MUSIC

“Geoff is an amazing player, he writes wonderful songs that speak to the heart and if that weren’t enough, he is a great person who really cares about folk and roots music and the people who make it.” Brad Paul – Producer/Host Folk on WGBH 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.