TICKETING MOVED - Michael Lille & Justin Roth

Tickets for this show are now available here: https://swallowhillmusic.org/event/michael-lille-justin-roth

Doors 7 PM /Show 8 PM

Michael Lille is a Virginia native and award winning singer/songwriter who has traveled the globe and shared his music and love of adventure with friends and fans for nearly 5 decades.

Lille is a winner of the 1993 Kerrville new-folk songwriting award as well as a first place winner in the Telluride Troubador competition in 1996. In addition to his solo work, Lille is a member of The Sherpas (with fellow new-folk winners Tom Prasada-Rao and Tom Kimmel), SGGL, the popular DC/Charlottesville-based quartet, and Man from Tuesday with San Diego based songwriter Andy Lund. Lille was also one-third of The Famous Unknowns with fellow VA musicians Robbin Thompson and Lewis McGehee.

During Michael’s years in Nashville he opened shows for Alison Krauss, Bob Dylan, Warren Zevon, Leo Kottke and Little Feat, and his four solo projects feature guests such as Alison Krauss, Mary-Chapin Carpenter, Valerie Carter, Victor Wooten, John Jennings, Bonnie Raitt guitarist George Marinelli, and James Taylor violinist and vocalist Andrea Zonn.

Lille is also a motorcycle/Harley enthusiast covering as many miles as possible on two wheels.

Michael spends time traveling in Gus the Bus, visiting friends, touring the National Parks, seeking adventure on the perfect motorcycle highway, as well as making music as a solo artist and with his compadres spread around the country.

April 24th, 2025 marks the release date of Michael's first solo project in 20 years. "Ashland Avenue" features 13 previously unrecorded songs with a stellar list of collaborators, co-produced by Michael and Chris Rosser and recorded at Hollow Reed Studios in Asheville, NC. Guests include David Wilcox, Don Henry, Jon Carroll, Casey Driessen and Dan Dugmore and a long list of old friends and extraordinary players and singers.

Justin Roth is a nationally touring singer/songwriter/acoustic guitarist based in Colorado. His brilliantly inventive fingerstyle guitar arrangements define his unique mix of indie folk and instrumental guitar music. Justin has toured with David Wilcox and John Gorka and opened for some of the finest singer/songwriters on the acoustic music scene, including Shawn Colvin, Lucy Kaplansky, Darrell Scott, and Peter Yarrow (of Peter, Paul and Mary). Equally, his guitar playing has earned him shared stages with some of the greatest fingerstyle players of today, such as Tommy Emmanuel, Andy McKee, Billy McLaughlin, Michael Gulezian and Pat Donohue. 

Major festival appearances include the Rocky Mountain Folks Fest, Kerrville Folk Festival and Sisters Folk Fest, as well as teaching his unique style and techniques at guitar workshops, festival workshops and online at JamPlay.com. He has sold over 13,000 copies of his five independent CDs in addition to being a core contributor to an instrumental album produced for Target Stores by guitarist extraordinaire, Billy McLaughlin, entitled Lifescapes – Solo Guitar, which has sold over 70,000 copies nationwide. Justin’s fan-funded album, Now You Know, was voted as one of the Top 100 Folk Albums of 2011. Justin lives in Fort Collins, CO with his wife and two kids.

Raised in Minnesota on rock and roll, singer-songwriter Justin Roth picked up the guitar in 9th grade, taking lessons from a heavy metal guitarist. His path to acoustic music was solidified at 17, when he saw innovative guitarist Michael Hedges open for Crosby, Stills & Nash. He had gone to see the famed headliners, but it was Hedges’ music that truly spoke to him. Justin was enthralled by Hedges’ expressive playing and inventive compositions and was immediately hooked by this new sound of the acoustic guitar. Justin saw that the acoustic guitar was capable of so much more than he had been exposed to before, and from that moment on, he knew that it would be the root of his musical world. From there, Justin added more layers to his playing, including partial capos and two-hand tapping, to create an even wider range of textures and voicings in his compositions and live performances.

Since then, Justin has gone on to wow audiences across the country, performing at such renowned venues as the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago, The Ark in Ann Arbor and Saint Paul’s historic Fitzgerald Theater, home of Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion.” A dynamic live performer, Justin has won fans over with his intricate guitar solos, heartfelt songs and spontaneous delivery, often composing songs during his shows with the audience’s help. Gaining recognition as a songwriter as well as performer, Justin has won numerous songwriting awards. He has twice been a New Folk Finalist at the Kerrville Folk Festival and has won the Indie Acoustic Project’s award for Best Song of 2005 for his song Shine.

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