Root Down in the Shadow

Somehow Sofar Sounds : Philadelphia is hitting their 4th Anniversary. The now world-wide phenomenon was a few shy of twenty cities world-wide when Philadelphia joined the ranks. These days, the shows are all over the globe and it seems like there are just shy of twenty dates in NYC alone each month. It all started in London, back in 2009, and slowly spread during the next two years to New York, Paris, DC, Los Angeles, Pune India, Houston, Brighton, Seattle, New Dehli, Sydney, Madrid, Berlin, Toronto, Dallas-Forth Worth, and Glasgow before hitting the City of Brotherly Love.  During the next 10 days I'm going to look back at four years of Sofar Sounds: Philadelphia trying to give my version of the best videos. Please comment and share what were your favorites. #6 Ali Wadsworth - Long Hours One of the most colorful artists to perform at Sofar Sounds: Philadelphia is Ms. Ali Wadsworth .  A chameleon of sorts (and not just due to her hair color) she can h...

Welcome to Season Two of Philly-centric video series, Cover Club.  Cover Club is best conceptualized as “A special brand of Philly covers”, akin to The Onion’s AV Undercover series but with one caveat: the song being covered must originally be from a Philly artist. Ali Wadsworth - Photo by Bob Sweeney Satellite Hearts - Photo by Bob Sweeney Ali Wadsworth + Satellite Hearts are two names that were all over the Philly map in recent years.  Ali Wadsworth most recently put out an album ( Ali Wadsworth ) of songs written by her friends and has contributed vocals for countless others including Kalob Griffin Band , Aaron & the Spell , Kuf Knotz , and Small House.  Satellite Hearts just dropped a new single to tease their upcoming album, but spent most of 2014 backing Kuf Knotz, Ali Wadsworth, Ron Gallo & others.  Meanwhile they're up for the Indie Rock Band of the Year and will be a featured performer for the 4th Annual TriState Indie Awards ....

So our pal Mat Burke had the bad luck of getting his place broken into a few months ago.  To overcome the major shortfall that isn't covered by Mat's numerous jobs, he's doing things to raise money in the only way that he knows how: a "Break In Fundraiser."  Here's what Mat has to say about the event: "As many of you know my home was broken into shortly after christmas. The burglars ended up stealing around 10,000 dollars of my stuff. Bummer I know but the really bad thing about all of this was that about 5-6 thousand of that wasn't even my stuff. It was mics, mixing boards, pedals and other odds and ends i was borrowing from a studio for the recording of my new record. Underground Arts and their awesome staff has donated the room and the staffs time to help raise money in hopes of paying back the studio and replacing the equipment that has been stolen. Every dollar of the ticket sales will go toward this. We will also be holdin...

After dinner and a beer at Boot & Saddle recently, crossing the threshold of the venue was more than going to a concert; it was a chance to go back in time.  For the evening, the talented outfits of Foxhound, Hezekiah Jones , and Ali Wadsworth transformed themselves into Nirvana , the Lemonheads , and Pearl Jam .  On any ordinary night, this would be a stellar line-up without any covers, but just talent alone.  But for this Saturday night, it stood to be an incredible night; recreating a night that many music fans wish they would have ever been a part of. First up was Foxhound.  Normally the duo of Chris Kasper and Kylie Ryan , they recruited some friends to make Nirvana MTV Unplugged in New York happen.  Sean Hoots, complete with ripped jeans and a tied on flannel, played an acoustic bass and Tom Bendel was on drums.  Just as Nirvana took some liberties for the live recording, Foxhound made this their own as well as they played the wh...

Saturday night, October 5th, something truly magical is going to happen.  The self titled  Ali Wadsworth album is going to be released in grand fashion.  We're talking G R A N D !  Cocktail hour, a secret band, a roving party, and the much anticipated release of the most #EPIC album of all time! The Ali Wadsworth band itself, is made up of members of Good Old War , the Lawsuits , Hezekiah Jones , Chris Kasper , and more! We're not talking epic as in my favorite over-used adjective, but epic as in over 50 potential writers contributing to a project!  The cross-section of the Philadelphia scene involved with this project is huge.  We're not even talking 6 degrees of separation or 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon or whatever.  The number of artists directly writing for or playing on the album is staggering.  Don't confuse things though.  This is not some weak celebrity all-star album or some vanity project.  This is a full on collaboration wi...

For those of you who don't know what Sofar Sounds is here is their story: "We have created a movement which brings music lovers together in secret living room locations to hear some of the world's most cutting edge artists." **Unless noted, ** All photos from Lindsey Borgman** Links to earlier SofarSounds: Philadelphia reviews June 21st... Northern Liberties - Philadelphia, PA June's SofarSounds: Philadelphia was yet another testament to a winning formula.  Throughout the day, Philadelphia music fans had the opportunity to see quality musicians all around town for free , as a part of Make Music Philly.     Even with the opportunity to see an incredibly diverse selection of bands all around town like Toy Soldiers , Levee Drivers , James Hearne , September Call-up , Ang & The Damn Band , and Holy Ghost Tent Revival , fans and musicians alike were drawn to the monthly SofarSounds show.   What could possibly be better than seeing top qual...

Your band name : I'm not in a band but I work with a bunch of them. My name is Marley McNamara , manager at Levee Drivers , The Districts and Ali Wadsworth , booker/promoter (independent and for World Cafe Live ) Style : whatever sounds great. Years on the Scene : 4.5 years Current Project and/or Members : Managing The Districts, Levee Drivers and I recently took on Ali Wadsworth. Also, President of For The Record Management . Recent and/or most unique/exciting show : I would have to say it's a toss-up between the Levon Helm Tribute that Ron Gallo ( Toy Soldiers) and I put together last summer downstairs at World Cafe Live, which featured about 17 locals artists who all joined together to commemorate the life and work of Levon Helm and The Band (including Eric Slick of Dr. Dog assisting almost everyone on drums) and the Beck Song Reader show I organized this past January. I asked 20 local bands of all different genres to learn one song out of Beck...