Geoff Bartley is a prize-winning acoustic guitarist & a nationally respected singer-songwriter. His songs are grounded in traditional folk music, roots blues & jazz, and have been performed & recorded by other artists in the U.S., Canada, &Ireland. Since his first professional gig in 1969, Mr. Bartley has played in over thirty states & Canada, and has released four CDs. He lives in a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts.
Mr. Bartley is known for his elegant blues-influences guitar style and the archetypal imagery in his writing. His songs address the human longing for meaning in life, and are told by average people living in a mysterious world. Running through his material are veins of social consciousness and a recurrent fascination with the "inner terrain." By bringing startling images from the natural world coupled with street-level observations of the human condition to the heart of his message, Mr. Bartley reveals a love for the mystical in everyday life. His songs are ultimately uplifting and full of promise.
A natural performer with plenty of personality, Mr. Bartley brings a liberal sprinkling of humor and offbeat between-song patter to his live shows. Audiences are treated to a variety of musical and spoken word styles salted with authentic traditional blues. He boasts a handsome blues-soaked baritone and is a hot harmonica player, slide guitarist, and flatpicker. Since late 1994, he has been folk veteran Tom Paxton's guitarist and harmony vocalist for concert and festival dates in the northeast and elsewhere.
Mr. Bartley has recently released two new CDs. "Hear That Wind Howl" is a collection of sparsely produced pre-war acoustic Delta and country blues. "One Kind Word" features original songs with full production. Both CDs have been received with unqualified popular and critical praise. Swallowtail Records in Minneapolis reissued his first LP, "Blues Beneath the Surface", on CD in 1994 including several new songs. Also available now on CD is his second LP, "Interstates", featuring the songs "New England Towns", "Death Is the Robber" (with backing vocals by Anne Weiss, Patty Larkin & Shawn Colvin), and "Sanderlings", his well-loved spoken word exploration of migration and human will. Mr. Bartley's recordings are available from Waterbug Records on the web at www.waterbug.com and at all live shows.
Awards that Mr. Bartley has won include numerous Boston Music Award nominations, Second Prize four years in a row at the National Fingerpicking Championships in Winfield, Kansas, and First Prize two years in a row at the New Hampshire Guitar & Fiddle Contest. In 1998, the Billboard Magazine Song Contest awarded him Third Prize in Performance for his driving blues/jazz instrumental, "Blues Beneath the Surface." Mr. Bartley is also an active studio musician & producer. He has written and performed music for film, television, radio, & theatre, and has made internationally distributed commercial recordings for the Sonoton record label in Munich, Germany.
Scott Alarik of the Boston Globe writes, "[Bartley] is a world-class guitarist, a resonanbly emotional singer and a brilliant songwriter with a gift for provocatively personal imagery set to lovely musical landscapes. He has [four] excellent recordings under his belt and is respected throughout the folk music world…he has become a precious…gifted…resource in the folk world…both and inspiration and a mentor…"
In a review of his latest CD, Music Reviews Quarterly in Arden, North Carolina, writes "What Bartley has here in "One Kind Word" is a timeless recording; it will survive because its music is timeless, its sincerity unquestionable…Geoff Bartley is folk music at its best…"
From the mailbag: "It was great to see you and great to hear you play. I have felt for a long time that you're about as good as it gets…great songs, amazing guitar playing, wonderful, dry repartee…I don't know anybody who does it better than you. I've always left one of your performances feeling both moved and entertained, and reminded of what I love about folk music when it's done really well."
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