Geoff Lakeman

Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBQ_SE62zpo 

A Cornishman who has lived on Dartmoor in Devon for nearly 50 years,Geoff has been described as "a stalwart of the West Country  acoustic music scene and the patriarch of a virtual folk dynasty."

He’s the dad of Seth, Sean and Sam Lakeman, all internationally -acclaimed performers, and father-in-law to equally renowned daughters-in-law Cara Dillon( Sam’s wife) and Kathryn Roberts (married to Sean.)

The boys began playing in a family band with Geoff and their violinist mum Joy.

A journalist for 50 years, Geoff’s musical hobby blossomed into a new professional career late in life when he released his CD "After All These Years", which attracted national radio plays and five-star reviews.

Geoff is a leading exponent of the rare and fiendishly difficult-to-play Crane duet concertina.

He performs self-written and west country songs, English, Irish and Scottish folk, Americana and other music as varied as `Jimmie Rodgers, The Louvin Brothers,Hank Williams,Randy Newman and Richard Thompson. He’s also one of the few to tease authentic Tin Pan Alley songs out of  a 1920’s squeezebox.

Geoff has performed at festivals from Orkney to Cornwall ( where he is Festival patron), Sidmouth,  Whitby, Broadstairs, Chippenham , Shrewsbury,Dartmoor and  Swan age-as well as at Costa Folk Festivals in Ibiza and Portugal, and on a Harmony Voyages Rhone River Cruise.

He’s  toured with Show of Hands, appeared on stage in front of  15,000 fans with The Levellers ( and runs the FIDDLER’S stage at their annual Beautiful Days Festival in Devon.)

Sixteen of his extended musical family- including eight grandchildren - played together as a Big Top Saturday night headline act at B-Days.

Geoff has made many TV and radio appearances and played at folk clubs, arts centres and theatres nationwide.

In 2026 he will curate folk sessions on the Bandstand Stage at the very first (sell-out) Fisherman’s Friends Festival in Cornwall.