I swung by Smoken’ Joe’s last Sunday night to catch the last set of Geoff Bartley And Friends. Bartley, as most everybody knows by now, is the folkie, bluegrass musician who sings and plays acoustic guitar or Resonator guitar and fronts a few other guys on acoustics. Three nights ago, Bartely was backed by mandolin player Howie Tarnower and upright bassist Nick DiSebastian.
Their Sunday night gig was informal. A few songs had to be taught by Bartley to the other two just before playing it. And the trio were pretty good in sound, style, and structure considering their fly by the seat of their pants approach.
Bartley picked some earthy sounds out of his Resonator guitar on the Bessie Smith classic “Backwater Blues.” His accompaniment from Tarnower’s series of brittle notes and DiSebastian’s bumpy bobbing groove gave the tune a timeless quality, like you were listening to a trio from a bygone era.
“Candyman” found Bartley and Tarnower singing in winsome harmony. A handsome lead vocal over brittle Resonator and mandolin melodies gave it all a nice folkie touch. It was noted mostly, though, for how their notes soon weaved into one melody.
Their take on Norman Blake’s “Ginseng Sullivan” highlighted Bartley’s ability to constructer tender, sensitive melodies out of brittle notes. Switching gears a bit, the trio went into “Sweet Home Chicago” with a fulsome sound with just their three acoustic instruments. All of those blues licks on mandolin and 12 bar progressions on acoustic guitar gave a hint of how the original blues players may have been doing their thing in their day. DiSebastian’s upright bass kept a healthy steady pulse, becoming the time keeper, which was part of the upright’s original role in the many new genres that were emerging in the early 20th century.
Bartley indicated his deep seriousness and purpose as a songwriter with his original “Everything They Told Me Was A Lie,” essentially about the agonized experience of being a hard-working common laborer. There was another of those weavings of sensitive notes that made a listener feel what a song is all about.
Bartley plans to release a full length CD Mercy For The Dispossessed next month. It will be reviewed here on BillCopelandMusicNews.com.
