WHAT: Swallow Hill presents the Third Annual RootsFest with Hot
Rize, Shawn Colvin & Leo Kottke at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House
WHEN: Saturday, March 28 at 6 p.m.
WHERE: Ellie Caulkins Opera House at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts
Complex, 950 13th Street, Denver, Colo. 80204
TICKETS: $55 - $125 plus tax
INFO & BOX OFFICE:
www.swallowhillmusic.org, 303.777.1003 x2
DENVER, COLO. (11/13/08) -- Swallow Hill is pleased to
present the third annual RootsFest on Saturday, March 28, 2009 at 6 p.m. Headlining this year's
festival are bluegrass legends Hot Rize, multi-Grammy winning singer/songwriter Shawn Colvin and
acclaimed guitar virtuoso Leo Kottke.
RootsFest is Swallow Hill's largest annual event. Formerly known
as the Denver Folk & Roots Music Festival, this event is held in one of
Colorado's best-sounding acoustic venues, the Ellie Caulkins Opera House,
located in the Denver Center for the Performing Arts complex in downtown Denver.
Past headliners include Taj Mahal, Bruce Cockburn and Nanci Griffith.
Tickets
for the 2009 RootsFest will go on sale for the public beginning December 1 at
www.SwallowHillMusic.org, via
phone at 303.777.1003 x2, or in person at Swallow Hill during business hours, 71
East Yale Avenue, Denver, Colo. 80210. Members of Swallow Hill have first pick
on tickets with a special pre-sale that begins on November 22 at 10 a.m.
Hot
Rize, featuring
Grammy award winner Tim O'Brien, Bryan Sutton, Pete "Dr. Banjo" Wernick, Nick
Forster,
delivers a high energy and unique sound that is appealing to fans both young and
old. As the band approaches their 30th year in the bluegrass history
book, Swallow Hill approaches their 30-year birthday as a nonprofit organization
serving the roots music community in March 2009. As they celebrate milestones
together, they also celebrate a history together as members of Hot Rize have had
long connections to the Swallow Hill community. Tim O'Brien got his start at
Swallow Hill and our recording studio, Sawtelle Studio, is named in honor of
original Hot Rize member, Charles Sawtelle, who passed in 1999. It's perfect that they come
together to celebrate with great music at RootsFest.
Multi-Grammy-winning artist Shawn Colvin has inspired a legion of young
artists to take up the art of song crafting. A masterful storyteller, her songs
are full with tenderness and empathy, and peppered with pop hooks that garner
mainstream appeal. Now based in Austin, her latest release, These Four Walls,
is filled with 12 powerful songs and has been called a "beautifully crafted
project" by Dirty Linen magazine.
Innovative acoustic guitar
virtuoso Leo Kottke's fingerpicking is sure to sound amazing in the Opera
House’s finely crafted sound qualities. Having survived a series of personal
obstacles including partial hearing loss and tendon damage to his hand, Kottke
has emerged to become one of the most masterful of modern guitar players. His
performances are captivating, coupling his playing with monologues that range
from strange to humorous. Unconventional in style and composition, he pushes
boundaries and inspires with his art, which ranges from blues to jazz to folk
and beyond."We're very excited to have such a stellar lineup for this
year's RootsFest," says
Tom Scharf, Swallow Hill's Executive Director. "It's like a birthday bash,
in a sense, for
Swallow Hill's 30th birthday—a
great deal of quality entertainment for an unbelievably affordable price."
A nonprofit arts organization, Swallow Hill relies on this event to
maintain their funding from the Scientific & Cultural Facilities District (SCFD),
which is based on both monetary and attendance thresholds. RootsFest has become
the flagship of Swallow Hill's fundraising efforts. In one evening audience
members can experience the best in world-class roots music that mirrors what the
organization offers year-round in their production of more than 200 concerts.
Updates about the event can be found on Swallow
Hill's
official Web site at www.SwallowHillMusic.org. RootsFest is also on MySpace at
www.MySpace.com/RootsFestDenver.
This press
release is also available online at
http://www.swallowhillmusic.org/newsroom/newsmain.htm and also as a RSS Feed at
http://www.swallowhillmusic.org/xml/newsroom/rss/SwallowHillNews.xml.
About Swallow Hill Music
Association:
Helping people make
and enjoy music since 1979, Swallow Hill Music Association is one of the largest
nonprofit
institutions of its kind in the United States as a source for folk, roots and
acoustic music. With more than 2,300 members, Swallow Hill provides a place to
celebrate music that is rarely heard elsewhere in the Rocky Mountain Region.
Three concert venues house more than 200 performances a year, featuring some of
the world's great artists as well as up-and-coming new talent.
Swallow Hill’s Julie Davis School of Music
offers classes for every interest, skill level and member of the family. Each
year, a faculty of 60 instructors provides training to more than 4,000 students.
A Tier II member of the
Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD), Swallow Hill has been
named one of the Top 25 Movers & Shakers in Arts & Culture by the Rocky
Mountain News, has won both
the Mayor's and Governor's Awards for Excellence in the Arts and countless "Best of
Denver" awards, has been recognized by the North American Folk Alliance, and
is one of the most sought-after venues by folk and roots performers in the
country.
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