Two nights each year, strings sound the roots of Roosevelt.

The Roosevelt String Band will perform at 8 p.m. May 1-2 in Roosevelt's borough hall. The Roosevelt String Band has been performing songs about social consciousness, the working man, human rights and dignity, union activism, and community unity — the very themes that brought the borough to fruition in 1936 — for more than two decades. The sounds of such notions will again resound in Borough Hall when the band performs its annual concert at 8 p.m. May 1-2.

Roosevelt residents Dave Brahinsky and Paul Prestopino started the band in 1987. Brahinsky plays the guitar and performs lead vocals while Prestopino strums the mandolin, banjo and various guitars. While the band has undergone numerous incarnations, today it features resident Ed Cedar on the bass guitar and mandolin, as well as Brooklynites Sarah Houtz, who studied opera at the Manhattan School of Music, and Joe Pepitone, an aspiring musician who plays guitar and also sings.

Former resident Howie Jacobson, who used to be a full-time member of the band before moving to North Carolina, will also make a guest appearance and try to steal the show, according to Brahinsky.

"Which he usually does," Brahinsky said.

The upcoming concert will celebrate the community and the band's 22-year history.

"We're basically a bunch of friends who enjoy putting this concert together every year, largely for our local community (where I've lived since I was 11)," Prestopino, an accompanist with the musical group Peter, Paul and Mary, said.

Founded in 1987 during Roosevelt's 50th anniversary celebration, the string band initially consisted of Prestopino and Brahinsky. The duo's music was such a hit with townsfolk that they decided to hold an annual concert.

Brahinsky later invited Cedar to play in the band after hearing him play the fiddle for students at Roosevelt Public School. The trio later invited Brahinsky's son Joshua into the mix to play bass.

The quartet performed a tribute concert to Canadian singer Stan Rogers, which went over so well that they played a concert with a different theme each year to growing au- diences.

Players came and went, such as former resident John Parrot and the late Judith Trachtenberg, but the initial three remain at the core. Houtz, who had been attending string band concerts since she was the age of 7, joined the band in 2002. She brought Pepitone in about a year later.

After changing venues and playing at the Peddie School in Hightstown for about five years, the band returned to its preferred venue — Borough Hall.

"The venue [at Peddie] was so big and the audience was so far away from the stage," Brahinsky said.

Since the annual concert started drawing 300 to 400 attendees, the band added an extra night just to keep the performance intimate.

"We've had shows where there is standing room only both nights," Brahinsky said, encouraging concertgoers to attend the Friday night performance if they want to guarantee getting a seat.

This year, the concert will include performances of originals by Hautz and Pepitone. The show will also feature the traditional American folk song "Man of Constant Sorrow," "Beeswing," a Vietnam War era song by Richard Thompson, "Big Yellow Taxi" by Joni Mitchell, "Passion Play" by Loudon Wainright III, as well as other tunes by performers such as Tom Paxton and Bruce Springsteen. Prestopino will also perform "Golden Vanity" a cappella.

The string band concerts attempt to highlight community spirit and draw a crowd from all of Roosevelt's nooks and crannies.

"There are still people that haven't come out and they are missing something," he said.

The band does not profit from the performances, which benefit the Roosevelt Arts Project, a nonprofit dedicated to bolstering artists and art projects in the community.

The band encourages concertgoers to contribute a suggested donation of $10 to the Roosevelt Arts Project. Students and seniors are asked for a suggested donation of $5. However, attendees can contribute whatever they can afford, according to Brahinsky.

For more information about the band or the concert, call Dave Brahinsky at 609- 443-1898.