Songs from the Heart for the Season of Love

DAVID ROTH and BERNICE LEWIS @ The Linden Tree Coffeehouse

Songs from the Heart for the Season of Love

Saturday, February 6, 2016

The Linden Tree Coffeehouse continues its 31st season of encore performances with the return to our stage of David Roth and Bernice Lewis, two Massachusetts favorites.

“David Roth and his music will touch you to the very depths of your soul. He’ll make you laugh and cry, inspire you to rise and fly…”Jack Canfield, co-author, Chicken Soup for the Soul

“Bernice Lewis’ lake-clear voice and satisfying mix of heartfelt and humorous compositions make her worth hearing. Again and again.” - David Steinberg, Albuquerque Journal

David Roth strikes many chords, hearts, and minds with his unique songs, offbeat observations, moving stories, sense of the hilarious, and powerful singing and subject matter. As singer, songwriter, recording artist, keynote speaker, workshop leader, and instructor, David has earned top honors at premier songwriter competitions – Kerrville (TX) and Falcon Ridge (NY) – and taken his music, experience, and expertise to a wide variety of venues in this and other countries full-time for more than two decades.

David’s songs (“Rising in Love”, “Earth”, “Manuel Garcia”, “May the Light of Love”, “Nine Gold Medals”, “Spacesuits”, “Rocket Science”, “I Stand for Love”, “That Kind of Grace”, and many more) have found their way to Carnegie Hall, the United Nations, several Chicken Soup for the Soul books, the Kennedy Center, Peter, Paul, & Mary’s “Discovered” (Warner Brothers), the Kingston Trio’s “Born at the Right Time”, NASA’s Goddard Space Center (“Rocket Science” went up on the Space Shuttle Atlantis’s May 2009 mission to repair the Hubble Telescope), the classic folk song books “Rise Up Singing” and “Rise Again” (sequel), and 13 CDs on the Wind River and Stockfisch (Germany) labels. Winner of 4 Positive Music Awards and the 2015 Grace Note (Unity Worldwide Ministries) for Outstanding Contribution to New Thought Music, David has also been featured on many of Christine Lavin’s seminal Rounder Records compilations.

David has also taught singing, songwriting, and performance at numerous prestigious gatherings and is also founder/director of the Cape Cod Songwriters Retreat and creator/host of Cape Cod’s “Full Moon Open Mic” which, for the past 10 years has provided a forum for musicians to connect and be heard while at the same time collecting donations ($12,000 to date) for local non-profits to help neighbors in need.

Bernice Lewis has built a solid national fan base with almost four decades of performing festivals, concert halls, coffeehouses, colleges, and house concerts, along with a half dozen acclaimed CDs, She is also a published poet, a producer, and an educator extraordinaire. Lewis — who studied vocal improvisation with Bobby McFerrin, guitar technique with Alex DeGrassi and Guy van Duser, and songwriting with Rosanne Cash and Cris Williamson — has been a featured performer on NPR’s Mountain Stage program, as well as at the Kennedy Center. In 2008, she was awarded an Artist in Residence position by the National Park Service. In 1987, she was a finalist in the prestigious New Folk Songwriting Contest at the Kerrville (Texas) Folk Festival, where she continues to be a main stage favorite. Her ballad, “Bridges That Hold,” was included in Peter, Paul and Mary’s Lifelines video (PBS). She was featured in Yoga Journal for her work with sound and yoga, and has shared the stage with many renowned artists, including Dar Williams, Dixie Chicks, Pete Seeger, Ellis Paul, Livingston Taylor, Odetta, Christine Lavin, and Catie Curtis.

“For me, it’s about the songs, each different, each a well thought out message, each a labor of love,” says Bernice. Her seventh CD, Checks & Love Letters, was released in 2014 was produced in Nashville by Mike T Lewis of The Twangtown Paramours. This collection of originals features guest appearances by Jimmy Van Cleve of Mountain Heart, Harris Paleltiner of Darlingside, and MaryBeth Zamer of The Twangtown Paramours. She is also a founding and current member of The Ladies Auxiliary Ukulele Orchestra.

Thanks to support in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Wakefield Chapter, tickets will be $20, students under 13 $10. Doors will open at 7:30. Home made baked goods and beverages will be sold prior to the show and during intermission.

The Linden Tree Coffeehouse is located at the Unitarian-Universalist Church, 326 Main Street, Wakefield. For more information about the show or to reserve tickets, call 781-246-2836 or visit www.lindentreecoffeehouse.org.