Greg Baerns

As most folks listen to music for relaxation, few make music and give birth to new tunes. Greg Baerns is one of those few.

He is a talented songwriter as well as a skilled singer and guitar player yet he is your average guy.

He enjoys sports; he likes to hear laughter, especially if it's from a witty and quick remark that he, himself, let slip; and he's a rather shy and reserved fellow at first but just as much down to earth. And yet it doesn't get in the way of a good performance on stage.

"Everywhere he goes, I indulge in watching the crowds of these different genre music fans be won over by Greg's shy, nervous stage presence, oddly matched with this amazing talent," said Leigh Neer, a worker at The Wyatt's Torch Bar.

His skill is undeniable and his personality is a bit random as his Clark-Kent-type glasses give the perfect disguise of shyness and modesty.

Baerns has been into music ever since he played a percussion in the fifth grade, however; denies that as a musical background.

"For percussion in band, all I had to do was bang on something three- or four-times-a-song and that was my special part," said Baerns.

Later on in his childhood, he took piano lessons for two years but admits to never practicing. The piano teacher would lecture him every time she would notice he didn't practice. Baerns describes it as pep talks.

"(She would say) how not practicing holds me back. I should have listened," he says jokingly.

The habit of procrastination was quickly left behind when he was 19-years-old. A simple acoustic guitar changed his views of practicing and music. Before he knew it, he was perfecting his talent night and day.

Baerns' commitment was strong and unbreakable. He never took any lessons but rather observed performances and read guitar tabs, the sheet music for guitars.

"I would look up guitar tabs of all the songs I wanted to learn then pop in the CD and try to play along with it," he said.

During this time, he very rarely went out on Friday and Saturday nights like other people his age did. Instead he took time out of his day learning various songs and playing along with the CDs.

In the beginning, he primarily favored Dave Matthews Band as well as Third Eye Blind, Everclear, and Semisonic. Soon after, Baerns saw Coldplay, Radiohead, and The Verve as major influences.

Following those bands were a wave of classical musicians such as Beethoven, Bach, Hayden, and Chopin. Proceeding that, were indie rock bands like Death Cab for Cutie, Damien Rice, Howie Day, Guster, Jeff Buckley and Jason Mraz.

To his fans, he delivers performances full of satisfaction every time.

"His music is, well, what it is. And it's nothing close to our bands' style. But for some reason, we like sharing the stage with him. And so do our fans," said Micky Dollar, the lead guitarist and vocals for Vices I Admire, a local band in Denver.

Baerns seems to not only entice fans from all over Denver, but keeps them, too.

"I live in Virginia Beach right now and one of the things I miss about Denver is going to Greg's shows every other weekend or so," said a friend of Baerns, Mel Curkovic.

He considers having two first performances. One performance was an open mic and the other, an official performance. He has both events recorded on tape.

He confesses that the open mic performance wasn't his idea in the first place.

"It was at The Mercury Cafe when I just turned 20," he explains. "I had only been playing for about a year. My brother and mother had just given me an acoustic/electric guitar for my birthday, the one that you can plug into a sound system," Baerns said.

"My buddy, Mel, told me I should go play a local open mic. I was so scared. I waited for my turn then got up there. I think I played a Dave Matthews song and one original song," he said.

However, according to Baerns, the performance didn't go well as expected.

"I sucked so bad. Really, I hate seeing it. I can't believe I still have the tape," he said.

As for his official performance, it was a Thursday night at The Wyatt's Torch, formally called Bottom's Up Tavern, and the bar was empty.

"It was just me and my guitar up there," he recalls.

As Baerns later goes on to explain, music wasn't always his thing.

"I actually played a lot of sports. My dad was big into sports so I was. I played baseball, football, basketball, soccer, hockey. You name it, I probably played it," he said.

As for this 25-year-old Denver, Colorado native, he seemed to have avoided that quarter life crisis as he has become the best-kept-secret in Denver while playing gig-by-gig at various bars.

"I have a lot of wear-my-heart-on-my-sleeve-type-of-songs," Baerns said. "I'd say it's acoustic rock, along the lines of your popular alternative music you hear nowadays."

Baerns has a debut album, called "Out of Nowhere", out now with 11 original songs. If you would like to learn more about Greg and where you can see him play, visit his website, www.gregbaerns.com.

"He is a humble guy," said Neer, "(His) music makes me want to be 16 again, making out in a car, stumbling and butterflies."

--Copyright 2007 SKB - SKB

"Awesome acoustic loop-pedal insanity!" - Wrong Name Entertainment

"If you haven't seen Greg Baerns play a live show you are truly missing out. He has a great humor to his set so that you are never bored, even while he's tuning his guitar. It's just a boy, his guitar and foot pedals looping a song together as you watch it build live right in front of you."

--L. Neer (c) 2006 - L. Neer

"For any acoustic-loving addict, Greg Baerns is a delight to the ears. With his soulful lyrics accompanied by melodic guitar and cool pedal tricks; Baerns brings a new tasty treat to the world of acoustic guitar. Hints of Radiohead and brushes of Howie Day help Baerns to evoke the world to journey with him through the emotional excursions of love and life. Clearly a breath of fresh air, Baerns' seamless yet soothing vocals and raw guitar talent are bound to be acknowledged. His stage show demands the audiences' attention with witty jokes and covers that are worthy of competing with the originals. Greg Baerns is cool, perhaps that's his street name. Hands down, he is worthy of having it monogrammed on his towels."

-- Michca (c) 2007 - Michca