Alastair Greene is a blues guitarist and songwriter who has been playing blues-style music for over 20 years. He likes to play crowd-pleasing blues standards, but also creates music of introspection.

Greene says he was first exposed to rock ‘n’ roll and blues by hearing other artist’s records.

“It was my parent’s record collection, a lot of Beatles, Leon Russell, Stevie Wonder, stuff like that,” said Greene. “I discovered blues through a friend of my dad, who loaned me some blues records when I was a junior in high school. That’s what originally got me hooked on blues.”

In discovering blues, Greene found a genre of music that connected with him.

“It really resonated with me. There’s an honesty about it. First and foremost I’m a guitar player, and something about blues guitar really connected with me,” he said.

Greene will be playing his brand of blues-rock at Pyrenees Cafe at 2 p.m. on April 21. Greene describes his shows at places like Pyrenees as a lively atmosphere.

“We try to keep the energy up. It’s a party atmosphere more often than not. We’ll do a lot of classic blues songs, some classic rock songs and try to mix some original material as well. We try to keep it upbeat. If it’s the type of place where people want to dance, we try to keep that up, keep that vibe going. We do tons of Chicago and Texas blues,” he said.

Although Greene has played with acts like Alan Parsons around the world, Greene still enjoys playing close, intimate venues like Pyrenees.

“I love it. It’s more immediate, especially if there are people in there dancing and having a good time,” he said, “It’s a different atmosphere than playing a big concert. Guitar wise, when I’m doing my band, I’m doing pretty much whatever I want. The songs usually aren’t the same. We’ll jam on things and improvise more. It’s insanely fun to be creating on the spot. My hope is that what I’m doing is exciting to listeners and that they enjoy sharing those moments. It’s a communal feeling.”

Although Greene has never played in Bakersfield, he does have some memories of the area.

“My grandmother lived in Visalia when I was growing up. Whenever I’d go visit my grandmother I’d always drive up through Bakersfield.”

Greene laughed as he remembered a particular local memory.

“I remember when I was a little kid there was a sign outside of Bakersfield that said, “Sun, fun, stay, play, Bakersfield”. When I saw that I knew I was getting close to Grandma’s house.”

It is Greene’s first time playing in Bakersfield and he is looking forward to playing here.

“I’m excited. I know a lot of regional bands from L.A. have gone there and had a good reception. I’m friends with some people in the area. I’m really looking forward to it. I’m stoked to come and play.”

On his most recent album, “Through the Rain,” Greene is trying something a bit different than others in the blues-rock genre.

“It’s the same thing from bands I admire, from bands like Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix, where you take blues influences and try to do something a little bit different with them, and try to insert your own personality into the stuff.

“Since I grew up on Beatles music, and I listened to what could be considered pop when I was younger, I try to come up with strong melodic choruses, which isn’t necessarily a blues trait. That was one of my goals to come up with choruses that got outside what I’d done previously.”

When writing songs for “Through the Rain,” Greene’s songs take on a darker tone than some other blues-rock.

“I think it’s easier to me to be more original lyrically by coming up with things that maybe aren’t happy songs, maybe things that are more introspective, or things that I draw on from things that I’ve experienced or watched other people experience, so the new record tended to reflect that, as opposed to being an upbeat party record.”

Overall, Greene finds music to be an outlet.

“I’ve just always enjoyed expressing myself through music. I don’t have a huge vocabulary. I’m not a poet. The things that are inside of me don’t always come out the best using words, they come out the best playing guitar.”