By Cathy Miller

Greg Stier, this week’s Person of the Week, is one of those double duty musical performers. A guitarist and songwriter he performs original songs and select covers as a solo and he’s also one-third of the band This Old House. When solo many of his songs lean toward the eclectic. The band, on the other hand, plays an array of styles.

Of his eclectic choice of tunes, he explained, “The music is too blues to be jazz, too jazz to be blues,” so he typically crafts a set list with “an amalgam of musical styles and compositions.”

Classic rock is not one of Greg’s genres of choice when performing solo. “Why would you want me to play it, when you can just buy it?”

Greg used to play bluegrass banjo, but after he heard the punk band The Ramones, “That was the end of that!” Guitar, including his 12-string, is his instrument of choice, but he also plays dulcimer, bass guitar, and keyboards.

What prompted him to pick up guitar at the age of 12? He disclosed, “My sister was taking lessons from a cool guitar teacher. He was a beatnik.” Greg wanted to be cool too, but admits, “I stunk at it ’til I was 17.”

He realized, “At 12, you don’t have the manual dexterity to play guitar, but once you’re a little older, everything starts working.” The first song he played in its entirety was “Alice’s Restaurant”, which of course is not a quick 3-minute tune.

When he was a kid, Greg’s favorite place to see a live band was Seton Hall University. He was lucky enough to see Jefferson Airplane and Janis Joplin at the Fillmore East.

Recounting the Jefferson Airplane show, Greg said, “When I was 15, I went to a show by myself. At the historic Fillmore East in NYC’s East Village, sitting in row X at the top of the hall, I saw Buddy Guy/Junior Wells and Jefferson Airplane. Midway through Jefferson Airplane’s set, drummer Spencer Dryden’s kick drum head ripped, and while the techs replaced it, guitarist Jorma Kaukonen and bassist Jack Casady did a Hot Tuna set, much to my great delight (having just discovered their first album and wearing out the vinyl!!). I got home at 5 a.m. on a school night and was in a heckuva lotta trouble with my Mom. Hoo-boy…”

In 1969, he purchased two tickets to Woodstock from Bambergers in Newark. He’d done a fairly good job of keeping his plans from his mother, until the day he came home and she met him at the door. She was waving the two tickets at him – guess who didn’t go to Woodstock? (But he still has the tickets.)

Greg and his wife Nora moved from Metuchen to Washington five years ago to be closer to her hometown of Hackettstown. Greg taught British literature to high school seniors for 20 years and claims to have “used a lot of Groucho Marx” during his lessons. On a separate note, he even coached some young musicians on how to start a band! Sounds a little like that cool beatnik guitar teacher his sister had!

Greg’s upcoming schedule includes:

This Old House at Riley and Jake’s in Clinton on July 30 from 7–10 p.m.

Greg is on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/gnstier/
This Old House is at https://www.facebook.com/ThisOldHouseBand/

Cathy Miller is an award-winning photographer and chronicler of the people of Warren County. Her photos have appeared in publications throughout the state and she frequently can be seen taking pics at events throughout the region.