Boston Common - Niche Media - A side of Boston that's anything but common.
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62 bostoncommon-magazine.com photography by ElizabEth CECil; hair and MakEup by lizzy kEnt Voice of the Island Singer-Songwriter and part-time Vineyarder Lexie Roth iS poiSed to break out in muSic, acting, cooking, writing—or all of the aboVe. by meaghan agnew "It's nice when I have the whole place to myself to roam free," says singer- songwriter Lexie Roth, speaking from her small guest cottage in Aquinnah as she preps her family home for summer rentals. The 26-year-old, who splits her time among New York, Boston, and Martha's Vineyard, should appreciate the calm before the storm. With her third album, New York, set for release in October, the gifted performer is poised for a massive boost to her name recognition in the music industry. Unless her acting career takes off first. Or her cooking career. The fact is, any of them could blast off like a rocket ship at any moment. Performing is in Roth's genes. Her father, noted guitar- ist Arlen Roth, has collaborated with James Taylor, Bob Dylan, and Paul Simon and literally wrote the book on guitar instruction: Arlen Roth's Masters of the Telecaster, con- sidered the definitive manual for the Fender instrument. Her mother, Deborah, was an accomplished artist and illustrator, and together the couple founded Hot Licks Productions, which produced audio and video instruction tapes. "It was an amazing, creative, open household," Roth recalls of her child- hood just outside Westchester, New York. "We were constantly drawing and painting and expressing ourselves." That creative carte blanche extended to t heir summers in Aquinna h, where t he fa mily rented for yea rs before buying a home in 1999. "A lot of my most special memories are of times with my sister here on the Vineyard." At 18, Roth released her first album, One Long Blink, which was an act of catharsis as much as musical ambition: Roth's mother and sister, Gillian, were killed in a car accident when Roth was 10, and she used music to give voice to her heartache. "I needed a venue to release and express it through song," she says. Her second, self-titled collection was more outward- facing, with songs about the people she met during her summers and her travels—a perfect showcase for her sultry, bluesy vocals, especially on the melancholy yet uplifting "Lost Memory," for which she filmed a music video. In addition, this winter Roth is slated to appear in a movie directed by David O. Russell. She is also writing and will star in a Web comedy series called Choices, to be shot partly on the Vineyard. And if that weren't ambitious enough, she also runs Rooted Food Company (rootedfood co.com), catering affairs in Boston and on the island. But no matter what she's doing, Roth always makes time to remember Aquinnah childhood summers gone by: "Just the smells and the sounds here bring me back to that time." BC Lexie Roth, whose family spent summers in Aquinnah, will release her third album this fall. INSIGHT shaped by: "I grew up with jukeboxes and lots of classic and country music: Dolly Parton, Stevie Wonder, Sam Cooke." dining out: "The Port Hunter (55 Main St., Edgartown, 508-627-7747) has a cool, new vibe." PEOPLE Talent Patrol