John Bartus
I've Let You Down For The Last Time - Live in Nashville
Blue Zone (from After The Storm CD)
Sports Bar Musician (Live)
End of the Road (Live)
John Bartus - Pink Floyd tribute
John Bartus / House Concert & Facebook Live Event
John Bartus opening for Rodney Crowell
John Bartus performing on the Windstar Star Breeze
John Bartus with Rodney Crowell
John Bartus with Rickie Lee Jones
John Bartus with Marc Cohn
John Bartus with John Hiatt
John Bartus with Florida Roadkill author Tim Dorsey
John Bartus with Vince Gill
John Bartus Live on US 1 Radio
Overview
With a repertoire of over 1, 000 covers and his collection of original songs, John Bartus, a more-than-four-decade full-time professional musician, singer, and songwriter, continues to raise the bar with his groundbreaking solo acoustic show. John performs more than 200 dates a year throughout the Florida Keys. He calls these shows, many of them regular recurring gigs, his Perpetual Island Tour. His solo acoustic shows are never-planned-in-advance journeys into creative live looping and feature John's originals as well as his interpretations of select cover songs. Fluent on guitar and piano, John's soulful vocals hold everything together and create the perfect performance.
Reviews
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Write a reviewBooking information
Price range: Contact for pricing
Languages: English
Gig length: 45 - 180 minutes
Insurance: $2,000,000 - Commercial General Liability
What to expect
A repertoire of over 1,000 cover songs. A collection of original songs -- Island-inspired and Life-inspired (featured on his CDs and every streaming service). A flexible entertainer who also possesses MC skills and a powerful yet friendly voice. Pristine sound: inspired guitar playing, live looping, and soulful vocals. And bottom line: someone who really cares about the event and making it as good as it can be.
This unsolicited fan review puts it best: John, I saw your column in The Marathon Weekly and it reminded me of Saturday night. The people who were with us are members of the Fort Lauderdale HOG chapter. We long ago planned this weekend as part of the Key West Poker run and rode our bikes Friday to our house in Key Colony. As the "host" my only suggestion was to not spend the second night crawling around Duval St. (not to complain about the sights) but rather take my word, and go to Key Colony Inn after riding the bikes to and from Key West during the day. Well, you made believers out of them as to what I often refer to as my favorite place on a Saturday night. We had a blast, and hope we were not too obnoxious. It was often said the following day that it's been a long, long time since they saw a performer play so long, so well and put so much into their work playing the variety of music as you do. Thanks - Barry Flanigan
About
Very few towns or cities could ever claim that their Mayor was a smokin' hot guitar player. The island city of Marathon in the Florida Keys is one of those towns. While politics is a temporary call to service, music is a life sentence. John Bartus, a more-than-four-decade full-time professional musician, singer, and songwriter, continues to raise the bar with his groundbreaking solo acoustic show.
* * * * *
John’s songs cover a wide spectrum of topics – there are love songs, love-gone-wrong songs, and story songs about characters like the fun-loving Joe from “Vegas Town,” the Drifter from “Hit the Road Again,” the smuggler who ran out of luck from “Kiss Your Life Goodbye,” the dancer from “The Way It’s Meant to Be,” and the follower of visions from “Velvet Elvis.” There are songs about dealing with life (“Victim of Gravity”) and death (“Goodbye”). There is the tribute to the Apollo 1, Challenger, and Columbia astronauts as well as John’s father, a Saturn IB launch team engineer (“Dawn’s Early Light”). And there are the Tropical Americana songs – “Palm Trees in Paradise,” “Captain of His Own Destiny,” “The Islands of Marathon” – that show the influence of living in a tropical island town for nearly 40 years.
Rag Magazine wrote in an album review, “John Bartus could well be a force to be recorded with, in the very near future. The song, ‘Velvet Elvis,’ is reminiscent of the soft sarcastic style of Warren Zevon: a man, eating donuts in the Black Lung Cafe, receives a vision from ‘The King’ through a velvet Elvis hanging on a wall, and is inspired to go to Graceland to steal one for his own, even though it means jail time. The remainder of the CD is done in the story song style of Joshua Kadison with the Florida themes of Jimmy Buffett. A pure storyteller in a minstrel’s soul, Bartus’ voice is crisp and clear, and the music is easy to enjoy.”
John’s most recent CD release is the mostly acoustic After The Storm, an album that captures the essence of rebuilding after disaster and appreciating what you have. This new release follows the Keys Disease 10th Anniversary Remaster, and Live From the Florida Keys Vol. 2. A new studio CD, Time & Tide, will be released next year, coinciding with the 40th anniversary of John’s first shows in the Florida Keys. John performs more than 200 dates a year throughout the Florida Keys. He calls these shows, many of them regular recurring gigs, his Perpetual Island Tour. His solo acoustic shows are never-planned-in-advance journeys into creative live looping and feature John's originals as well as his interpretations of select cover songs
You might have to subject yourself to a tropical island getaway in order to see John Bartus live – after three years on the road in the early 1980s, he figured out to stay in one place and let the listeners come to him. You’ll also have to put up with fishing, diving, beaching, fun in the sun, the world’s best seafood, and a tropical cocktail now and then… but the music is worth it!
Additional booking notes
I can bring sufficient sound reinforcement equipment for small- to mid-size events. I can easily send either a mixed signal or individual outputs to a house system for large events and festivals. Details such as these can be discussed as part of the overall event negotiations.
Set list
Allman Brothers
Melissa
Midnight Rider
America
Horse With No Name
Ventura Highway
I Need You
Sandman
Tin Man
Lonely People
Sister Golden Hair
Daisy Jane
The Band
The Weight
Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
Beatles + Solo Beatles
Let It Be
The Long and Winding Road
Here Comes the Sun
Nowhere Man
Norwegian Wood
Oh! Darling
Yesterday
Get Back
Back in the USSR
Yellow Submarine
Something
A Hard Day’s Night
Can’t Buy Me Love
A Day In The Life
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away
Fool On The Hill
Rocky Raccoon
Sgt. Pepper/Help From My Friends
Hey Jude
We Can Work It Out
Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/
The End
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
I Saw Her Standing There
Twist And Shout
Day Tripper
Come Together
Imagine
Woman
Watching the Wheels
Band on the Run
David Bowie
Space Oddity
Bread
Everything I Own
Guitar Man
I’d Like To Make It With You
If
Garth Brooks
Friends in Low Places
The Dance
Jackson Browne
Running on Empty
In the Shape of a Heart
Rosie
Boulevard
The Load-Out / Stay
Jimmy Buffett
Margaritaville
Pirate Looks at 40
Changes in Latitudes
Volcano
Son of a Sailor
Come Monday
Cheeseburger
Pencil Thin Mustache
Harry Chapin
Taxi
Cat’s In The Cradle
A Better Place to Be
Chicago
Saturday In The Park
25 or 6 to 4
Beginnings
Eric Clapton
Layla
Wonderful Tonight
Marc Cohn
Walking in Memphis
Creedence/Fogerty
Bad Moon Rising
Have You Ever Seen The Rain
Proud Mary
Who'll Stop The Rain
Centerfield
Old Man Down the Road
Rock and Roll Girls
CSNY
Southern Cross
Suite: Judy Blue Eyes
Helplessly Hoping
Just A Song Before I Go
Ohio
Wasted on the Way
Jim Croce
Time in a Bottle
Operator
I’ll Have to Say I Love You in a Song
Bad Bad Leroy Brown
You Don’t Mess Around With Jim
John Denver
Rocky Mtn. High
Country Roads
Annie’s Song
Leaving On A Jet Plane
Sunshine on my Shoulders
Neil Diamond
Sweet Caroline
I Am, I Said
Love On The Rocks
Cracklin’ Rosie
Dire Straits
So Far Away
Sultans of Swing
Doobie Brothers
Listen to the Music
Black Water
China Grove
Doors
Touch Me
Light My Fire
Riders on the Storm
Roadhouse Blues
Bob Dylan
All Along the Watchtower
Don’t Think Twice
I Shall Be Released
It Ain’t Me Babe
Just Like a Woman
Knocking on Heaven’s Door
Lay Lady Lay
Like a Rolling Stone
Mr. Tambourine Man
Positively 4th Street
Señor
Tangled Up In Blue
Things Have Changed
Tomorrow is a Long Time
Eagles
Best of My Love
Take it Easy
Take It To The Limit
Peaceful Easy Feeling
Desperado
Hotel California
Wasted Time
New Kid In Town
Tequila Sunrise
I Can’t Tell You Why
Seven Bridges Road
Elton John (Piano Gigs)
Bennie And The Jets
Believe
Candle In The Wind
Crocodile Rock
Daniel
Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
That‘s Why They Call it the Blues
Levon
Original Sin
Rocket Man
Someone Saved My Life Tonight
Tiny Dancer
Your Song
Dan Fogelberg
Leader of the Band
Same Auld Lang Syne
Run For The Roses
The Innocent Age
Longer
Hard to Say
The Reach
The Last Nail
Dancing Shoes
The Sand and the Foam
As The Raven Flies
Grateful Dead
Friend of the Devil
Hall & Oates
Sara Smile
Every Time You Go Away
Don Henley
Sunset Grille
Boys of Summer
End of the Innocence
Last Worthless Evening
Jimi Hendrix
Little Wing
Purple Haze
Hey Joe
Hootie & the Blowfish
Let Her Cry
I Only Wanna Be With You
Jethro Tull
Aqualung
Locomotive Breath
Billy Joel (Piano Gigs)
Piano Man
Scenes From An Italian Restaurant
Captain Jack
Honesty
Just The Way You Are
Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)
Only The Good Die Young
Say Goodbye to Hollywood
Summer, Highland Falls
You May Be Right
Joshua Kadison
Beautiful In My Eyes
Kansas
Dust in the Wind
Carry on Wayward Son
Gordon Lightfoot
If You Could Read My Mind
Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Sundown
The Circle is Small
Spanish Moss
Don McLean
American Pie
Vincent
Meat Loaf
Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad
John Mellencamp
Cherry Bomb
Jack & Diane
Hurts So Good
Your Life Is Now
Men At Work
Overkill
Down Under
Moody Blues
Nights in White Satin
The Voice
Van Morrison
Into the Mystic
Have I Told You Lately
Moondance
Brown Eyed Girl
Tom Petty
You Don’t Know How It Feels
Mary Jane’s Last Dance
Running Down a Dream
Rebel Without a Clue
Breakdown
Free Fallin’
The Last DJ
It’s Good to Be King
Learning to Fly
Yer So Bad
You Wreck Me
Wildflowers
Pink Floyd
Wish You Were Here
Breathe / Time
Hey You
Comfortably Numb
Brick in the Wall
Learning to Fly
Run Like Hell
Us & Them
Police / Sting
Message In A Bottle
Prince
Purple Rain
John Prine
Angel From Montgomery
R.E.M.
Losing My Religion
The One I Love
Rolling Stones
Wild Horses
Dead Flowers
Satisfaction
Brown Sugar
Start Me Up
Miss You
Jumpin’ Jack Flash
Angie
Honky Tonk Women
Santana
Smooth
Evil Ways
Black Magic Woman
Bob Seger
Turn the Page
Night Moves
We’ve Got Tonight
Against the Wind
Simon (& Garfunkel)
American Tune
The Boxer
The Sound of Silence
Homeward Bound
Mrs. Robinson
Bridge Over Troubled Water
Me & Julio
Kodachrome
Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover
Slip Sliding Away
Bruce Springsteen
The River
Hungry Heart
I’m on Fire
Dancing in the Dark
Cat Stevens
Wild World
Peace Train
Where Do The Children Play
Morning Has Broken
James Taylor
Nearly ALL Popular JT!
Neil Young
Harvest Moon
Heart of Gold
Like a Hurricane
Comes A Time
My My, Hey Hey
Needle and the Damage Done
Rockin’ in the Free World
Warren Zevon
Werewolves of London
Poor Pitiful Me
Old Favorites
Africa
Always On My Mind
Angel Eyes
Baby I Love Your Way
Baker Street
Behind Blue Eyes
Brandy
Can’t Help Falling in Love
Chevy Van
City of New Orleans
Cool Change
Crazy
Dock of the Bay
Don’t Stop Believin’
Drift Away
Folsom Prison Blues
Give a Little Bit
From the Beginning
Handle With Care
It Never Rains in So. California Kokomo
Luckenbach, Texas
Mr. Bojangles
My Girl
Oh! Pretty Woman
On Broadway
On The Road Again
Redemption Song
San Antonio Rose
Sea of Love
Seminole Wind
Summer Breeze
Summertime
The Joker
The Letter
Tracks of My Tears
Unchained Melody
Under the Boardwalk
Up On The Roof
We Just Disagree
What a Wonderful World
Whiter Shade of Pale
Wichita Lineman
Wicked Game
Wildfire
With or Without You
Year of the Cat
You Are So Beautiful
You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling
...and so many more!!!
Influences and inspiration
I've always admired people like Paul McCartney, Prince, and Dan Fogelberg who can go into a studio and single-handedly produce a record. Other influences include the Beatles, Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Elton John, Gordon Lightfoot, Billy Joel, Tom Petty, Joni Mitchell, the Rolling Stones, Dire Straits, Eagles, and Pink Floyd.
Setup requirements
Artist carries his own equipment. For larger shows and festivals, artist will send a mix or feeds to house PA.