Peter Spencer settles into the island rhythm as player, teacher.

The love of a good woman lured guitarist Peter Spencer away from his home. That sounds like something out of a blues song, which it soon became.

His picking style – fingertips and nails only – and heartfelt singing immediately identify his musical roots.

The blues “make you understand real feelings and how you make people feel,” said Spencer, who will perform this weekend as part of the First Sundays at the Commons series (see box).

Spencer relocated to the island from the East Coast a year ago and has settled nicely into a life that combines teaching blues guitar at Island Music Guild with retooling his musical career.

He was touched by the blues while attending high school in Erie, Penn.

“First off, you’re kind of outside – it’s a music for outsiders,” he said. “It opens you up to bad feelings, loneliness (and) to see really good feelings.”

When he fell into a collection of old 78s, his feelings for the blues “started getting serious.”

“I started exploring the history of music and liked the idea of doing something different…it was a hip secret society,” he said.

The first time he was paid for playing was in Pittsburgh, in a “teen scene coffeehouse” in a church basement in 1968. It wasn’t the money that changed his life.

“I sang ‘Back Door Man’ at age 16,” Spencer said. “I’m sure I was very convincing.”

A guy got thrown out of the place because his girlfriend was showing an interest in Spencer. After the show, he was escorted to his car, in case the jealous boyfriend was waiting to jump them.

“I just thought that was the most glamourous thing in the world,” Spencer said. “A girl I don’t know thought I was more interesting than the guy she was with. My fate was sealed.”

In the 1970s, Spencer traveled around the U.S. and Europe playing solo and in bands. In the early ’80s, he was living in New York City and “doing okay.” He also started writing, which became his new challenge, first for Fast Folk magazine and then others.

He had pieces published in Rolling Stone and other music magazines, and was living in a nice house in New Jersey. Music, he played sporadically.

In 1992, his book, “World Beat: A Listener’s Guide to Contemporary World Music on CD,” was published.

But after a time, writing ceased to be fulfilling and the music began to mean something. He started attending open-mic nights in New Hope, Penn. The town was known as “Woodstock South,” because of the actors and musicians it drew.

“I got a new audience without even trying for it,” Spencer said. “Here it just came to me and I even got a record deal. Something was missing before. Some quality had found me, and I had to be loyal to it once I knew it was there. No matter how much pain it caused, I had to do it.”

That something was music. When it became coupled with love in the form of a Bainbridge woman he had met on the East Coast, he changed direction – literally and figuratively.

“On Bainbridge, I had the chance to be part of a larger community of teachers, which I really didn’t have back East,” Spencer said. “I had the opportunity to make a contribution as a teacher, as a mentor and as a performer. I didn’t want to be the next Bob Dylan any more.”

Spencer now finds teaching guitar “terribly inspiring. The process becomes a journey for teacher and student,” he said.

He gives kudos to the musicians who inspired him, including Buddy Boy Hawkins, from the late ’20s and early ’30s; Bert Jansch, a Scottish guitarist with a very unusual guitar style from the English folk revival of the ’60s; and, oddly enough, Jerry Reed.

“A lot of people wouldn’t think ‘Jerry Reed,’” Spencer said. “He put out a lot of novelty records, but he’s a monster. He’s the only guitar player who frightens me. He’s just that fabulous. He plays a six-string guitar like a banjo.”

Spencer made a few visits to Bainbridge before his move. He was impressed by the island and the people he met.

“The rhythm of island life is different in a very subtle way. You can’t put your finger on it,” he said. “I think it’s probably more real because you can’t describe it.”

He thought he’d spend a lot of time in Seattle; instead, he probably hasn’t been there more than a dozen times in the past year.

“My students are here. My audience is here and in Poulsbo, Port Townsend (where) they’ve been very good to me. Seattle is my next challenge,” he said.

Spencer’s performance at the Commons will feature a lot of blues from his latest CD, “Nobody’s Daddy,” released in March, and some songs from his first album, which he calls “a little more song-oriented.” His third release will be more of a blues album.

“My personal circumstances made it different,” he said. “I think of myself as a songwriter who came from the blues. People told me, ‘You’re a blues artist.’ Now there are no barriers between me and the blues. It was very liberating to take things straight as they came.

“It’s more stripped down – like the concert will be – with plenty of space. It’s the space between the notes that count.”

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Back door men

Guitarist Peter Spencer and bass player Liam Graham will perform as part of the First Sundays series at 4 p.m. Sept. 11 at Bainbridge Commons in Waterfront Park.

Admission is $15 for adults and $10 for students at the door; tickets are not available in advance. The concert is sponsored by the Bainbridge Island Arts and Humanities Council. For more information, see www.firstsundaysconcerts.org or call 842-3380.