Guitar wizard Arlen Roth slept inside a shack that had been abandoned for decades in a bed infested with wasps. That was in 1971 at a West Virginia bluegrass festival, and, believe it or not, it was the most influential concert in his long career.
“I just couldn’t believe how there was one polished, exciting act after another, each more exciting than the previous, and the amazing musicianship that really inspired me as a player,” recalls Roth, who just released a new album, Super Soul Session, with Jerry Jemmott. “I saw the Earl Scruggs Revue, the Dillards, the Stoneman Family and John Hartford. Just incredible!”
Roth, who was born in the Bronx and moved to Woodstock, New York, in the early 1970s, has gained a reputation as a master of the Fender Telecaster and slide guitar. He has played live or recorded with Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, John Prine, Levon Helm, Ry Cooder, Janis Ian, Phoebe Snow, John Sebastian, Eric Andersen and many more.
Bill Kirchen, the former guitarist in Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, has also been dubbed “the Master of the Telecaster,” so I ask Roth how his playing differs from Kirchen’s speedy fingers.
“Many have been called Master of the Telecaster,” Roth responds. “Bill and I are friends and have done two albums together — my Telemasters and Toolin’ Around Woodstock with Levon Helm albums. His style is more of a kind of twangy style than mine, and my style may be a bit more well-rounded than his. But I sure love his playing, too!”
Roth met many musicians in Woodstock, including Helm, his bandmates in the Band and gifted songwriter Eric Andersen. Roth toured with Andersen 1972-1976.
“I loved his ballads, his melodies and all the wonderful space he gave me for my solos and interpretations,” Roth says. “He also recorded one of my songs, ‘Dreams of Mexico,’ and I played on a couple of his albums. I’m also on a very nice live cut of ‘Thirsty Boots’ on his Greatest Hits album, and I just sang ‘Sweet Surprise’ on a tribute album to him.”
Earlier this year, he left the audience and joined Andersen on stage at the Falcon in Marlboro, New York. His acoustic guitar playing was brilliant, adding so much color to “Thirsty Boots” and other Andersen compositions.
Andersen, who was part of the 1960’s Greenwich Village folk scene with Phil Ochs, Dave Van Ronk and many others, was the conduit for Roth’s meet-up with Dylan.
“The first time I saw Dylan was when Eric Andersen told me to go down to Gerde’s Folk City in the Village, where, ‘Tonight, the survivors of the ‘70s’ were going to be decided!” Roth exclaims. “Little did I know Dylan was gonna show up and that it was a kind of kickoff to his Rolling Thunder tour. He borrowed my 1939 Martin guitar, and I played onstage all night with him and all the other folks who performed, including Joan Baez, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, Patti Smith and Phil Ochs. It ended up in Dylan’s recent film Rolling Thunder. He sure did take notice of me that night, and he stood in front of me for a long time when I was playing onstage!”
Video of that magical night was used in two Dylan films: 1978’s Renaldo and Clara, written by Dylan and Sam Shepard, and Martin Scorcese’s Rolling Thunder Revue in 2019.
“There’s a Renaldo and Clara segment of me playing with Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, whom I had met in D.C. on the road with John Prine,” Roth says. “The more polished Rolling Thunder film by Scorcese had me with Patti Smith.”
Besides performing and recording, Roth has taught guitar in person and on numerous Hot Licks videos and DVDs. His instructional videos have sold more than 2 ½ million copies, and his current online lessons and blogs for Gibson.com have more than 1 million followers.
Roth’s teaching in 1972 led to work with two New York City favorite sons, Art Garfunkel and Paul Simon.
“I taught at Eddie Simon’s (Paul’s brother) Guitar Study Center in Manhattan,” Roth says. “Eddie loved my playing so much that, when Art Garfunkel needed a guitarist for his 1978 solo tour, he called me on the recommendation of Eddie. I did 48 cities with him that year, including Saturday Night Live. In 1982, Paul Simon called me for guitar lessons and help with writing his songs, so I taught him for about a year. Then I did the Simon & Garfunkel world tour with them in 1983, which was quite an experience!”
Roth’s guitar prowess has been lauded by many, so I ask him which musician gets his applause as the best guitarist he has ever heard.
“Hmm, tough one,” he answers. “From a technical and musical viewpoint, I’d have to say Eric Johnson, Danny Gatton, Scotty Anderson, Tommy Emmanuel and Merle Travis. From an emotional standpoint, Mike Bloomfield, Son House, Robert Johnson, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Johnny Winter, Wes Montgomery and Joe Pass. There are so many greats.”
I only get one answer when asking Roth which is the best album he has ever listened to.
“I always love Rubber Soul by the Beatles, just for what it did in bridging acoustic and electric Beatles music, and it’s amazing songs,” he explains. “It’s really the Fab Four at their peak!”
Roth may regard Rubber Soul as the pinnacle of the Beatles’ career, so I ask him what are the ultimate highlights of his career.
He points to writing and publishing books for Music Sales at age 19, and later for Doubleday, and writing a “Hot Guitar” column for Guitar Player magazine. Other “ultimate highlights” were recording an album in Woodstock with Levon Helm and being a musical consultant for the Robert Johnson-inspired 1986 movie Crossroads.
Roth taught the movie’s star, Ralph Macchio, how to play guitar — or, at least, how to make it look like he was playing the instrument. For eight weeks, Roth was in Mississippi during the filming, creating many of the film’s guitar parts and working with Ry Cooder.
Despite decades full of highlights, Roth, at age 70, doesn’t appear to be slowing down. Besides the Super Soul Session album with Jerry Jemmott that he released on June 16, he is working on an all-acoustic solo album entitled Playing Out the String, which will be released in the summer or fall.
Roth hopes that his crowning achievement will be the opening of the International Guitar Hall of Fame and Museum. He founded a nonprofit organization with that name and wants to open the museum in Cooperstown, New York.
Roth says he and others working to create the museum “share his deep passion for the guitar, the most popular instrument the world has ever known!”
