Aztec Two-step brings 45 years of musical success to FTC Thursday night

Celebrating their 45th anniversary with a new album and tour, Aztec Two-Step brings its unique sounds for a return engagement at Fairfield Theater Company Thursday night April 13th at 7:45 p.m.

Aztec Two-Step is a folk rock duo that began after a chance meeting between Rex Fowler and Neal Shulman at a Boston folk club. Now in their fifth decade of making music together, the two are still having a great time playing gigs and making albums.

“In a way it’s kind of dysfunctional,” laughed Fowler during a recent interview. “I mean people must be asking, ‘What’s the matter with these guys?’”

But Fowler also pointed out that during the 45 years he and Shulman have found a niche that allows them to keep at it saying, “We are not popular enough to where we going to go our separate ways like a lot of bands do and we’re not making enough money where we can do whatever we want so we get to keep playing.”

That being said he added, “What really has sustained us is our fans; we have a really solid fan base that has great loyalty. They love our music and come to our shows and we really appreciate that fact that they are so supportive.”

Shulman and Fowler chose their name from Beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti – 98 and still going strong – from his famous collection of poems “A Coney Island of the Mind.” The line from Poem number nine reads, “See it was like this when we waltz into this place a couple of Papish cats is doing an Aztec two-step.”

Once they had a name and had written some songs, Aztec Two-step released its self-titled first album in 1972 and the pair were on their way. The album had an immediate impact on FM radio and put Aztec Two-step on the proverbial map.

“I think the first album really resonated for us,” explained Fowler. “It got a lot of air play and definitely sent us on our way. I think if you asked a lot of our core fans they would say that our first album is still their favorite.”

Fans who attend the FTC show can expect to hear several tunes from that first album and also some new songs from their soon to be released album, “Naked.”

“We are both excited about the new album and we’re going do some stuff from that and then we’ll probably do our canon,” said Fowler. “And yes, I think we’ll be playing quite a few songs from our first album.”

The title track from “Naked” was penned by Fowler and he is enthusiastic about it describing the song as “uplifting, contemporary and socially conscious.”

He and Shulman are also excited about returning to Fairfield Theater Company where they have played several times in the past.

“It’s a very intimate venue and we can really interact with the audience,” pointed out Fowler. “The staff is tremendously dedicated the sound is always good. This is just a great place to play.”