Jeff Craig was born in the mid-fifties, raised in suburban New Jersey town, about half an hour west of New York City. This proximity was crucial to his musical career.
He was enamored with music at an early age. Late fifties, early sixties music was played in his home. He was given the opportunity to purchase a 45, single of his choice at age seven and chose Elvis Presley singing a gospel song.
At age eight, he received his first guitar, a Spanish, nylon string beauty. The proviso was that he would take classical guitar lessons, which he did for several years, in New York. As time went on, Jeff wanted to play rock and roll, especially Beatle’s songs. His guitar teacher agreed, as long as he continued with his classical lessons. This was the real start of his musical journey.
At age ten he had his first electric guitar, a Guild hollow body and his first amplifier, an Ampeg. These changed many times over through the years. He joined his first band, “The Deuces Wild”, at age eleven. The band would play the occasional school and church dances. Jeff played rhythm and lead guitar and sang backup vocals. The band lasted about two years. From there, the string of bands was endless. By now he had purchased a “Black Beauty” Les Paul Custom, his all-time favorite electric guitar. Ams got bigger and bigger. Always a treat to lug around to practice and gigs! He was now mainly playing lead guitar and singing some lead vocals. From the young age of fourteen, he began attending concerts. These included local venues, area colleges and many trips to The Fillmore East in NYC. The list of big name bands he saw was endless, which invariably affected his choices of songs he performed.
Jeff began writing songs at the age of fourteen. No one said they were good songs, but friends and family encouraged him to keep at it. As the years passed, his songwriting abilities improved. Some of his strongest influences included The Beatles, Neil Young, CSNY, The Eagles, Bruce Springsteen and Dan Hicks. His writing varied from folkish, acoustic based to hard rockers. Eventually, he also wrote some country songs and even children’s songs.
Fast forward to the mid-seventies. Jeff moved to Hoboken, New Jersey, just across the river from Manhattan. There was a thriving music scene in Hoboken, which he became a part of. The music scene there was leaning toward punk rock and eventually eighties electronic pop-rock. He was prolific in his songwriting from the late sentries through mid- eighties. He formed a trio, with two female backup singers, called Steam Heat. They performed locally including at the famous “Maxwells”, the true heart of Hoboken’s music scene. He was earnestly recording his music, on a multi-track tape recorder, amassing a large number of songs. The music varied from rock, in the vein of Bruce Springsteen, to acoustic ballads, to some country. He was never a fan of country music, but perused it, for the potential of having country artists perform his songs. Jeff was frequently sending his music to artists, record companies and music publishers. He was considered by a smaller record company, but eventually turned down. They said he sounded to much like Springsteen and another rock group on their label, who also sounded very much like Bruce.
In early 1985, Jeff went into a professional recording studio in New York City. He recorded enough songs for an album, which were co-produced by him and one of the studio musicians. This was his first truly professional recording with several musicians and backup singers. For Jeff, his music truly came alive. Later that year he released a 45 single on a small local label. The single was heavily promoted on the East Coast, especially the Tri-State area, with an emphasis on college radio stations. Still “hanging out” at Maxwells and other Hoboken watering holes, he was thrilled when he heard his music played in these establishments.
As time went on Jeff played in many bands, frequently playing in the New Jersey, New York and Connecticut areas. He also played the occasional fill in guitarist with several major rock acts.
Now residing in North Carolina, he still plays and writes and occasionally records his music, of course now all digitally, which afford much more creative abilities.
A small portion of his music can be heard on reverbnation.com.