Craig Greenberg

From performing with Jackson Browne, to having his original music featured in a motion picture, Craig has done it all. He also just released his fantastic new EP 'Between the Sea and the Sky." Music News caught up with Craig's to find out more about his musical journey and the inspiration behind the new music…


Hey Craig! Tell us about your musical background. Where did you grow up, and when did you first get into playing and writing music?
Hiya, thanks for having me.. I was born in Queens, NY, and grew up on the south shore of Long Island.
I first started playing music around age 8 (the violin in my school orchestra). I also sang in the chorus then. Around age 13 I took a couple of drum lessons and had a meet up with some friends with the intention to form a band, but that didn't really go anywhere. When i was 15 i picked up the guitar, and that's when i really got serious about music, and would play for hours (and hours!) on end. Within a few months i was in a band and started writing some guitar riffs and pieces of songs, and also some lyrics, but it wasn't until after i graduated college some years later that i was able to put it all together and started writing full songs with lyrics.

You've had a lot of exciting moments over the course of your career. What have been some highlights?
Oh, well, getting to perform with Jackson Browne on a few occasions (at a festival in Wisconsin) for sure has to be at the top of the list. He was very encouraging to me as a songwriter early on in my career, and those experiences still lift me up in moments when i'm feeling discouraged. Other highlights would be performing in Lincoln Center in NYC to a crowd of >6500; having a song I co-wrote be performed by Donovan at Carnegie Hall; and another song of mine placed in a movie by the amazing Jane Weidlin (songwriter, bassist of the Go-Gos).



You have your new EP, "Between the Sea and the Sky", that just released. Congrats! What's the inspiration behind the songs on the EP?
Thank you! The songs were mostly written during the height of the pandemic in NYC--"Quarantine Queen" and "Face the Fire" both came directly out of that intense moment. "Quarantine Queen" is me imagining my ideal partner to spend lock down with. "Face the Fire" is my take on how our president at the time mishandled the response to the epidemic (am proud that this song actually earned me my first haters! ;) . "Going Back to the Start" and "Between the Sea and the Sky" are both introspective "entering middle age" songs--the former looking toward the past when life was simpler, and the latter looking toward the future and realizing there's more to be accomplished, and that life is really just beginning. Given their temporal themes, I really like that these two songs bookend the EP (and cool serendipitous sidenote: both are exactly the same length).
"In Need of a Friend" is the ballad of the album--a love song about two people finding each other after both suffering personal loss.

Walk us through the recording process for the EP.
It was recorded in 3 different periods between 2020 and 2022, at the Ice Plant in Long Island City, Queens, with producer/engineer Wayne Silver. It came together more organically than my last 2 records and i think that feeling comes through on the album. The drums were all done by Hiroyuki Matsuura, and I did almost all the other parts--piano/synths/organ, bass, guitar, vocals. Amazing vocalist, Melissa Goscinski, sang back up on "In Need of a Friend".

What's the plan for you and your musical endeavors in 2023?
Well I definitely plan to get out and do more live shows--presently planning to be on the west coast in February for some dates (and also attend the Grammys for the first time). I have a new music video in the works for "Between the Sea and the Sky" that should be out sometime in February. And otherwise, I still have many songs that i've written in the last couple of years that i have yet to record, so i think i'll be back in the studio to start on the next project sometime toward the end of next year.

What's one hobby you love to do when you're not playing music?
I've gotten quite into photography in the last few years. I find that inspiration to take a photo hits me much in the same way to getting a musical idea. The cover to the new EP is actually the first time I've used a photo of mine for any album artwork (it was taken earlier in the year in Brooklyn, NY) so i'm pretty happy about that.
How can our readers keep up with you moving forward?

Well they can find me at all the usual places--on my website, YouTube, social media (Facebook/IG/Twitter/Tik Tok).
And my music can be found on all the digital platforms - i.e, spotify
apple music, bandcamp, Pandora.. just search my name (and make sure to spell my last name with an "e" not a "u' ;) !