Geof was born in Shreveport in 1967 to Gordan and Bonita (Nita) Barkley. He and both his brothers showed an interest in music at an early age playing in bands throughout their junior high, high school and college years. Geof grew up across the street from Ingleside Baptist Church and by the time he was twelve or thirteen he was playing for churches and weddings. He says he had a perfect upbringing because the kids in the neighborhood were close and in the youth group at church they did everything together including singing in the various church choirs. He graduated from Caddo Magnet High School where Dorsey Summerfield was his music teacher. His first real band was called New Dawn and was made up of his middle brother and a couple of guys from church. Later he began the band Arrival largely playing music from Christian radio stations. At the end of high school, Arrival broke up and Geof went to Centenary and LSUS but left in order to move to Nashville in 1987. There he found employment loading trucks, washing dishes and doing construction work. In Nashville he met Geoff Moore and the Distance, who needed a keyboard player for which he auditioned, landing the job in 1988. He played with Distance for almost eleven years, publishing seven records. Distance's singer decided to go solo so the band broke up and Geof landed a job with Third Day as keyboard player. He returned to live in Shreveport but continued traveling with Third Day doing so for six and a half years at which time the traveling got to be too much. Geof says that he was very passionate about his music career and enjoyed it immensely but after 18 years he was ready to retire. One of his favorite songs is What a Fool Believes by the Doobie Brothers and some of his favorite artists include Keane, Phoenix and Travis.