CHRIS CRAIG – Guitarist

Whether performing elegant solo classical guitar, burning jazz and infectious funk with his own trio and combo groups, or rocking the house as a sideman, Denver-based guitarist Chris Craig brings excellence, expressiveness, creativity and professionalism to every performance.

A life-long student of the instrument, Chris has studied guitar under many notable teachers including Dweezil Zappa, Mimi Fox, Ted Dunbar, Oz Noy, Fred Fried and Jonathan Kreisberg, and has contributed articles and interviews for Guitar Player and Bass Player magazine.

Originally from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Chris attended Marietta College in Marietta, Ohio, in the mid-1990s. There he studied classical guitar, and co-founded the alternative rock group Skillet, which recorded one album, 1996’s “10 1/2 Inch Skillet”.

After graduating with degrees in Music and English, Chris moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, and joined original funk band Stymie & the Pimp Jones Luv Orchestra. As a member of Stymie, Chris shared the stage with legends Billy Preston & Fred Wesley, and opened for Earth, Wind, & Fire, Rufus w/Chaka Khan, Sugar Hill Gang, as well as co-writing hits such as Stumble to the Break of Lawn” (finalist in the 2005 John Lennon Songwriting competition, R&B Category).

To escape the Bay Area cost of living, Chris and his family moved back to Ohio in the mid 2000s, where he quickly joined the house band at the Blennerhassett Hotel in Parkersburg, WV, playing every week with local legend Bruce DeMoll, formerly lead tenor sax player in the Glenn Miller Orchestra. Over the next eight years, Chris honed his jazz chops and absorbed all he could from DeMoll’s experience and vast knowledge of jazz, and started leading his own trios and quartets.

In 2014, Chris and his family moved to Denver, where he continued to play in trio and quartet formats, as well as forming the original rock band Alchitude. Sadly, just as Alchitude was getting off the ground, the global pandemic derailed everything.

Emerging from isolation in 2021, Chris joined forces with Denver’s Little Moses Jones, bringing high-energy Pop, Funk and R&B to dance floors throughout Colorado as lead guitarist for The Sway Party Band and Little Moses Jones