The O-town Scene

MUSIC PEOPLE Geoff Hartwell| Geoff Hartwell is a New York City-based guitarist who has strong ties to the Oneonta area. He studied music at Hartwick College, and has performed in Oneonta at venues such as the Black Oak. His Oneonta connection will continue Tuesday, Oct. 25, when The Geoff Hartwell Band will perform at the Oneonta Theatre, their largest area show to date. Also performing will be Chester, a funk band consisting of SUNY Oneonta students. Hartwell has a history of performing and collaborat- ing with several high-profile musicians, including guitar legends Gregg Allman and Sonny Landreth, steel guitar- ist Cindy Cashdollar, saxophonist Dana Colley from the influential group Morphine, and drummer Alan Evans of Soulive. For the Oneonta Theatre performance, Hartwell will be accompanied by drummer Yonrico Scott, who has most notably played with The Derek Trucks Band and also collaborated with Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles and countless others. In preparation for The Geoff Hartwell Band's ex- plosive evening of blues riffs and innovative jams, the O-Town Scene caught up with Hartwell to discuss his upcoming album, his experience at Hartwick, his other gig as a guitar teacher, and more. O-Town Scene: When did you first gain interest in playing guitar? Geoff Hartwell: My father is an amateur guitarist who always had instruments around the house to play (guitars, banjos, ukuleles, etc.) and it was an important part of every- day life. For him the point wasn't necessarily to be a stunning virtuoso, but rather that music is a simple way for people to share a time and place together and the point is to have fun and be with one another. OS: How would you describe your music education at Hart- wick? What did you take away most from your time there? GH: I loved studying music at Hartwick. It was an incredible experience and it taught me a lot. I had already grown up around New York City and had been writing, recording and playing clubs like CBGB's before I got there, so I had a certain amount of experience. But studying at Hartwick gave me the academic foundation to complement the streetwise side of being a career musician; it gave me the discipline to keep at it for the long haul. OS: How has the local music scene in Oneonta progressed since you started studying at Hartwick? GH: I think it's great that there are more venues and more bands and more opportunities to play for everyone. It's great that organizations like LiveLIVE are stepping up and making the scene that they want to see. OS: You've collaborated with many notable musicians. Have you ever been surprised by the outcome? GH: I've been very lucky to perform and record with some 4 O-Town Scene Oct. 20, 2011 Contributed incredible musicians, and doubly lucky that it's always gone well. A big element is that it's a combination of playing and personality in all cases. I've always had some connection personally and professionally beforehand, so going in there's always some common ground. OS: You also teach guitar and are a faculty member at the National Guitar Workshop. How would you describe your guitar teaching style? GH: My guitar teaching style is summed up as "I will teach you anything you want to play, but I will add to that and you will need to practice everything I give you." I don't care if a student on any level brings in bluegrass, thrash metal or both _ I am happy to give the techniques, vocabulary and structure for any of those things. A C chord is a C chord no matter what "style" it's presented in, and it's totally accessible to learn the basic structures of scales, modes, chords and harmony. And you don't necessarily have to kill yourself prac- ticing 10 hours every day, but you'll need to be disciplined enough to make progress. Practice makes progress. OS: You have a new album coming out this winter. How will this album compare to your previous self-released work? GH: The new album is a collaboration between myself, Yonrico Scott, Oteil Burbridge (bassist for the Allman Broth- ers Band), Kofi Burbridge (keyboardist for the Tedeschi Trucks Band) and Todd Smallie (bassist from the Derek Trucks Band). This album is a great leap for me because it's an incredible opportunity to share my music in a creative way with such incredible, world-class musicians who I respect so immensely, and also for a whole new audience to hear it. This project is self-produced, but will be licensed to a label for distribution. That way I can make the album that I want to make, and still get it out to the people who want to hear it. OS: What advice would you give to young musicians hop- ing to one day go professional? GH: My advice to any young person contemplating a career is to ask yourself, "What is your passion? If you had no limits on time or money, what would you do? What would make you happiest?" Once you can answer those questions you'll need to apply a ridiculous amount of humility, patience, discipline and determination to whatever that is. Every career has downfalls, even the doctor/lawyer/moneymaker. Tough times always come, and you'll need to be able to deal with them in the real world. But when it comes down to it, there's no point in a lifetime of work that makes you miserable. Life is too damn short to do anything other than what you love. By Adam Sisenwein Tickets for the performance are $10 and $8 for students with college ID, with a start time of 9:30 p.m. For more on The Geoff Hartwell Band, visit www.geoffhartwell.com.

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