Mary Roth
By Cynthia Marone
Chances are you have heard Mary Roth’s voice. Maybe it was in Atlantic City, New .Jersey, when, as a baby, she would belt one out as her parents pushed her in a stroller along the Boardwalk. Or possibly it was as a listener of her longtime radio show, “Artists With a Purpose,” that broadcasts out of her hometown of Cape May, New Jersey. But most likely, it was at her countless appearances over the years at a variety of venues throughout Bucks County. “It's such a diverse place, isn't it? I love Bucks County. I absolutely love Bucks County. It's such an arts community, a thriving arts community,” Mary, whose radio show comes out of WCFA 101.5 FM, said.
Mary would know. As a singer-songwriter, radio host, educator, event planner and organizer, her talents have taken her all over and Bucks County has been lucky to be a part of her trajectory. Her singer-songwriter side regularly performs in area clubs, libraries, historic sites and the like with her style of music and world instruments, and her radio host role took her here for one of the first interviews for “Artists With a Purpose,” which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. “I took my recording device out to Bucks County, and I interviewed Annie Haslam from [progressive rock band] Renaissance,” Mary said of the singer-songwriter and painter. “She was a really good guest because she does music and she does visual art. She had quite a dimension to her art. This was when I decided to open up the show to build community far and wide, inclusive of all folks in the arts. I also added a lot of my own stories and experiences within this parameter.”
Mary’s own story with the arts began on her Page 1. Not only did she serenade those along the AC Boardwalk but she and her favorite doll would give concerts to the entire block as they played on the swing set of her childhood home outside of Philadelphia. Singing came naturally, but she could have easily detoured into the visual arts, as painting, pastels and drawing were a part of her life. She will be the first to admit becoming a recording artist was not planned, but certain vocalists had a magnetic pull she could not deny. “As a kid, a 10-year-old girl, Linda Ronstadt was such a big deal — and she should be. Her voice, one like hers, it is incredible. You're a kid listening to that, you think, 'My gosh, how does she do that? It’s such a strong voice. She must be a strong person too.' You're drawn to it,”
Mary, who has taught all ages at institutions such as Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, Friends’ Central School in Wynnewood, Abington Friends School in Jenkintown and Friends Select School in Philadelphia, said. “Later you start listening to other people's voices, like Joan Baez — she had a strong voice. Then you listen to different styles, like Joni Mitchell had scatting and jazz later. What a great artist. It was mostly the singers in the beginning that I was drawn to.”
Joni Mitchell, who Mary saw live in concert when the artist was in her jazz phase, became an inspiration in another way when, by chance, Mary spotted an instrument she knew the legendary singer-songwriter played. “I bought a dulcimer at a music festival. There was a stand where I just thought, ‘Wow, what a cool instrument.’ I would say the Appalachian Mountain dulcimer and the guitar started around the same time later in my teens when I started to just sing,” Mary, whose planning and event organizing has included aspects of the 2002 Cape May NJ State Film Festival and the 2018 Atlantic City Vegan Food Festival as well as at Historic Cold Spring Village in Cape May, said. “The dulcimer, it was easy to pick up on that because I was playing songs like that on the guitar. It's a different dimension from the guitar a little bit. There's just so many dimensions to the dulcimer that I didn't realize when I first saw Joni Mitchell playing it.”
Mary’s earliest professional memory is being invited onstage to sing background on “The House of the Rising Sun” after the band’s guitarist chatted with her minutes before the show. She hasn’t looked back. Today, in addition to her voice, she has added numerous world instruments to her repertoire, including the stringed Appalachian and hammered dulcimers; the Celtic bodhrán, which she first heard on folk band Pentangle’s “Solomon’s Seal” then promptly went to the Bucks County Folk Music Shop in New Britain to buy one; the bouzouki, which started out as a shopping trip for an acoustic electric guitar but ended with what is now one of the staples of her show; the shekere; and hand drums from myriad other cultures. She has recorded with the late Robert Hazard, who wrote “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” (sung by another Appalachian dulcimer player, Cyndi Lauper). Her performances have included appearances at several Philadelphia Flower Shows, the Philadelphia Folk Festival and the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire. Bucks County is one of her favorite stops and her music has filled the air at Odette’s Cabaret Room, Parry Mansion Museum, the New Hope Railroad, Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve and The Free Library of New Hope & Solebury, all in New Hope; Peddler’s Village in Lahaska; Fonthill Castle in Doylestown; the Village Renaissance Faire in Wrightstown; and Pennsbury Manor in Morrisville. It’s certainly a mix, but it’s nothing compared to the variety of guests on her radio show.
Mary has no favorite among those who have sat down for her (“Everybody's kind of my favorite”) and it is easy to see why. Her relationship with the community station began when she volunteered over the summer of 2007. She left the East Coast for a bit, but when she returned, she was ready to have her own platform. She started solely spinning music but soon added interviews. What began with a focus on the South Jersey scene morphed into musicians stopping by, then other creatives, and before long, the borders melted entirely. Mary hit the road with her recorder, and “Artists With a Purpose” came into its own.
Peeking into her archives, her hour-long show has included Philadelphia radio personality Michael Tearson; actress Jane Seymour; actress and singer Lucie Arnaz; director and actress Melanie Mayron; artist Peter Max; singer-songwriter Graham Nash of Crosby, Stills & Nash and The Hollies (“I worked in a record shop as a kid. I just happened, off the cuff, to mention that to him. Here, he worked in a record shop too. It was really a nice little piece of information I didn't know about him. You never know what’s going to come up about an artist that you’re interviewing.”); and The Coalition Against Rape & Abuse: C.A.R.A. Executive Director Claire T. Galiano and Director, Sexual Assault Services Martina Singleton. This is just a smattering of the people that have talked with Mary for her show, which she hopes to make more available via a podcast and syndication. “I wanted something that was inclusive of all forms of artistic expression. What's really nice about ‘Artists With a Purpose’ is that I can branch that out,” Mary, who was awarded a $2,500 Art and Change Grant from the Leeway Foundation in 2005 to complete her CD that brought awareness to domestic violence issues and promoted education and prevention, said. “It's when people are working, doing it with integrity and true to their art, you just want to spread that as much as you can to other platforms. I had a passion for wanting to put positive things out to the public—positive, interesting, inventive interviews.”
For more information about “Artists With a Purpose” or Mary Roth’s upcoming performances, visit facebook.com/ArtistsWithaPurpose/. To contact Mary Roth for a performance, email sagewillow5493@gmail.com.
Cynthia Marone is a freelance writer who resides in Philadelphia.