about
Michael Goy and David Cooper formed Red Nucleus in 2013. We perform original music composed and arranged for guitar and bass. Our lively and emotional instrumental duets occupy a unique niche at the intersection of folk, rock, American primitive, and new acoustic music. David plays the bass as a tuned rhythm instrument that blends adroitly with Michael’s finger-style approach to guitar. Melody, harmony, and groove are front-and-center, elevated by the resonance of open-string guitar tunings and flowing bass lines. Red Nucleus is based in Chapel Hill NC.
a bit of history
Michael and David are both retired academics. Along with their career choices, music has been deeply woven into their lives. Upon his parents’ suggestion, Michael began a short-lived affair with the clarinet in grade school; David was a drummer in his high school’s marching band. When Michael ditched clarinet for guitar, it turned out that the only reputable guitar teacher in his hometown (Beaverton, Oregon) taught flamenco. Soon, college life in Eugene would bring new sounds and styles for him to assimilate, ranging from the Grateful Dead to Hendrix to The Beatles to Little Feat. Meanwhile, on the East Coast, David had abandoned the drums and was playing guitar in a vocal ensemble at Brown University... but his fundamental commitment to rhythm soon led him to embrace the bass guitar. Gigs in rock and blues bands followed for both Michael and David. And then, while working in Boston, Michael encountered the music of Pierre Bensusan and Michael Hedges, and the world of fingerstyle guitar opened up for him. He began composing pieces in this genre, and used the rhythmicity and harmonic complexity of these compositions (along with persistent, heartfelt cajoleries) to lure David into the musical collaboration that gave rise to Red Nucleus.
-adapted from liner notes written by Steven Cornelius