Join the crew from the Roots Café for their monthly concert at An die Musik Live, this month featuring James von Lenz and Geoffrey Himes in conversation about songwriting.

After the Café’s two latest shows, “A Musical Tribute to Edgar Allan Poe” in February and “The Chesapeake Pirate Band” in April, we take a break from thematic concerts to focus on songwriting as an art. James Von Lenz returns for the first time in a year to join Roots Café host Geoffrey Himes to discuss the songwriting process and to provide examples with new songs, old favorites and few that they’ve written together.

Whether performing as a solo artist or as a principal singer-songwriter in the much-loved Baltimore bands Doc Pine & The Respect He Deserves, The Thorn Apples, and Voodoo Pharmacology, James von Lenz (Doc Pine) combines old, creepy Appalachian music, off kilter honky-tonk, murder ballads, yodeling, and down-and-out blues stomps. He claims his songs “have been filtered through ten feet of sugar maple charcoal, which imparts a distinct smoothness to the music.” Doc hails from the suburban wastelands of Crofton, Maryland, and his band, Doc Pine & the Respect He Deserves, released their debut, outlaw-country album “Welcome to the Victory Lounge” in 2021. www.facebook.com/james.vonlenz

Though he is best known as a music critic for the Washington Post, American Songwriter, Baltimore City Paper, Nashville Scene, Jazz Times, No Depression, Paste and many more, Geoffrey Himes is also a longtime singer-songwriter who has co-written songs with Si Kahn, Fred Koller, Walter Egan, Sonia Rutstein, Billy Kemp, Stephen Wade, Jim Patton, Tony Denikos, Alan MacEwan, James Von Lenz, Ed Pettersen, Andrew Grimm, Bob Kannenberg and others. As the founder of the Roots Café, he has served since 2008 as the host of Maryland’s best singer-songwriter series. For this show, he premieres his newest song, “The Advantage Was All Mine.” http://www.facebook.com/RootsCafeBaltimore

In-person seats: $15 / $10 students
Attendees receive a link to the recording to view for one week.

Streaming passes: $12
Link will remain active for one week

Donations Welcome!