Dave Bartley

Dave Bartley plays guitar, mandolin, cittern, and several other stringed instruments. He has played many styles of music over the years and continues to range over several genres. He has performed throughout the US and Canada, and in England, Australia, France and Greece. It is difficult to count the number of bands in which he plays.

Dave has composed nearly 400 dance tunes. A waltz he wrote and KGB recorded, The Clock Stopped, is used to teach cross-step waltz in much of the US and other parts of the world. A reel he wrote, Vladi on the Trans-Siberian, seems to be popping up at dances and jam sessions all over the place, including on five recordings (see below).

Find Dave's upcoming gigs here.
Dave plays in these bands and on these recordings.
Dave's biography is here.
Contact him for information or bookings.

News

Calendar

December

• Fri, Dec 13, 7:30pm, Betsy Cooper, Julie King, and Dave play for an English Country Dance, Seattle, WA, Karen Shaw calling
• Fri, Dec 20, 7:00pm, Keltoi plays a holiday concert, Vashon, WA
• Thu, Dec 26, 7:30pm, Bag o'Tricks plays for the Lake City Contra Dance, Seattle, WA, Lindsey Dono calling
• Tue, Dec 31, 9:00pm, Condor Sutra (Hayden Stern, Marni Rachmiel, Julie Bennett, and Dave) plays for a New Year's Eve dance, Tacoma, WA, Tom Wimmer calling

January 2025

• Sat, Jan 4, (advance registration required), Tricky Brits plays for the Regency Ball, Tacoma, WA, Laura Mé Smith calling
• Thu, Jan 9, 7:30pm, Condor Sutra (Hayden Stern, Marni Rachmiel, and Dave) plays for the Lake City Contra Dance, Seattle, WA, Richard Barnes calling
• Fri, Jan 17, 7:30pm, Brad Reynolds, Anita Anderson, and Dave play for the Emerald City Dance, Seattle, WA, Jesse Partridge calling

later in 2025

• Sat, Feb 22, (advance registration required), Ruthie Dornfeld, Terry Wergeland, and Dave play for the Seattle English Country Dance Ball, Seattle, WA, Kalia Kliban, dancing master
• Fri, Aug 29 - Mon, Sep 1, (advance registration required), Roguery plays for Northwest Passage Dance Weekend, Rhododendron, OR, with Brooke Friendly, Jenny Beer, and Idlewild

Dave is a member of these bands

• KGB - One of the seminal avant garde contra dance bands, together since 1993, with Julie King and Claude Ginsburg. KGB also has played for English Country Dance (as MI-5).
• Keltoi (and a subset of Keltoi, Beltane Boys) traditional music of Scotland and Ireland
• Contra Sutra - An exciting contra dance band with Marni Rachmiel, Ryan McKasson or Brandon Vance, and a elite percussionist selected from a binder full of percussionists.
• Roguery - A versatile English (and contra) dance band with Anita Anderson, Shira Kammen, and Jim Oakden.
• Bag o'Tricks (aka Tricky Brits) - A contra dance and English Country Dance band with Anita Anderson, Betsy Cooper and Sande Gillette.
• Joy Street (formerly Valse Café) Orchestra - Viennese waltzes and other ballroom dance music from latin to swing.
• Bands with fiddler Rodney Miller: SPIN with Anita Anderson; The Intoxicators with Marni Rachmiel.
• Dave plays occasionally with Rouge, French cafe music featuring chanteuse extraordinaire Elle Rayor
• The Irish Experience, electric Celtic music
• Bands with other people and other names appear from time to time (see my schedule for those coming up).

Selected discography