Guitarist Craig Chaquico Helps Celebrate Environmental Heroes
Smooth jazz guitarist Craig Chaquico, who has a Smooth Jazz Top 20 hit with “Songbird,” this week performed at an event close to his heart: environmental awareness. Chaquico was the featured musician in Phoenix for an awards luncheon for people and businesses that have gone green and made efforts to reduce their carbon footprint.
Sponsored by the Arizona Department of Transportation, the event also praised those who support car pooling, public transportation and riding bicycles to work. “There was a guy honored who rode his bike to school with his son everyday. He then goes to work on a bike and comes back to ride with his son home after school during a lunch break. There was a woman who took public transportation 50 miles a day each way to get to work.”
Chaquico’s performance was arranged by Lil Duarte, a Phoenix resident who works for the DOT and doubles as Chaquico’s fan club president. “As an avid hiker, bicyclist and somebody who really enjoys camping, this fits right in for me,” Chaquico says. “The environment is something near and dear to my heart, as many of my songs have themes around that. My first CD, Acoustic Highway, was all about places in northern California you could visit on a bike ride or hiking trail, from the redwoods to the ocean and all in between.”
Chaquico’s second CD, Acoustic Planet also had environmental themes, as have songs throughout the guitarist’s career.