Kathryn Mostow - Greyrock Commons House Concerts

Justin Roth hails from Minnesota, where he 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 guitarist Michael Hedges open for Crosby, Stills & Nash. Justin is known for his truly innovative guitar playing (check out this Youtube video on Justin's MySpace page) as well as his award-winning songwriting (he's been a finalist in Rocky Mountain Folks Festival, Telluride Troubadour, and Kerrville Folk Festival).

Justin has toured with Red House recording artist John Gorka and has shared the stage with some of the biggest acts in the acoustic music scene, including Shawn Colvin, Martin Sexton, Lucy Kaplansky, David Wilcox and Richard Shindell.

Kathryn Mostow will be playing an opening set for Justin.

It's no surprise that Seattle-based Larry Murante is gaining a reputation as one of the finest contemporary singer songwriters to emerge from the Northwest in recent years.

Larry's two CD releases, Kiss Me One More Time and Water's Edge have garnered critical acclaim from all over the country and parts of Europe. In the past decade he's racked up a string of national and regional songwriting awards and honors including first place winner of the Wildflower Songwriting Contest in Richardson, Texas and a showcase finalist at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival.

Larry grew up in the small rural town of Nazareth, Pennsylvania (also the home of Martin Guitars). In high school, Larry began singing in working bands of every kind. Larry's voice today is a testament not only to good pipes but to years of training — which he's done, logging over a decade of study with opera, jazz, and musical theater stylists (Larry continues to lead a double life as a jazz/rock/R&B singer in his ten piece variety band, Second Wind, which has been together for over 15 years).

Brad Warren

His songs are full of the sense of how lucky and fragile our lives are: to have music, companionship, family, a roof overhead, a semblance of mental health, food on the table and the opportunity to grow — these are gifts that in Larry's songs seem tenuous, revocable, and tender.

Larry has shared the stage with such artists as Peter Mulvey, Greg Greenway, Pierce Pettis, David Broza, Cosy Sheridan, and Laura Love.

With a guitar and a knack for drawing people out, Brad finds stories that deserve singing everywhere. Imagine a crossroads where Bruce Cockburn, David Wilcox, Marc Cohn and Lyle Lovett might meet to swap songs, that's where you'll find Brad's work, too.

Randall Williams studied classical music at the Royal Conservatory of Mons, Belgium, but left the world of black tie tuxedos and Verdi operas for a life of folk music. His journeys have been numerous:
he’s written songs in train stations, sung and played on street corners, cafés, and pubs. For a time he lived aboard a 20' sailboat that he bought for $800, teaching himself how to sail by single-handing through the Baltic and North Seas with his guitar sleeping in the berth beside him at night. He moved to North Africa, then set off across the Sahara by hitching with locals - bouncing through a minefield on the way that made his mother have bad dreams. He loved the adventure, but he missed the music.

In 2005, Randall returned stateside to scrounge up a career as a performing songwriter, hoping it wasn't too late. So far, it hasn't been. As the "Partial Capo Guy," Randall has written two books for Hal Leonard, recorded a DVD for Kyser Musical Products, and given workshops at some of the biggest festivals in United States. As a performer, Randall has been a finalist in the Founder's Title and Mid-Atlantic Song Contests, A regional finalist at Kerrville, a showcase artist at Northeast and Midwest Folk Alliance, and at the International Folk Alliance in Memphis, and an Audience Favorite at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. His 2007 live release, "One Night in Louisiana" made a respectable dent in the folk DJ charts (One single, "Lebanon," was #8 in May,) and he's generally a nice guy to have around, capos or not.