Greg Schaber

Greg Schaber is an award-winning, blues-influenced singer, guitarist and songwriter who performs both solo acoustic and electric band renditions of classic and original blues on a variety of vintage instruments, including harp guitar, guitar-banjo, mandolin and National steel guitar. Forty-one years of playing—and almost that many years studying blues recordings and blues history—have made Greg conversant with both the acoustic-based regional styles that marked the blues in the early 20th century and the electrified urban styles that followed. Thus, he moves easily from the harsh bottleneck style of Mississippi musicians like Son House to the smoother Texas style of Lightnin’ Hopkins and the fluid, rag-influenced Piedmont approach of South Carolina’s Rev. Gary Davis and Kentucky’s Bill Williams, lacing it all together with anecdotes and humor.

Acoustic styles form the core of Greg’s solo performances, but if requested, he seasons the mix with funky, low-volume electric guitar recalling the styles of Mississippi Fred McDowell, Muddy Waters and Elmore James. Greg continues the spectrum on the electric band side, moving from urban stylings in the vein of Otis Rush, B.B. King, Lonnie Mack, and Albert King to more progressive jazz and R&B-influenced approaches, recalling such artists as Grant Green, Phil Upchurch, and Robert Ward.