s unadorned guitar arrangements create an apt canvas for J.J. Gregg’s beautifully fluid sitar melodies, evoking a certain joy that permeates the duo’s stellar debut album, Lunar Prairie.

As Tracy Schoenle describes the album:

"Bright, clear, and crisp, this complementary pairing of sitar and guitar is a full-throated conversation in which neither takes a backseat. The guitar evokes the landscape of the early American western prairie, while the sitar suggests the tinkling sounds of stars and deep eastern roots."

The members of Lunar Prairie met on SoundCloud of all things. David Van Auken, checking out some Indian Classical music, stumbled on JJ Gregg's sitar recordings whereupon JJ discovered his interest and really liked some of David's solo tracks.

As JJ describes it: "We got together a couple times in the summer of 2018. We came up with some interesting material, but things hadn't quite clicked to pursue a full scale collaboration. It was in those early days that we laid the groundwork for Line of Totality, the first track on the new album. We kept working on our individual projects, but kept in touch. David's invitation to work on one of those long lost tunes came in 2022 as he finished up his debut album release, American Harmony (on Debacle Records). David's tracks were all recorded and I added the new sitar material in the studio. A new live version of this song, Enchain, features on the new Lunar Prairie album."

After finishing Enchain in the studio, David suggested that they write some new material together. As part of JJ's PNW tour to support the release of his 2022 album, 're-cycling', David opened up for a few of his shows and we started performing together at those shows as well, adding new songs along the way. “We were having a lot of fun, crafting a sonic landscape unlike one we had experienced before. We garnered a fantastic audience response…we had momentum,” says JJ.

JJ and David started recording 'Lunar Prairie' in January of 2023 in JJ’s home studio in Salem. Some of the material they had written or refined in earlier rehearsals and some they worked on in the studio. Many of the tracks required a lot of development and rehearsal, while a couple tracks coalesced almost immediately. David experimented extensively with different guitars on different tracks, the most unusual found on the slide guitar of The Tidal Record.

After about eight sessions, they had most of the material for the album. Not quite satisfied with a few recordings, JJ and David recorded the whole performance at Minto Island Growers Farmstand in Salem in August 2023. From that show, the final two tracks were ready, Somnambulance and Enchain.

A dynamic yet meditative sitar player, J.J. Gregg performs improvised and pre-composed music. With over a decade of hands-on training in India, J.J. immerses western experimental and jazz music into the traditional world of the sitar. J.J. Gregg has performed on the sitar in India, Japan, Thailand, and throughout the U.S. He also teaches sitar & voice online & throughout the Willamette Valley.

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