Max García Conover Embraces Philly with Cover Club (Leave Ruin by Strand of Oaks) and Sofar Sounds: Philadelphia Sessions

Photo by Jeff Coon

Just over two years ago, Max García Conover in preparation for his first show in Philadelphia at The Grape Room, he reached out to Root Down In The Shadow to connect. Could I review his new album Burrow? A review wasn't possible, but the Grape Room was just down the hill from my house. Since then we've collaborated many times for house shows and connections for other line-ups and sessions. This last August was a very special day for both of us. He was able to join make a Sofar Sounds: Philadelphia show and since we had made arrangements with the host, we had the ability to do more recording and pulled off a Cover Club Session.

It isn't just the last two years that made Max García Conover's relationship with Philly special. It's been going on for most of his life. He explains, "My romanticization of philadelphia started way back in elementary school, dancing and singing in my bedroom to Boyz II Men's Mowtownphilly. My perception of the city has evolved, along with my taste in music, but for a long time I've felt connected with the sort of art that thrives there. Some of my favorite songwriters come from Philly, people like Strand of Oaks, Kurt Vile, Small Houses.

I found Strand of Oaks when he was touring with Joe Pug, one of my favorite songwriters. during his own encore, Pug invited Strand of Oaks up to play one more song, and he quietly played "Leave Ruin," silencing the room with just his voice, his electric guitar, and a perfect song."

Cover Club | Max García Conover "Leave Ruin" (Strand of Oaks)

We recorded Max on the front porch of our host's home in Ambler, PA; while the other Sofar Sounds performers were getting ready for the afternoon backyard show.

Photo by Jeff Coon

Coincidentally, it wasn't Max's first Sofar Sounds set, but he did meet the Sofar Sounds: Boston people at a house show in Philly. The August afternoon show, in a artsy backyard retreat would be his third Sofar Sounds show after Boston and Sofar Sounds: Fort Worth. The soon to be Sofar Sounds vet (he's since played Montreal, New York, Nashville, and Maine) wowed the crowd with his straigh-forward style, playing new favorites "My Neighbor Joe" and "Eddie's Wine" among his set.

Photo By Lindsey Borgman

Check out "My Neighbor Joe" from his set, as his Cover Club Original:

CoverClub | Max García Conover "My Neighbor Joe"

Photo By Lindsey Borgman

Don't Forget to check out the original from Strand Of Oaks

Like/Follow/Subscribe as we will be posting an some Sofar Sounds videos from Max's travels and a video from the Root Down In The Shadow, Fishtown house show this last Friday.

Bands Pick The Bands - 2016 XPoNential Music Festival Presented by Subaru - Artists Preview

Wooo Hooooo It's XPoNential Fest Time!!!! Every year WXPN brings a ton of great bands and artists to the Wiggins Park shore in Camden, NJ. With so many bands on the line-up it's daunting to figure out which bands to see. Fortunately, the way WXPN does the line-ups you CAN make it to every band should you choose. However, we all know it's going to be hot as hell. Not quite as hot as 2011 with the 100 degree days, but still super hot. Luckily for us, some of the festival performers have put in their two cents for which bands they are excited about. Rosemary Fiki starts the fest at 4pm today on the JerseyArts.Com Marina Stage. Let's see what she's recommending: Band Most Excited to Share the Festival Stage with : This is our first time time performing at XPoNential so to be completely honest, I'm super stoked to share the Festival stage with everyone! If I absolutely had to choose, I would say The Districts. We actually shared the stage wit

New Release Q&A - Sonja Sofya answers some questions for "Patterns We Know"

The buzz has been all about Sonja Sofya and her new album The Patterns We Know . Tonight Sonja Sofya and band take to the stage at Boot & Saddle in South Philly along with a great line-up featuring Arc Divers and the dove and the wolf. Right off the top we have some great reasons to expect great things from this album, such as produced by Ross Bellenoit at Turtle Studios and excellent musicianship by guitarist/producer Ross Bellenoit, bassist Jonathan Colman , and drummers Matt Scarano and Jonas Oesterle . But we at Root Down In The Shadow wanted to dig further and see what Sonja had to say about the album. Here's 3 questions we had for the songstress Sonja Sofya: RDITS: What was the impetus to make a full length record and why did you pick the people you worked with? At a certain point, playing and writing as much as I was, it felt like the logical next step, but I waited for a while, trying to find the "perfect" time to go into the stud

Root Down Is A Sometime Thing...

From the desk of Root Down: Greetings Friends! It's been a bit, how've ya been? What's new? I've been gone for some time and I feel that I owe everyone an explanation of where I've been. Honestly, I haven't gone anywhere. Since I've last posted, I've still been frequenting my favorite record store, been hitting up local shows, hosted a few house shows, traveling for special shows, and making music a large part of my life. What I haven't been doing is losing countless hours fretting over knowing every new artist, tweeting, and losing sleep editing articles that spend less time getting read than I spent writing. I can definitively tell you that I'm DONE attempting to make Root Down In The Shadow "a thing" in the music world. I don't need Twitter followers, a lively blog, or anyone else's validation to share my love for music. It doesn't help my enjoyment of music to follow a shit-ton of bands on eve

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