Barlow was a school friend, and former bandmate of Jethro Tull frontman Ian Anderson. He joined after the departure of Clive Bunker and played on the following albums:
Upset by the death of bassist John Glascock, Barlow left Jethro Tull in 1980, after completing the final leg of the Stormwatch tour.
Barlow went on to do various session projects, including work with Robert Plant, John Miles, and Jimmy Page, and he also started his own band for a spell called Storm. He played on the Yngwie Malmsteen album Rising Force. He played on the Kerry Livgren album, Seeds of Change.
Barlow has a recording studio, The Doghouse, on his property in Shiplake, Oxfordshire, England. He is currently managing a band from Henley on Thames called The Repertoires, and has also been linked with other local bands which echo his own folk-influenced musical history, such as Reading's Smokey Bastard[1].
Barlow played percussion on "Artrocker", the opening track of the critically acclaimed 2006 album Get Your Mood On by London indie punk band, Dustin's Bar Mitzvah.
In an interview in Drumhead magazine (December 2007) Barlow announced that he is looking to play on the road again.
Barlow is known as a very technical and creative drummer. His drumming on the live album, Bursting Out, is testimony to his creative talents as a drummer, notably on his drum solo in the song Conundrum. He was called "the greatest rock drummer England ever produced" by the late John Bonham.
In a comment on his drumming for the Jethro Tull albums he said; "I've always admired people who invent — and on a percussion level I admire inventors of rhythm. I tried to strive for that in Tull, but now I go to great lengths to advise the drummers in the bands I'm managing not to play anything like I used to play in Tull, because it was so busy and over-the-top."[2]