Geoff Baker

Geoff Baker is a California-based singer/songwriter who has released four CDs to date: "Patriot Acts" (2004), "Know the Rain Here" (2004), "Adding Up the Everything We Lost" (2008), and "Where Are You Now?" (2011) (A different Geoff Baker, based in Ohio, released the CD, "Alone at Night: A Vampire's Tale.") "Patriot Acts" (2004) is a five-song EP about America under the reign of George W. Bush, written in the tradition of Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, and Billy Bragg. The songs are informed and angry, some satirical and some serious.

"Patriot Acts" (2004) is a five-song EP about America under the reign of George W. Bush, written in the tradition of Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, and Billy Bragg. The songs are informed and angry, some satirical and some serious. It has received scattered airplay internationally, and Time Out (London) called it a "fine line in protest song."

Baker's second release, the album "Know the Rain Here" (2004), reflects broader influences and eschews political indignation in favor of bittersweet introspection on lost friends, lost years, and lost loves. The songs range in style from furious fingerpicking or all-ahead strumming and harmonica to the lighter touch that prompted a reviewer in New Jersey to make a comparison to Nick Drake.

The third release, a 5-song EP titled "Adding Up the Everything We Lost," was released in December of 2008. While a few of the tracks continue the fingerpicking and sparse, acoustic production of "Know the Rain Here," several songs boast fuller instrumentation of drums, bass, strings, and electronic noise. Lyrically, "Adding Up the Everything We Lost" continues the reflection on bittersweet moments, often marked with a biting humor.

Baker's second full-length album, "Where Are You Now?", was released in May of 2011. While some of the tracks are spare--just acoustic guitar and vocals--others feature fuller arrangements and contributions from pedal steel-player Bruce Kaphan (American Music Club, R.E.M., Red House Painters), NJ songwriter Sarah Jean, drummer Austin Faxon (The Grouch Marxists), cellist John Mescall, and bluegrass fiddler Melissa Lynn Lincoln.

Baker is currently working on a third full-length album, a cycle of songs about Los Angeles, called "An Evil Report of the Good Land."