notloB Kitchen Concerts presents Geoff Bartley

PRLog (Press Release) - Feb 02, 2010 -
Newton – On Sunday, March 7 notloB Folk Concerts will present for the third time folk, roots and blues artist Geoff Bartley ~ http://www.geoffbartley.com/ ~ solo and unplugged, at the historic Jackson Homestead, 527 Washington Street, Newton.  Doors 5:00pm, concert 5:15pm.  The museum is open free of charge to Newton residents earlier in the day.  Contact the museum for details.


"So you've been looking for real. You like it with the bark still on it, doncha?  Look no further: Geoff Bartley's Put the Big Stone Down is right in the middle of the tradition (and) classy all the way. I love it."
~ Tom Paxton (January 26, 2010)


    Geoff writes, “My music is a mix of blues, folk and roots jazz. I play fingerstyle acoustic guitar and harmonica to support my bluesy baritone "singing". I’m also getting better...slowly... with traditional bluegrass and old-time flatpicking styles. Of the songs I’ve written, people seem to like most Who Should Know, Death is the Robber, One Kind Word, Welcome to the Spiral Dance, Noah’s Ark, Natural Law, the instrumental Blues Beneath the Surface, and the co-writes, Cut by Wire and We’re All Alike. My influences are probably as numerous as yours, but my principal ones are early Bob Dylan, Lightnin' Hopkins and Dave Van Ronk. I’ve also listened to a lot of jazz, primitive and modern. I've opened for or shared festival workshop stages with Doc Watson, Richard Thompson, Tom Rush, Jorma Kaukonen, Dr. John, Odetta, Leo Kottke, The Persuasions, Leon Redbone, and others. In my younger days I played up-down-and-sideways across the US but wasn't able to make a sustainable living at it. Now I play almost exclusively in southern New England and actively support local music.

   The folk press has called me "folk music at its best" (Music Reviews Quarterly, Arden, NC), "a brilliant songwriter and a world-class guitarist" (The Boston Globe), a "local legend" (All Music Guide, now Allmusic... see www.allmusic.com) and "the prophet" (WBUR 90.9 fm, Boston) and "spiritual godfather" (Dirty Linen magazine, Baltimore, MD) of the Boston folk scene. As a consequence, my head is now too big to fit through the door. But seriously, I certainly try to send people home from a show feeling better than when they walked in. I also try to keep growing as a person, which is more difficult.

   Some of my songs have been recorded by other artists in the US, Nashville, Canada and Ireland, and some are included in the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings of the Fast Folk Musical Magazine collection in Washington, DC. In the 1980s, I won four guitars at the National Fingerpicking Championships hosted by the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas, and that was a thrill. As a consequence of these and other factors, I'm occasionally called to record and produce for other artists.

   In addition to my own (usually) solo shows in southern New England, I play guitar and sing harmony for topical songwriter and veteran folk entertainer Tom Paxton www.tompaxton.com. I was also instrumental in bringing the Tom Paxton signature model Martin guitar into production in 2004.

      In recognition of my career as an independent music professional and for my support of local acoustic music, the Cambridge, Massachusetts, Mayor’s Office in conjunction with the Boston Bluegrass Union proclaimed February 13, 2004 as Geoff Bartley Day. The award was presented to me that night at the Joe Val Memorial Bluegrass Festival in Framingham, MA. On September 13, 2009 at the Boston Folk Festival, the Boston Area Coffeehouse Association (BACHA) awarded me its Jerry Christen Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award. Previous award-winners include Boston Globe folk music correspondent Scott Alarik (2003); New England radio professional and acoustic music promoter Dick Pleasants (2004); WUMB 91.9 fm founder and principal organizer of the Boston Folk Festival Pat Monteith (2005); Ken Irwin, Bill Nowlin and Marian Leighton-Levy, the founders of Rounder Records (2006); New England songwriter, singer and guitarist Bill Staines (2007); and traditional music supporter and radio host Sandy Sheehan (2008). Geoff’s Hollywood debut: My song 'A Letter from Prison' (recorded by The Infamous Stringdusters on Sugarhill Records / Welk Music Group) in which Nelson Mandela speaks to his wife, Winnie, from his jail cell on Robben Island, South Africa, appeared briefly in the independent Lionsgate film “The Lucky Ones” that opened in US theatres on September 26, 2008 starring Rachel McAdams, Tim Robbins, and Michael Pena. Thirteen is now my lucky number (26 divided by 2 = ?).

   Acoustic guitar instrumentals and songs I've written have been used on the History Channel, Animal Planet, A&E, the Learning Channel, the Discovery Channel, National Geographic, NOVA and Nature on PBS and in other commercial and non-commercial television programs on other stations in the US and other countries, in documentary and commercial films and in private and commercial advertising in the US and other countries. These recordings are licensed to the Sonoton Music Library in Munich, Germany and are distributed internationally by APM Music.

   My latest CD’s are called “Blackbirds in the Pie” (November, 2008) and “Put the Big Stone Down (January, 2010).

Suggested minimum donation $15, 25% less for museum members.  All donations go to the museum and artist.

Reservations recommended - notlobreservations @ gmail.com

About the series.  notloB Folk Concerts are volunteer run and not for profit.  Whether presented at historic and intimate museum houses like the Loring-Greenough House in Jamaica Plain or the Jackson Homestead in Newton, or at one of several church sanctuaries, or at private residences, all are run as house concerts where, allowing for expenses, 100% of the patrons’ donations go to the artists.

"In this era of pop-driven acoustic music, notloB is keeping the folk tradition alive."  ~ Jack Hardy

Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/10516098/1