"Glen has that gift which brings out a spark in people."
(Amy Tuttle, Long Island Music Hall of Fame)
gr :: singer / songwriter
Glen Roethel. Recording/Touring Artist, Award-Winning Singer-Songwriter, House Band Guitarist for the Posi Awards, Posi Award and Grace Note Award Recipient (5-Time Posi Award Nominee)
In 2013 alone Glen received honors for three songs in the 30th Mid-Atlantic Song Contest (MASC), Songwriters’ Association of Washington, DC: “Sweet Cider” [Honorable Mention in the Country / Bluegrass category]; “The Family Tree” [Honorable Mention in the Acoustic / Folk category] and “Dandelion Dreams” (a co-write with Sue Riley) [Honorable Mention in the Open category]. In 2014 he was a double Posi Award Nominee for his songs “Beautiful Now” and “Family,” both included in his newest CD, Unfolding. [ed. A third song from Unfolding, “Together” was nominated for a Posi Award in the UNITING category in 2015.] His new single, “All Is Well,” (a co-write with Sue Riley and Richard Mekdeci) from his 2018 release, Go Out And Shine (emPower Music & Arts), was just nominated in the same category for the 14th annual Posi Awards in 2019. In 2020, Glen and his trio-mates/co-writers, Judy Kass and Amy Soucy were awarded Gold in the Open Category of the 36th Mid Atlantic Song Contest for their song “Too Much Crying” and in 2021, Us! received a Posi Award for their Green Earth category song, “We’ll Get There,” and UWWM appreciated Glen’s support of the New Thought music movement with a Grace Note Award.
Glen’s songs are featured in Unity songbooks; two co-writes are on the new More Than A Season holiday CD from emPower Music & Arts (“Christmas Is Easy On Me,” a duet/cowrite with Faith Rivera, and “From the Bottom Up,” co-written with Sue Riley and Megon McDonough), and in 101 Inspiring Songs: The Ultimate New Thought Fakebook (a Hal Leonard Corp. songbook), with multiple cuts on recordings by Sue Riley, Melinda Wood-Allen, David Roth, and gush. He tours the country in Posi-Palooza concerts and holiday shows, in addition to his other travels and performances.
Concert performances, conventions, conferences, and festivals are de rigueur; live music lovers have seen Glen in all of the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance’s (NERFA) juried showcases (even as an accompanist), at the Susquehanna Music & Arts Festival (SMAF) as a songwriting contest finalist, at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival Emerging Artist showcase, at the Posi Music Festival as a featured pro performer and House Band Guitarist, as a selected feature at Singer Songwriter Cape May in NJ, and many more – delighting audiences with thoughtful songwriting, soaring vocals, infectious energy and accomplished acoustic (and electric) guitar playing – for more than 45 years. Whether benefiting schools, churches, and not-for-profits, crooning at intimate house concerts, bringing cheer to hospital bedsides or leading big after-event sing-along jams, no stone is left unturned by this energy-packed one-man band.
Glen once formed and led a 100-person international choir – accompanied by The Buddha Babies, his Afro-Cuban Peruvian Japanese American band – playing and singing his own songs for more than 700 fans in New York City. Howard Stern has used his song “Smokin’ My Head” (gush 1994) for walk-in music, and cable TV’s Inside The NFL has used his dramatic instrumental guitar music to set an eerie mood for slow-motion dramatic effect. He also saw his song “Namaste'” featured in a multi-media exhibit at the Presidential Museum in Texas for three months as part of a multi-media exhibit by Arlene Atherton titled Children Speak: Tsunami.
Songwriting
Glen applies his creative energies to songwriting as well. His songs grace TV and syndicated radio and are published in songbooks including the Hal Leonard compilation titled 101 Inspiring Songs, The Ultimate New Thought Fakebook. He writes custom songs for individuals and events (most recently, to honor the former president of ABC News, and also honoring the founder of the prestigious Bronxville Counseling Center in New York.)