Swallow Hill's Third Annual Roots Festival

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.

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.

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