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...

Kevin Killen has been hard at work at Philadelphia's Cambridge Sound Studios lately laying down some new tracks. To give us a tease of what he's been working on, here's the brand new video for "Streets of Sorrow", a cover originally by the Pogues. Kevin Killen - "Streets of Sorrow" (Pogues cover) Streets of Sorrow from Kevin Killen on Vimeo . Kevin Killen plays tonight at the Root Down In The Shadow - Living Room Show. Follow us on Twitter @RootDownPhilly for more infomation as we're working on getting a live stream together of the at-capacity show.

Contributing writer Michael Southerton is back with more details on the Philadelphia scene.  One part writer - one part musician, Mike brings his unique voice to Root Down In The Shadow for a point of view only a musician could explain.  On assignment for his view on the Katie Frank release show, check out his assessment of openers Kevin Killen and the Lawsuits ; and headliners Katie Frank & The Pheromones : Kevin Killen Eventually on the Highway to Hell the vagabond will find himself at Robert Johnson ’s Crossroads. There, he must make his decisions; though not in haste: a soul is terrible price to pay for a fruit tree, however bountiful, after all. So rather than press forward to Rosedale, the vagabond may benefit from a few minutes listening to cautionary tales and wary words from Philadelphia’s Kevin Killen, who seems to have found a home at that very crossroads. With an old Ephiphone bluesbox and a voice that subtly hints of Brian Johnson , Killen blends vi...

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...

Earlier this year here at the indie Philly blog, Root Down In The Shadow, we started the fun series #Philly Presents ...bands writing about other bands. The most common reaction from bands to this project: "Wait? Are we covering other bands?" And so #CoverClub was born!   The first sessions for #CoverClub were recorded in October, at the intimate Break Neck Studios under the sonic helm of Peter Joseph!  The posts here at Root Down In The Shadow have featured the excellent videos by director Bob Sweeney with Paul Lorenz and Jeff Coon also behind the lens. Since the audio tracks are soooo good, it was decided they had to be shared!  Now at SoundCloud with permission from the bands we have switched the audio files to be a free download !!   Download them and share them.  Make sure all your friends hear them.  All we ask of you is to listen, watch, and share!  The Lawsuits members Brian Strouse & Vanessa Winters - photo by Jeff C...

This week, Kevin Killen played a cover of Philly legend Ben Arnold for #CoverClub!  While he hasn't been in the scene as long as Ben Arnold, Kevin Killen has certainly put his stamp on the scene! Just soak in what happened at Tuesday's Philly Sings Philly as the tip of the iceberg.   Psalmships' Joshua Britton was on stage, covering a Kevin Killen song 'Oh The Ground' from Laurelwood Road .  It was the last song of his set and going fantastically.  There had been some short set changes, so it didn't see too weird that two guys from Hezekiah Jones jumped on stage, but then two more went up and they were plugging in.  All five members of Hezekiah Jones were now on stage and started playing the song as well.   Momentarily all six musicians are playing in unison before Joshua unplugs and steps off stage, leaving the Hezekiah Jones crew playing the rest of the song, completing one of the most unique stage transitions I've ever been witness to!...

No Philly music project could be complete without including Kevin Killen, considering his large impact on the Philadelphia music scene.  So far this year, I've witnessed Kevin solo, accompanied by Sarah Larsen , as part of Brad Hinton 's band, drumming and writing for Ali Wadsworth, and drumming for the Levee Drivers .  Beyond that, he's part of Psalmships , and Hezekiah Jones .  Also this year, he produced Homesteady for Tin Bird Choir and much, much more!     Photo by Jeff Coon If somehow he didn't get on your radar for any of those outfits, Kevin Killen has played with Chris Kasper (live shows), Chris Bathgate (tour member in 2011), Small Houses (played drums on North ), Joe D'Amico (drums live ), and Wissahickon Chicken Shack . So when I asked Kevin Killen to be a part of #CoverClub, I didn't even ask what he might be playing.  Kevin is an integral part of such a broad swath of the Philadelphia music scene, he would have so much to pick from...

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...

Here's a look back at the wildly successful 2nd Street Festival! Every day covering Philly music, I find yet another song, band, artist, festival, etc. to be excited about.  Sunday's find was the #2ndStreetFest.   I hadn't done all that much exploring in Northern Liberties, but hey The Bailey Hounds and New Sweden were playing, what else did I really need to know? Getting to the festival, I was a little nervous as I didn't know where the stages would be, but, ummm.. It is the 2nd Street Festival, so it couldn't be that hard right?  Walking to the Piazza at Schmidts , on 2nd street from Girard, the first stage became glaringly obvious.  Right smack in the middle of the street!  With logistics out of the way, it was time for fun! The next big show for Brad Hinton Band Looking back, I have the day split into two categories: Before Johnny Brenda's and After Johnny Brenda's .  The Johnny Brenda's bar/venue wasn't involved in the fest...