Summer Guitar Sessions Clinic: Chris Bergson

Chris Bergson is an internationally acclaimed guitarist, singer, and songwriter who was inducted into the New York Blues Hall of Fame as a Master Blues Artist in 2015. “Chris Bergson plays the kind of guitar you can build a house on—it’s B.B. meets Steve Cropper meets John Scofield,” says ROLL Magazine. Hailed as “the New York street poet with a blues soul” by MOJO Magazine and “one of the most inventive songwriters in modern blues music” by AllMusic Guide, Bergson is best known as the leader of the Chris Bergson Band.

Elmore Magazine calls the Chris Bergson Band “one of the most talented bands playing today,” praising its soulful blend of American roots music, which encompasses “blazing rock to funk to soul to Delta blues and all that’s in between.” Bergson is also an accomplished sideman who has performed with luminaries across a wide range of genres, including pop and rock (Norah Jones, Levon Helm), blues and soul (Hubert Sumlin, Bernard Purdie), and jazz (Annie Ross, Al Foster, and Larry Grenadier).

This fall marks Bergson's sixth year as an associate professor in Berklee's Guitar Department, where he teaches songwriting and slide guitar classes in addition to private lessons.