Hit Pick

Though Justin Roth is a native of Minnesota, he sounds very much at home in his adopted hometown of Denver. Roth’s simply instrumented but authentically rendered acoustic music recalls the folky tradition that’s so much a part of our state’s musical history. The singer-songwriter, who tours non-stop to support himself as a working musician, writes personal songs that grapple with the insecurities and surprising joys of life as a twentysomething; his lyrical explorations of love and distance are tastefully underscored by his subtle arrangements. And while Roth is certainly an earnest and somewhat serious young man, thankfully he never overemotes. There’s a refreshing restraint to his performance that many of his acoustic peers lack. Roth is certainly doing his best to get to know local audiences: He performs Saturday, November 3, at Stella’s Coffeehouse in Denver and Sunday, November 4, at the Unity Church of Boulder; later that night, Roth hits Avogadro’s in Fort Collins.