- Posted 11/02/2000
Contact: Andrew Svec, 218-281-8435
Singer/Songwriter Showcase Set for November 8 at UMC
Two performers will take part in a singer/songwriter showcase at the University of Minnesota, Crookston (UMC) on Wednesday, November 8, at 8 p.m. in Bede Hall Lounge. Justin Roth and Chris Cunningham will be the featured performers. The event is free and open to the public. The showcase is sponsored by the UMC SPACE (Student Programming and Activities for Campus Entertainment) Committee. Disability accommodations are available upon request and can be made by calling 218-281-8506.
Justin
Roth
From an early age, singer/songwriter Justin Roth stood out as a musician. In the third grade, he declined an invitation to sing with the St. Croix Valley Boys Choir because he didn’t want to miss Saturday morning cartoons.
Since then he has put cartoons, except the Simpsons, behind him to pursue music. Roth offers a blend of thoughtful lyric ballads, groove-oriented folk and fingerstyle instrumentals. He couples his talent with an artful mix of lyrical metaphors that evoke images of past romances, childhood friendships, and personal philosophies for people to relate their own life experiences. He has also been known to involve his audience by making them write song lyrics during his set and then improvising the rest of the parts into a full song at the end of the show.
Roth names his greatest influences, instrumentally, as guitar greats Michael Hedges, Billy McLaughlin, and Willy Porter. Lyrically and vocally, he says he is most influenced by David Wilcox, Martin Sexton, and John Gorka.
In the spring of 1997 while attending the University of Minnesota, Duluth, Roth released his debut CD, "Up Until Now." He graduated from UMD with a degree in Performing Arts Management and a minor in music. With the intention to continue promoting live music events, he soon found himself doing that for his own music. His touring continues to expand each year. In addition, he has opened for performers David Wilcox, Martin Sexton, Storyhill, Peter Mayer, and Billy McLaughlin.
In July of this year, Roth release his second CD, “In Between,” and he has four original songs featured on a solo guitar compilation album entitled "Lifescapes - solo guitar” produced by Billy McLaughlin for the “Lifescapes” series found at over 1000 Target stores.
When not touring for his own music, Justin road manages for one of his guitar heroes and mentors, Narada recording artist Billy McLaughlin, and plays guitar for a values-based youth program, Youth Frontiers, all over Minnesota.
For more information, visit www.justinroth.com.
Chris
Cunningham
Chris Cunningham currently lives in his hometown of Bozeman, Montana, and is the lead singer and songwriter for the band Sixth Sense. He also performs solo every now and then, as he will on Nov. 8 at UMC.
Cunningham began playing guitar at age 16. He also played piano, oboe, clarinet, and trumpet in school. He cites early influences as Jim Croce, Gordan Lightfoot, Neil Diamond, John Denver, and Joni Mitchell.
After high school Cunningham spent a year in Spain and then returned to the US, enrolling at St. Olaf College in Minnesota so he could continue playing music with friend Johnny Hermanson. The two began touring together full-time after graduating from St. Olaf in 1994. After a three-year stint playing music with Hermanson--during which time the two made twelve recordings--Cunningham moved to Seattle and became involved with workshops on spiritual healing, meditation circles, drumming and dance jams, and “heard sharings” by spiritual leaders and even alien abductees.
Cunningham moved back to Bozeman in the summer of 1998 and was asked to play for a wedding reception with some other local musicians, Ken Glynn, Reeves Petroff, and Chad Langford. The group discovered that they shared a musical “synergy, “ soon became an official band, and recorded a CD as Sixth Sense a month later.
The band recently released a new CD, titled “Full Circle,” which has been described as an eclectic album with songs ranging in styles from acoustic rock, jazz/lounge, country, and stripped-down folk ballads.For more information, visit www.6-sense.com.