Laurie Geltman

Born in Baltimore, singer-songwriter Laurie Geltman cultivated an affinity for both rock and roll and acoustic styles, cultivating a loyal audience across Boston’s discerning music community. She first picked up the guitar and began composing original material at age seven, later refining her technique under the sway of Keith Richards, Robbie Robertson, and Jimmy Page. Although she initially enrolled in college to pursue film and art history, Geltman abandoned those studies to busk on the streets of Paris. Upon returning to Boston she entered Berklee College of Music and completed a film-scoring degree; one of her songs subsequently appeared in an independent feature starring Kay Hanley of Letters to Cleo. In 1992 she issued the cassette-only collection Departure on her own, earning placements on several Boston critics’ year-end Top Ten lists. She reached the semifinals of WBCN’s annual battle of the bands in 1997 and, around the same time, released No Power Steering, which featured backing vocals by Patty Griffin. Eastern Front Records reissued the album the following year, an event that coincided with multiple Boston music award nominations and an invitation to join that summer’s Lilith Fair tour. In 1999 Geltman mounted a solo West Coast trek that extended to Alaska, where she opened for Catie Curtis and Cheryl Wheeler. She documented a subsequent live acoustic performance with friends on the 2002 album Motion Pictures.