UNITY CENTER Concert Series

Landslide top vote-getter at the Falcon Ridge (NY) Folk Festival's "Most-Wanted" competition (1996) and NAIRD "Indie" nominee (singer-songwriter album of the year - 1994) for Digging Through My Closet, David Roth has gained national attention for his unique songs, moving stories, and powerful singing and subject matter.

Since emerging from another nationwide field of several hundred songwriters to open the 1987 Kerrville (TX) Folk Festival as its New Folk winner, the Chicago native (and two-time national anthem singer for the NBA's Michael Jordan-era Bulls!) has garnered accolades for his performances, workshops, writing, and recordings. Roth has since been a songwriting judge at the Napa Valley (CA), Tumbleweed (WA), and South Florida Folk Festivals in addition to singing "Earth" at the 40^th Anniversary of the United Nations and having his "Rising in Love" performed at the 100^th Anniversary of Carnegie Hall in 1991.

His songs "Manuel Garcia" and "Nine Gold Medals" both appear in the best-selling Chicken Soup for the Soul series by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen. Noel Paul Stookey (of Peter, Paul & Mary) performed David's "Spacesuits" on the 1999/2000 PPM tours in addition to recording "If You Can't Fly" for his latest children's album. The BOSE Corporation includes "Taller Than My Hair" and "Five Blind Men" on their recent "best of new folk" compilations sold in Bose stores worldwide. Several of David's songs also appear in books by Gerry Jampolsky, Barbara Glanz, Alan Cohen, and Joan Baker-Gonzalez, and in the business best-selling books Care Packages for the Workplace and Care Packages for the Home by Barbara Glanz.

Concerts: Festivals, clubs, concert halls, coffeehouses, and venues across the U.S. and Canada have sponsored David, who has performed for audiences ranging from 50 to 5,000.
Conferences: (from corporate to eclectic) engage David as emcee, musician, presenter, and/or stress reduction facilitator. Sponsors include psychotherapists, teachers, universities, healthcare professionals, corporations, churches, and social service agencies.
Workshops: No Wrong Notes, Singing for Shy People, Instant Angelic Choir, Songwriting, and Stage Absence to Stage Presence are interactive, empowering, playful, and hands-on. He was musician-in-residence at New York's Omega Institute for several summers and teaches across the U.S. and Canada. He will teach at the 2007 Sing & Swing Week at Swannanoa Gathering.
CDs: Think Twice, Irreconcilable Similarities, Rising in Love, Digging Through My Closet, Nights at the Chez, Another Side of David Roth, If You Can't Fly

"David Roth, a powerful new singer-songwriter has reached our hearts. With voices like his still singing, there's a certainty that the candle will remain lit, the hope reasserted and the dream still sung..." - Peter Yarrow (Peter, Paul & Mary)

"David writes and sings songs with a devastating combination of heartfelt wisdom and incisive wit. In my eyes he sets a new 'contemporary singer/songwriter' standard for the rest of us to aspire to, and it's a standard that is very, very high..." - Christine Lavin, Schanachie recording artist

"We met an amazing singer-songwriter on the road recently, by the name of David Roth. We're pretty new to the whole "folk" phenomenon, and we sometimes don't feel comfortable with acoustic guitars and nothing else...but David takes the "nice guy singing and strumming" concept and turns it upside down: he's AMAZING." - Groovelily, New York City

"...one of the best songs I've heard in the last 20 years..." - Tom Paxton, about David's "Nine Gold Medals"

"David is one of the finest singers and songwriters around..." - Tom Chapin

"We hire some pretty classy talent at San Diego Folk Heritage. David Roth gave a performance that surpassed some of the biggest names in folk music. I can't remember when we had a better concert." - Tim Day, Vice Chair, San Diego Folk Heritage

"David's pure voice, unsurpassed instrumental ability, incredible humor, and heart-piercing, intelligent lyrics brought a feeling into our concert hall that cannot be described - except perhaps by the word "harmony". It was as if folk, New Age, comedy, coffeehouse, and a bit of heaven had all come together for one evening." - New Haven Folk Alliance, CT

"David's songs open my mind, lift my spirits, tickle my funny bone, and my whole family sings them out loud at odd moments. Here's a man with a devoted following, yet to be discovered by the world at large. It's only a matter of time." - Dan Millman, author, Way of the Peaceful Warrior

"David Roth is an amazing songwriter, with delightful wit and a huge dose of 'heart.' Who else could (or would!) rhyme "Niagara" with "Viagra" or "one day" with "oy vey" ?! He's a genius who brings you laughter one moment, then tears of compassion in the next." - Lytingale

Tickets: $12 paid in advance; $15 day-of-the-show. (Phone reservations accepted if paid by credit card). Refreshments available.
Click for directions. This concert is part of an ongoing series of cultural events to share Unity's beautiful, soul-supporting environment with local artists, authors, musicians, and craftspeople.