It was a cold day in Chicago when we connected with Dave Specter, on a break from some work north of the city. Wrapped in a heavy coat, he was contemplating the difference between the weather in Illinois and Hawaii.

He’ll have first-hand experience to make that contrast this weekend, as he headlines two blues-guitar concerts at Turtle Bay Resort’s Surfer, the Bar and Crossroads at Hawaiian Brian’s.

It won’t be his first performance in Hawaii: He’s a veteran of frequent touring forays, co-owner of performance venue SPACE, north of Chicago, and regular performer at Buddy Guy’s club in the city, with an international reputation. Writing about his performance in 2015, the Chicago Tribune praised his “deeply satisfying, incendiary” style of guitar playing.

Specter is sometimes compared to artists such as Kenny Burrell and Peter Green (Fleetwood Mac), and he’s toured alongside such artists as Guy, Son Seals, Otis Rush and Kim Wilson (Fabulous Thunderbirds).

His recent acclaimed disc on Delmark records, “Message in Blue,” features the esteemed Chicago blues singer Otis Clay, who died on Jan. 8.

CLAY, highly respected for the soulful timbre of his voice, was on Specter’s mind last week, as he prepared to come this way.

“Otis was really a musical giant,” he said. “I’d consider him one of the greatest soul singers ever, in addition to blues and gospel. He could sing anything.

“I knew Otis for 30 years, first as a fan, later as a colleague. I would sit in with his band; he would sit in with my band.”

Specter invited Clay to be part of his latest album, and said the results were spectacular.

On those three tracks, Clay’s soulful timbre and Specter’s impassioned licks combine for music that blazes with feeling.

“I’ve recorded dozens and dozens of albums, and I have to say Otis is the most inspiring of the singers I’ve ever worked with,” Specter said.

“He was a force who inspired me and inspired my band, and I think it brought out some of my best playing that I’ve ever done in the studio. I give him credit for that: When you’re around someone that powerful, who has that much soulful intensity and is that inspiring, you gotta step up to the plate.”

GUITAR is “voice” for Specter, he said: “Guitar is one of my main forms of expression, and it’s my main form of expression musically.

“I’m not a singer, but I like to think that on a good day, I’m singing with my guitar. It’s my voice; it’s my musical voice.”

And when he sings with that guitar, he sings the blues.

“When I heard blues, when I heard Muddy Waters or Big Bill Broonzy or Howling Wolf (here he gave a deep sigh, as if hearing the music in his head), or Junior Wells or Buddy Guy, that music just moved me, and touched me like nothing else. It’s still true to this day. It has a power and an intensity and a feeling that has stuck with me and has become a huge part of my life and a huge part of my music.

“I’m very proud that I’m a native Chicagoan,” Specter said. “I’m very proud of our city’s musical history, not only with blues, but with soul, rhythm and blues, jazz, even gospel.

“I hear a huge variety of music. I listen to everything from rock ’n’ roll to reggae to jazz to folk to New Orleans R&B, but soul and blues especially speak to me and move me more powerfully than any other music.”

AT SPECTER’S Oahu shows, he’ll be backed by James Ronstadt and the Dynamic Shuffle Kings, and he’ll be playing a Fender Jazzmaster — a guitar more often associated with the surf-rock sounds of the ’60s than the blues, he says, but one from which he coaxes a thick, satisfying tone.

“I love guitars,” he said. “I have, probably, over 20 guitars. I would have over 50 if I had a bigger place, and a bigger bank account. But I think your sound really comes from your hands, and your heart. A great artist is going to sound great on most any instrument.

“Jazzmasters were actually quite popular with surf-guitar players, but I get a different sound out of it. … It’s a fatter and warmer tone than most people associate with that guitar.

“It comes from how you set your amplifier, but it also comes from how you play. Touch. … We all have our own approach and our own touch and our own way of playing.”

SPECTER estimates he’s played on Oahu “at least” half a dozen times. In fact, he revealed, having once been married to a woman from Honolulu, it is the only place he ever considered leaving Chicago for.

“I love Hawaii,” he said, emphatically. “It is NOTHING like Chicago, but that’s probably one of the reasons I love it so much!

“The feeling, the lifestyle, the natural beauty, especially. And you know, it’s January in Chicago, and we’re talking on a day when it’s 12 degrees out, so — I’m wearing a heavy winter parka, three shirts, a winter hat, and um, it going to be nice to get away to a beautiful Hawaiian island.”