Geoff Bartley (1948 - ?) is a blues-, folk- and jazz-influenced acoustic guitarist, singer, songwriter and harmonica player. The folk press has called him folk music at its best, a brilliant songwriter, a world-class guitarist, a local legend and the prophet and spiritual godfather of the Boston folk scene, all of which Geoff takes with a grain of salt. Some of his songs and co-writes have been recorded by other artists in the US, Canada and Ireland and some are also included in the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings of the Fast Folk Musical Magazine collection in Washington, D.C.

Geoff has released five CDs, most of which are available from the independent songwriter label Waterbug Records in Chicago. Several other of his recordings are no longer in print. Geoff hosts two nights of acoustic music each week at the Cantab Lounge in Cambridge, Massachusetts and lives in a suburb of Boston.

Since his first professional gig in 1969, Geoff has played in thirty-two states and Canada and has opened for or shared venue or festival stages with Dave Van Ronk, Guy Van Duser, Leo Kottke, John Sebastian, Barry Crimmins, John Martyn, the Persuasions, Leon Redbone, Brownie McGhee & Sonny Terry, Taj Mahal, Jorma Kaukonen, Al Kooper, Dr. John, Martin Mull, John Hammond, Livingston Taylor, Richie Havens, Suzanne Vega, Michael Manring, Richard Thompson, Tom Rush, Doc Watson, Tim O’Brien, Norman & Nancy Blake, David Bromberg, David Mallett, Jonathan Edwards, Gamble Rogers, John Jackson, Odetta and others.

In the 1980s, Geoff won four guitars at the National Fingerpicking Championships hosted by the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas. Geoff says, “Winning the guitars was a big thrill for me and it was wonderful to get that kind of recognition. The competition was fierce... there were some killer players out there. I still play the herringbone Martin they gave me in September 1984. I wanted to weld the trophies to the hood of my Datsun, but some friends talked me out of it.”

In addition to his own shows in southern New England, Geoff plays guitar and sings harmony for topical songwriter and folk icon Tom Paxton (www.tompaxton.com). Most of their shows together are at venues and festivals in the northeast, but Geoff has also accompanied Tom at the Bottom Line in New York, the Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia and at a show for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio in July 2000. About that gig, Geoff says, “Nice folks out there. They gave both of us a Rock Hall tour jacket at the gig. Tom and I tell everybody they wanted our old ones for an exhibit.” Geoff was also instrumental in bringing the Tom Paxton Signature Model Martin guitar into production in 2004 (www.martinguitar.com).

Acoustic guitar instrumentals and songs Geoff has written have been used on the History Channel, Animal Planet, A&E, the Learning Channel, the Discovery Channel, National Geographic, Nature on PBS and in other commercial and non-commercial television programs on other stations, and in documentary films and in private and commercial advertising in the US and other countries.