01/02/2026
Gabe Stillman plays BTE tonight and tomorrow!
Looking forward to seeing you at Gabe Stillman's concerts at Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble's Alvina Krause Theatre on Friday and Saturday, January 2nd and 3rd!
Check out this article about Gabe in The Daily Item today, Thursday, including a couple of great quotes from our executive director, Oren B Helbok:
LOCAL MUSICIAN GABE STILLMAN READY FOR BTE SHOWS AFTER BEING NOMINATED IN BLUES MUSIC AWARDS
By Jason C. Klose
If You Go
What: BTE Presents Gabe Stillman When: 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday
Where: Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble, Alvina Krause Theatre, 226 Center St., Bloomsburg
How much: $23-24
More information: Tickets available via the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble website -- bte.org
Award-winning blues artist Gabe Stillman will bring in the New Year as he and his band will hit the stage at the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 2, and Saturday, Jan. 3, at the Alvina Krause Theatre, 226 Center St., Bloomsburg.
With a sound that is unmistakably rooted in the blues, Stillman and his band draw from the deep well of all American roots music, gaining new fans and widening the fanbase with each tour and performance. After performing in Williamsport’s Uptown Music Collective and graduating from Boston’s Berklee College of Music, Stillman formed his band in 2015. His musical career was further set in motion when his band landed in the finals at the 35th International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tennessee, where Stillman walked away as the recipient of the esteemed Gibson Guitar Award.
Oren Helbok, executive director of The Exchange in Bloomsburg, first met Stillman in 2016 when he and his band the Billtown Giants played as part of the main event of the Destination Blues Music Festival at the Caldwell Consistory in Bloomsburg.
“We knew even then that Gabe would go places,” he said. “He was the real deal — an old soul who knew the Blues inside and out, loved the genre and could play an electric guitar so darn well.”
Stillman returned to perform at the festival each year, played at The Exchange’s Listening Room, and at their “Backstage Pass to the Blues” presentations at various venues in the area.
“He got every audience member moving in their seats,” Helbok said.
Stillman got his first taste of music sitting in the car, listening to music with his mom on the way to and from school and just about anywhere they went.
“There was always music playing,” he recalled. “My mom loves The Beatles, so I remember their music being played around the house a lot.”
Stillman’s dad is a music lover as well and the one who influenced his love for jazz and Motown.
“He was listening to Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, other big band music, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, and Marvin Gaye,” he said. “Both my parents are really into musical theatre, and that was around a lot too. I heard all of it and I loved all of it! Cheers to hip parents!”
At 9 or 10 years old, Stillman became more interested in hard rock music, as he started listening to bands like Kiss, Led Zeppelin and AC/DC.
“When I started to take guitar lessons at the Uptown Music Collective, my teachers there explained to me that Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, and Angus Young are playing ‘the blues’ but playing it ‘on steroids,’” he said. “So they taught me some blues licks. They were these little three-note B.B. King-esque phrases and I was amazed that I could finally do something on the guitar that sounded like music. The blues bug bit me right then.”
At 13, Stillman played a blues tune for an audience as part of a UMC performance.
“I was hearing all these ‘whoos!’ and ‘yeahs!’ from the crowd during the song,” he said. “I hadn’t experienced that kind of reaction from an audience before, and I felt like I had found ‘my thing.’ Since then, there’s been nothing else I would rather be doing.”
Having done music professionally for 10 years, Stillman now performs with a repertoire of mostly his own original music.
“I still do some covers, but I never play someone else’s song the way they play it,” he noted. “Heck, I’m not really able to play my own songs the same way twice. Every show is different, and I’m always just trying to play to the moment and play what I feel.”
The band’s most recent release, “Just Say the Word,” charted on Billboard Blues and continues to receive far-reaching acclaim. The release features 15 tracks, including 13 of Stillman’s originals, showcasing Stillman as a serious songwriter. The album garnered a Blues Music Award nomination in the Best Emerging Artist Album category and charted on Living Blues and Roots Music Radio for several weeks.
Stillman believes what makes him unique as a musician and performer is the same for any other artist.
“It’s all about authenticity and putting in the work to develop my own sound,” he said. “I’m only ever trying to sound more and more like me. I play from the heart and bring a lot of energy to every show.”
Stillman first appeared on the BTE stage in 2016 as a part of the “Destination Blues” concert series.
“He and the Giants blew the doors off the place, and it seems shocking to think that it has taken almost 10 years to get Gabe back there,” Helbok said. “But what an excellent 10 years for him. And we here in Bloomsburg will always look at Gabe with what I’d call familial pride.”
Stillman couldn’t be more excited to be coming back, and he can’t wait to share all of his music for two great shows. He is also looking forward to what’s coming on the horizon in the upcoming year, with great shows, festivals, and a new album release.
“I’ll be mixing up both nights playing some different material each night,” he said. “I’m most excited to play the tunes on my new record that is coming out at the end of March.”
Stillman is always hoping the audience will come away from a show feeling moved by his and his band’s performance.
“We’re gonna have a great time!” he said. “Music is medicine for me, and if I can make someone else’s day a little better by playing for them — that’s the best feeling in the world.”
Stillman said he hopes to continue to write and perform songs that connect with people and keep growing the wonderful fanbase that he’s built over the past decade.
“My sound is always changing and expanding because I’m always changing,” he added. “No matter what, I’ll continue to tell my truth and share it with music fans.”
Stillman is hoping to broaden his touring horizons and get out to the West Coast with his band and hopefully Europe in 2026.
“I’ve gotten to tour this past year as a member of John Nemeth & The Blue Dreamers, and I would love to get out internationally under my own name,” he said.
Source: dailyitem.com/applause/local-musician-gabe-stillman-ready-for-bte-shows-after-being-nominated-in-blues-music-awards/article_2568ffd9-32ee-4368-ac5e-5493d2b16f55.html
