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...

"From the Notebook" is a new series at Root Down In The Shadow, that will explore great experiences with bands and events that didn't make it to the web within a normal deadline, but were too good not to share.  If all goes well we'll let that original moment simmer and provide some additional insight beyond our first take.  Our first subject: Dirty Dollhouse. Chelsea Mitchell All Photos by Lindsey Borgman unless noted  Chelsea Mitchell Dirty Dollhouse Who is Dirty Dollhouse ? Who is Dirty Dollhouse ?  Officially Dirty Dollhouse is the all-beautiful, all-female Chelsea Mitchell-Amber Twait-Vanessa Winters trio.  The lush harmonies of these long-time friends are the crux of any Dirty Dollhouse tune.  But which band is really Dirty Dollhouse?  Is it only the trio? Or, is it a full-band extravaganza?  Chelsea Mitchell Some fans already caught their first glimpse of Dirty Dollhouse at one of their rare shows in 2014. ...

This Friday, stands to be the final house show at 3701 Spring Garden.  The home of many kick-ass house shows in the past few years, has really been on the map with 3 Sofar Sounds: Philadelphia shows, 2 Root Down In The Shadow & Swift Guitar Lessons Presents, 3 Cover Club sessions and numerous Live At The Rivals House shows! Rumor has it that after recording some tracks for upcoming albums of The Rivals and Song Dogs , Nomad Recording Studio headed by Rob Swift , is packing up and moving to a new location.  To celebrate this final show at the studio space, we've got a Live At The Rivals House Line-up that looks to be a spectacular. The lineup features songstress Chelsea Mitchell of Dirty Dollhouse, followed by Jake Lewis & The Clergy, who are coming in from Lancaster; and the Bernhardt Family Band.   Come out and show your appreciation for the Rivals House and all the wonderful show's they've hosted for us!!!  #BYOB #NoDouches #NiceMix #S...

#CoverClub 2.0 @Nomad Recording Studio by #CoverClub * As The Root Down In The Shadow #CoverClub team starts to unveil it's latest sessions and plan the next session, it's time to release some of this killer audio for your downloading pleasure. The Bernhardt Family Band - Photo by Bob Sweeney The sessions recorded in January back at Nomad Recording Studio feature Sean Hoots, The Bernhardt Family Band, Up The Chain, and Dominic Angelella of DRGN KING. The set includes 3 unreleased originals and only 1 previously released track. Covers on the download include Toy Soldiers and The Lawsuits. If we can get a release to include the Sean Hoots/BoyzIImen cover or Dominic Angelella's Dead Milkmen cover we'll add it asap! Keep an eye out for more tracks from our Breakneck Studios session 2.0 including Mat Burke, Levee Drivers, Lucy Stone, and Leaf & Tree. While the first sessions are set up as #FreeDownload currently on SoundCloud for Breakneck Studios session ...

Wednesday March 12th, The Bernhardt Family Band will be on at World Cafe Live with The Keys , The Dawn Drapes and August John Lutz II (of Levee Drivers ).  To get you ready for the show, we move up #CoverClub a day early, as we release an original track by The Bernhardt Family Band.   Outside of a few rough videos on the net, there is limited info about the band Kate Bernhardt & Jerry Bernhardt have formed.  So, to prevent from any further missing-out on this band, here is an interview with Kate and their original song "Moonlight" recorded at Nomad Recording Studios for Cover Club. The Bernhardt Family Band "Moonlight" Some folks will be surprised to find you listed on the liner notes for Ali Wadsworth's album, any other surprise credits to know about? We did some harmonies for Ron Gallo ’s solo project last fall, so that’s in the works. Jerry recorded on Mike McMonagle ’s album a few months ago and did a keyboard session with Chris Kasper ,...

Welcome back to # CoverClub .  This week we are rotating back to Nomad Recording Studio , after last week's session at Breakneck Recording Studio with Lucy Stone covering Cruiser .   We pick up where we left off at Nomad continuing to release sessions from a very snowy January weekend.  So far, we've hit you with  Sean Hoots covering Boyz II Men 'It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday' and DRGN KING 's Dominic Angelella covering the iconic Dead Milkmen .   This week we introduce to you, The Bernhardt Family Band:  Cover Club | Bernhardt Family Band  'Tomorrow to Today' (Toy Soldiers) Photo by Bob Sweeney Truly a "family band" Kate Bernhardt & Jerry Bernhardt have been crafting "blood harmonies" for years.  Dubbed "Bernhardt Family Band" by Ron Gallo ( Toy Soldiers front-man, soloist, and all around show-man), it's no coincidence that they chose to cover Toy Soldiers.  Kate explains, "We ha...

Last Friday night, MilkBoy Philly hosted a stellar line-up of local acts to support national act Desert Noises .  The local line-up itself was solid in its own rights and here's what you need to know: Mike Southerton of Song Dogs The Bernhardts   Jerry Bernhardt / Kate Bernhardt The Bernhardts have to be one of Philly's biggest buzz bands right now.  Members have been all over town in as parts of other bands.  Kate Bernhardt is often found backing Ali Wadsworth , Ben Plotnik plays bass now for Levee Drivers , and Jerry Bernhardt can be found with Juston Stens and the Get Real Gang or sometimes with Mike McMonagle.   Regardless of whom else they team up with, when they get together the Bernhardts have an unmistakable draw.  In fact, the whole crowd stopped to watch just on the sound check they did right before their set. The songs are simple in nature, but it's not just a pretty voice and face playing with her b...