"We started in fits and starts, trying to get going," he said. "I stumbled around on guitar, then I tried doing this slide guitar thing and it really worked. I think we've found a sort of competence that really works well."

They play originals by Delaplain, plus covers by musicians such as Willie Nelson, with whom Wilde once played in Colorado, and what Delaplain calls "a mean 'Positively 4th Street'" by Bob Dylan.

"That's a song I tried to do alone, but now that Steve's on board it works really well," Delaplain said. "I've had people crying when we did that one."

The duo's name comes from the handle "Flatlands Frank," assigned to Delaplain when he was a trapper and guide years ago.

"I never really used it until I got into music," he said.

The native of Queens, N.Y., bought his first guitar at age 10, helped set up the stage for Woodstock and moved to Alaska after visiting his sister in the Yukon during the mid-1980s. He said he stopped playing music for many years, but started composing again about five years ago after losing his job in Skagway and now has about 25 songs he's working on.

Wilde, who grew up in Nashville, has played a wide variety of styles during his years of living and traveling, including locations such as England - where he opened for musicians such as Richard Thompson - South America, Southeast Asia and "some real crazy musicians in Humpy, south India."

He was also part of the first jazz bands in Nepal while living there during the late-1990s, when he also played ethnic music with the Newari, a multiethnic indigenous population mostly living in the Katmandu Valley.

"I was the first white guy ever to play this Newari Festival," he said. "We won great grand prize, eight or 12 other prizes (and) I got to shake the hand of the king."

He moved to Juneau last November as a result of another impromptu trip.

"I saved up about $6,000-$7,000 and decided I was going to go on a wander," Wilde said. "I was at the Rainbow Gathering in Michigan, and somebody talked me into going out to the Rainbow Gathering in Canada. I'd never seen the Canadian Rockies ... (and) then I decided I was near the Yukon and somebody told me I should go to Whitehorse and I just fell in love with it."

Wilde met Delaplain when the latter was playing a solo gig at Doc Water's. That led to a stage jam between the two and the formation of their duo.

Although they're playing music reflecting their long-ago roots, Delaplain said younger crowds, such as a large group of 20-somethings who packed the pub after the Banff Film Festival a couple weeks ago, are among their most receptive listeners.