Creating new

musical Gaines
By Scott Nicholson
nicholson@wataugademocrat.com

Long-time local music fans may remember Greg Gaines for his scorching lead guitar work in various rock bands, but now he’s more likely to finger pick an acoustic guitar on stage.

Gaines began playing music in his teens when art was his main interest.

“We all wanted to be rock stars, in a sense,” he said. “It’s that age-old call to be a rock star that we never get over, even in our forties.”

Gaines performed in local rock bands in the 1980s, including Never Mind, Red Plastic Guns and Direct Osmosis, and built a home studio where he began recording his own songs and those of other local musicians.

He gradually evolved toward a more melodic sound five years ago when he served as engineer for the MountainHome Music series.

“Working with people like Joe Shannon, Doc Watson, Randy Lewis and Wayne Henderson gave me a deeper appreciation of melodic styles and good songwriting,” he said. “That’s when I began playing more acoustic guitar.”

Though he’s always played some acoustic, even in a rock lineup, he began using a classical guitar with nylon strings.

Always a songwriter, he found his melodies became more open, and he also credited his expanding interests in different styles of music to his growth as a writer.

While he learned his early licks from the albums by Jimi Hendrix and the Kinks, he now listens to Beethoven. However, he avoids the term “classical” to describe his sound because he believes people have expectations of formal, trained music.

Gaines called his songs “a combination of craft and psychotherapy,” saying they are “sort of like snap shots.”

He’s written songs all his life, though he doesn’t often play the older songs. When he does, he often reinterprets them.

Currently, he plays regularly at Higher Grounds in Boone and hopes to add more regional gigs. “Music is a way of sharing my feelings—joyful, happy, tragic, sad,” he said.

“Great songs are not necessarily about great things. They are often very personal. Shared experiences are what makes them great, because they are things we all feel.”

Gaines strives to do more than just entertain an audience, likening listeners to a mirror that provides the meanings to the songs.

“It’s pretty intense. I want it to be something that people don’t easily forget. The human pathos will always inspire people to create so people can share what means the most to them.”

Early influences included Bob Dylan, the Beatles and Leonard Cohen and Gaines said Doc Watson is now one of his inspirations. “The guy is just fantastic,” he said.

“I find him to be a blues guitarist, not a bluegrass guitarist, and whoever doesn’t like that can just disagree.”

He also admires other “gut-string players” like Lightning Hopkins and Mississippi John Hurt, even though those blues artists later picked up electric instruments.

“I’ve always liked to play, and that’s about it,” he said. “It just makes my ears feel good. Playing a good song is like what digging in the dirt is to a farmer.”

Gaines also enjoys exploring traditional tunes, searching for new or accidental notes, though he finds beauty in simplicity as well, acknowledging that his material can be cerebral.

He enjoys putting music to Romantic poets like William Blake and W.B. Yeats. “Before man could talk, he could make music,” Gaines said.

Despite his years of engineering and his many songs, he’s recorded only a small portion of his songs. After learning along the way, he now feels ready to collect his material, rebuild his studio and explore launching a record label with local talent.

Until then, he focuses on his craft and his shows at Higher Grounds, where he usually plays every Thursday and Saturday evenings while searching for more venues in the region.

Gaines said Higher Grounds was a perfect outlet for musicians who have yet to break into the booking circuit or develop promotional packages. “Matt (Scott, coffee-shop owner) does an invaluable service to local musicians, giving them a chance to play,” he said.