Root Down in the Shadow

Show poster by Jennifer Prough Ahh, Sofar Sounds , that wonderful international phenomenon sweeping the globe that brings an eager group of music fans to living rooms and hip places to see bands large and small play intimate shows each month. Ever since the first Sofar Sounds I went to, back in Jan '13, I've been absolutely hooked.  It's really the best of all worlds for the music fan with amazing international acts, national touring bands, fabulous local bands, the best music fans to be-friend, acoustic/stripped/re-configured/interesting song arrangements, great homes &hosts, and plenty of other reasons to keep coming back for more.  In the last two years, showing up to these select locations it's been surprise after surprise worthy sharing with all my musical friends. The September show was yet another success by the Sofar Sounds: Philadelphia crew ( Carolyn Lederach, Ken Winneg, & Davis Howley ).  They brought us back to the Fishtown/Kensington neighbo

It's January 31st.. hardly the time to look back at the year prior.  But ripe with the awards season, Grammy's, Golden Globes, Tri State Indie Awards, etc it seems like the perfect time to share some thoughts about the year before.   2013 was a pretty damn good year for new music.  When compiling the year end list, it was remarkable how many outstanding Philadelphia based releases there were each month.  As with all things here at Root Down In The Shadow, we're going to skip retelling what you've read every where else.  Here we are going to do a Philly only year-end review!  Sorry to those of you who may be expecting Bastille , Aoife O'Donovan , J. Roddy Walston & The Business , or Phosphorescent on a year end list, like most things here at Root Down In The Shadow, this list will be Philly-centric!   Finally, apologies to Dr. Dog and Amos Lee, but I think everyone is aware already of B Room and Mountans of Sorrow, Rivers of Song.  Although I will add, the

Sofar Sounds: Philadelphia - April 6th, 2013 Sofar Sounds: Philadelphia 4-6-2013    Here's the March review          Here's the January review ** All photos from Lindsey Borgman**       http:// www.flickr.com/ photos/linky-b/ For those of you that don't know what Sofar Sounds is here's 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." The first month I got involved with Sofar, I was impressed by how exciting things were, how intimate it was. During the second event, it became clear to me that I was not alone in this recognition. Fans were back, previous artists were in attendance, we were all waiting for magic to happen. The historic 10th show for the Philadelphia team was a culmination of all the great things learned from the previous shows. Even with two returning bands and the showcase itself being at the same West Phi