Grant Mazak

Grant Mazak is a Professor of Guitar and has taught at Texas State since 1994. He earned his B. A. in Guitar Performance at Southwest Texas State University and his M.S. in Interdisciplinary Studies at Texas State University.  

He studied voice and guitar at Mount Aloysius Jr. College in Cresson PA, earning an Associate Degree in Music.  He earned a certificate from The Guitar Academy in Altoona, PA in 1980.  A lifelong student, Mazak received a Master’s Certificate in guitar from the Berklee School of Music in 2016 through Berklee online.

Originally a vocalist, Mazak started playing guitar in 1970 as an accompaniment instrument. He toured Italy in 1975 and recorded on Vatican radio as part of an international Chorus competition. He also has experience in musical theater, madrigals, and worship groups.

As a guitarist, Mazak has 4 decades of experience performing in a broad variety of commercial music styles including Country, Texas Country, Folk, Blues, and Rock. He has performed and/or recorded with The Randy Rogers Band, Ponty Bone, Dr. G and the Mudcats, The Willow Creek Project and Grammy award-winning artists Terri Hendrix, and Marc Benno.  He has performed at the opening of the Alamodome, “Djangofest” at Arts on Fifth in Fort Worth, at The Center for Texan Cultures, in San Antonio, Gruene Hall, The San Antonio Livestock Show and Rodeo, and innumerable dance halls and venues around Texas and Pennsylvania.  

Mazak was recently featured on the albums, “Stepped in it Again” with the Willow Creek Project and “Swampy Tonk Blues” with Dr. G and the Mudcats. The song “Swampy Tonk Blues” reached number one on the IndieWorld Country Record Report the week of April 22, 2016.

He currently performs with the groups Dr. G and the Mudcats, The Willow Creek Project, The Grant Mazak Band, Wasted Youth, and Gypsy Moon.

Mazak is a member of the Austin Federation of Musicians, The Guild of American Luthiers, The Texas Music Educators Association, The Austin Classical Guitar Society, one of the “Founding 100” for the Center for Texas History, The Friends of Fine Arts at Texas State. and a supporter of the “Own Your Own Universe” arts center project. He has two articles published in “The Handbook of Texas Music.“

Professor Mazak resides in San Marcos, TX with his wife and three children.