Elizabeth Roth, Bio:


Elizabeth Roth has been one of the best known solo acoustic musicians in North Florida for over 30 years. A versatile, interpretive performer with an impressive finger style guitar technique and a distinctive clear and strong voice, Roth is very much in demand, performing well over 200 engagements annually. In the fall of 2018, she was selected as one of the first ten local musical artists to be inducted into the newly formed St. Augustine Music Hall of Fame (SAMHOF). Varied Influences include folk singers from the 60s' to the present, acoustic folk-rock, rock & roll, blues, country, and classical music. Elizabeth Roth enjoys entertaining a crowd and welcomes audience suggestions. Her repertoire is extensive and includes over 600 tunes by over 400 different artists, with songs ranging in style from old standards, to folk, rock, modern country and contemporary popular music.

She also composes and performs her own original material. Her album entitled "like the david" was released in April 2003 and was awarded "Cd of the Year From a Solo Act" from Songwriter's Showcases of America. It was also voted "Best Local Cd of 2003" in the Jacksonville Folio Magazine "Best of Jax" reader's poll.


She is lead vocalist and bass guitarist in a classic rock trio called The Grapes of Roth. (Grapes of Roth band members are Trey Moore, drums and Matt VanRysdam, lead guitar/vocals).  She also plays bass and shares vocal duties in another local five piece band called Salty Daug, as well as in the variety trio CRS (Carpenter Roth & Sabo). Follow the links (above) for detailed information about the bands.

 

Self taught in music since the age of 13, Roth went on to pursue formal training in both classical guitar and classical voice as a music major at Stetson University in Deland. She graduated in fall 2006 with a Bachelor of Arts in music (guitar).

From the fall of 2003 to spring 2022 she served as a member of the music faculty at the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind (F.S.D.B.) in St. Augustine, teaching evening classes in popular music and performance skills to blind high school and junior high school students in a program called "Outta Sight". She participated in the rehearsals and performance of F.S.D.B. students in the 2005 NFL Superbowl Pre-game show, where they had been invited to sing backup vocals behind Alicia Keys on "America the Beautiful" as part of a tribute to a famous school alumni, the late Ray Charles.

From 2005 to 2009 she served as an adjunct instructor of classical guitar at St. Augustine High School,  magnet center for the arts in St. Johns County.

From 2006 to 2019 she was an affiliate artist with the Jacksonville based music therapy program "Body & Soul",  an organization which brings various musical outreach programs and patient room visitation into many area hospitals and assisted living facilities. Having pulled out of the program due to her expanded duties at F.S.D.B., Elizabeth looks forward to reaching out soon to Body and Soul to resume her work with them - and possibly to investigate her long held desire to implement an arts in medicine outreach program in St. Johns County.

Current steady performance engagements include solo work every Saturday at the Tradewinds Tropical Lounge in St. Augustine (where she has been every Saturday since January 1992) and band work with Salty Daug at the same venue every Tuesday night from 9:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. Look for The Grapes of Roth to appear every summer in the St. Augustine Plaza Series (Thursday nights) and in the St Augustine Beach “Music by the Sea” series (Wednesday nights). And check the calendar for any additional upcoming dates. (The Grapes of Roth have been performing mostly private engagements since Covid. This is a favorite project for Elizabeth, so look for public club dates to ramp back up in 2023) 

Originally from Jacksonville, Florida, Roth moved to St Augustine in 1985 where she now resides with her husband and their two sons.