Last week, I sat down with Suzanne McGettigan and Larry Gilbert, known professionally as McGettigan & Gilbert, who are getting to be a well-known musical duo in the region.

Last summer, when I saw Larry and Suzanne playing together at Oak Park, I had a deja vu of seeing Suzanne play at the Folkways over 25 years ago! My family loved her album, “A Place In the Woods,” and I always wondered what she was doing now. I was excited to find out and she and Larry have an album coming out!

I first met Larry at the Greenfield recycling center in the summer of 2021. (Where else do you meet new people in town?) Larry grew up camping at Greenfield State Park with his parents, and continued the tradition by bringing his own children to the park every summer.

The Gilbert family was so beloved at the park that the now-retired head ranger, Christine Rand, hung the family’s registration sign, “Gilbert-103,” permanently on the board at the lodge, in honor of the Gilbert family’s favorite campsite. (Larry says they also loved No. 95).

Larry and his wife, Sue Gilbert, always planned to retire to Greenfield, and in August 2021, they left Tewksbury and moved into a house near – where else? – Greenfield State Park.

At this year’s Oktoberfest, Larry played a set with well-loved Greenfield musician Jarvis Adams, to the delight of the crowd.

Suzanne, a nurse by day, comes from generations of McGettigans in Wilton. She even grew up on McGettigan Road, where her father was one of nine McGettigan siblings. She fondly recalls playing at the Folkways back in the 1990s, and especially working with Widdie Hall, who “really took local musicians under her wing and got everybody together.”

In 2021, after a long break from music due to “life happening,” Suzanne was looking to play again. She put a request on BandMix (a classifieds website for musicians) for someone to play guitar with, and Larry responded, suggesting Suzanne come see him play at the Greenfield Farmers’ and Crafters’ Market at Oak Park.

Larry and Suzanne soon realized that, being almost exactly the same age, they knew many of the same songs and could easily play together. Recently, McGettigan & Gilbert played to a full house at The Park Theatre in Jaffrey, and they have regular gigs at the Bagel Mill as well as at Summerhill, Scott-Farrar and RiverMead.

“We got such great feedback and exposure at the farmers’ market,” Suzanne said. “People started asking us where we were playing next, where they could find our music. We hadn’t really thought about it, but then we started to. It was like, why not? What can we do next?”

After writing a few songs together, Suzanne and Larry realized they would soon have enough for an album, and they began looking for a recording studio. When I asked if the album would come out digitally, they both laughed.

“Suzanne is the one with the vision,” Larry said. “She’s the writer, I’m more tech. We both write, but we kind of come at it from different angles, and it works out really well.”

“We’re both from the record player era,” Suzanne said. “We’re not so up on the tech. Whatever is the best way for the album to come out --Spotify, TikTok, whatever – that’s what we’ll do.”

“In the meantime, we’re looking for more gigs, bigger gigs,” said Larry. “The support has been huge. It’s pretty exciting.”

You can find McGettigan & Gilbert at various venues in the Monadnock region. To book them for an event or for more information, contact Larry Gilbert at 978-604-0621 or larry2841@aol.com.

Please email jesstimm17@gmail.com with ideas for The Greenfield Beat.

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