Peter Barnes has been playing piano, flute and assorted other instruments for traditional dancing since 1971, and has  been invited to most major contra, square, British Isles and vintage dance events throughout the United States, performing for dances and concerts, leading ensemble workshops, and generally acting in a crazy and often undignified manner. Averaging over 250 engagements per year since 1980 he is arguably one of Boston's busiest musicians, and has also played for festivals and tours in England, France, Denmark, Shetland, Scotland and Czechoslovakia. He works with the bands The Latter-Day Lizards, Bare Necessities, Yankee Ingenuity, Big Bandemonium, Dark Carnival, Crazy Quilt, and The Dactyls and has performed with many traditional greats including Seamus Connolly, Joe Derrane, Cathie Ryan, Chris Norman, Alasdair Fraser, Rodney Miller, and Joe Cormier.

Publications include English Country Dance Tunes, a widely used collection of English traditional dance music, A Little Couple Dancemusik, a collection of 400 traditional couple dance tunes, and Interview With A Vamper, an instruction book of piano techniques. Just published: English Country Dance Tunes Volume Two.

Recordings include Sleeping On a Rock with The Latter Day Lizards, Kitchen Junket and Heatin' Up The Hall with Yankee Ingenuity, Bare Necessities, Take A Dance, Nightcap and at least 10 others in the Boston CDS Centre Dance Series with Bare Necessities, Airplang and Airplang II with Rodney Miller, BLT (Barnes, Lea & Tomczak), Soir et Matin with Kerry Elkin, Yankee Dreams and Moxie with Frank Ferrell, Shape Shifting with Jeanne Morrill, Cascata de Lagrimas, Between Two Worlds and Gypsy Wine with Mary Lea, and Twelve-Gated City, The Great Waltz and Childsplay: Live with Childsplay.
Guest appearances on albums by Anisa Angarola, Bob Abrams, Bob Dalsemer, Dave Nieman and Beverly Woods, Donna Hebert, Frank Ferrell, Jan Maier, Jeanne Morrill, The Keltic Kids, Kim Wallach, Leo Kretzner, Larry Unger, Mary Lea, Matt Glaser, Ruthie Dornfeld, Gary Roodman, The Revels, Timothy Abell, "Waltzing for the Grange", Nat Hewitt, and the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society.

Concerts: The Ark (MI), The Bread and Roses Heritage Festival (MA),  Caffé Lena, Club Passim, The Colonial Inn Concert Series (MA),  The Crosscurrents Folk and Classical Concert (MA), El Tremedal Coffeehouse (MA), The Fiddle and Bow Society (NC), Gaelic Roots (Boston College, MA), The Hallockville  Folklife Center (NY), The Hubbard Hall Concerts (NY), The Irish-American Heritage Society (GA), The Irish Cultural Center (NY), Johnny D's Uptown, Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors (NY), The Iron Horse (Northampton, MA), The Lowell Folk Festival, Massasoit College Concerts, The New England Conservatory Select Series, Music of the Americas Festival (NY), The Pittsburgh Irish Festival, The Provincetown Muse Series (MA), The Smithsonian Institute, The Stonehill College Irish Festival, The University of Vermont Lane Series, The WGBH Accoustic Music Festival, The Wolftrap Folk Masters Series (MD)
Dance Festivals & Special Events: Alta Sierra Dance Weekend (CA), Ashokan Fiddle and Dance Camp (NY), Augusta Folk Heritage Camp (WV), Black Mountain Folk Festival (NC), Boxwood Wooden Flute Week, Bay Area Country Dance Society Events, Brandywine Old Time Music Festival, Berea Dance Camp (KY), Buffalo Gap Dance Camps (WV), The California Traditional Music Society Summer Solstice Festival, Chesapeake Spring Dance Weekends (MD), Cream of the Crop Dance Series (NY), Commonwealth Vintage Dancers Events, Dancing Bears Events (AL), The DownEast Folk Festival, Eisteddfodd Festival, First Night Events (Boston, Worcester, Quincy MA), The Feet Retreat (NC), Flying Cloud Academy Vintage Dance, Folk Arts Center of Boston, Folklore Village Farm (WI), Fox Hollow Folk Festival, Harvest Moon Dance Festival (CA), Gaelic Roots Festival (Boston College, Boston, MA), Hands-Four Spring and Fall Weekends, Hudson Guild Dance Camps, John C. Campbell Folk School, Lady of the Lake Dance Events (ID), The Lavender Country and Folk Dancers (MA), The Long Island Traditional Music Association (LITMA) events,  The Lost Pines Dance Weekend (TX), Louisville, KY Dance Weekend, The Lowell Banjo and Fiddle Contests (Staff), Mariposa Folk Festival, Mendocino Dance Camp, Mohonk Mountain House Dance Weekends (NY),  The Muskeg Music Festival (NH), The New England Folk Festival (NEFFA), Old Songs Folk Festival and Old Songs Winter Dance Festival (NY), Pigtown Fling (OH), Pinewoods Dance Camp(1976-1997), Playford Balls (Boston, Providence, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York, Cleveland, Nashville, Kentucky, Alaska, Vermont), Port Townsend Fiddle Tunes Festival, Royal Scottish Country Dance Society, Slugs at Sunrise (WA), The Spring Dance Romance (NC), The Spring Dance Weekends at Circle Lodge (NY), The Summer Soireé (NC), Suttle Lake (OR), Tapestry Folk Dance Center (MN), The Toronto, Canada Dance Weekend, Vernal's All-Night Equinox (FL), Victoria's Revenge Dancefest (Cape May, NJ), Vintage Dance Society Events (CN), Wild Weekend (NY), Rocky Mountain Fiddle Camp, Ogontz CDSS Family Weeks
Overseas: The Shetland Folk Festival, Shetland Isles (1985,1987), Festival du Maurienne, St. Jean du Maurienne, France (1980), The Tonder Folk and Jazz Festival, Denmark (1986), Tour of Scotland with Tulluchgorum(1991, 1992), Tour of England with Bare Necessities (1993), Tour of England and Chippenham Folk Festival with Yankee Ingenuity (1994, 1995), Tour of Czechoslovakia with B.L.T. (1992), Hawaii (1999), St. Croix with Bare Necessities (1999, 2001, 2003), Germany (twenty-five city tour with Cathie Ryan, 2000), Austria, Hungary, Italy and Switzerland with Cathie Ryan 2003), Ecuador (2002), Peru (2004), Egypt (2006), Scotland (2007), Greece (2007)