Root Down in the Shadow

It's a big weekend for August John Lutz II.   Saturday marks the release of 'O Foolish Heart his debut solo release.  Before grabbing your tickets for the show at Bourbon and Branch, check out the insight August gives us to five questions we had about his new material. 1. Q:​ It’s been 7 years since the first Levee Drivers EP and fans have been clamoring for a full-length album - only to be teased with a few songs here and there. Now, just a month or so before the full-length is ​officially​ recorded, you’re releasing a 5-track solo effort. Why now? A: ​It basically came down to timing and finding the right songs to complement each other. Everything fell comfortably into place with this project. I’m also in the middle of recording a follow-up to ​O’ My Foolish Heart​, and on top of that the Levee Drivers full- length should be out sometime next year. People definitely won’t have to wait long between releases! August John Lutz II - Photo By Bo...

American Diamond Recordings , Philadelphia's newest collective had a really big weekend.  The newly minted label, home of Ron Gallo / Toy Soldiers / The Lawsuits / TJ Kong and the Atomic Bomb / Levee Drivers had major appearances across the North-East.  The Lawsuits opened the River stage on Sunday at the 2014 XPoNential Music Festival Presented by Subaru while on Thursday night; Toy Soldiers played the Newport Folk Festival kick-off party!  The Levee Drivers and TJ Kong & the Atomic Bomb are never ones to steer away from the fun, so they popped-up at XPNfest as well.   In the very brief cross-over between River stage and JerseyArts.com Marina stage, The American Diamond bands took up shop on the concourse playing songs between sets.   First, Levee Drivers, joined by TJ Kong and the Atomic Bomb members TJ Kong & Josh Machiz, took the lead for a song playing "Bound By That Ride" immediately after the Lawsuits XPNfest set.  Af...

Cover Club crew Bob Sweeney & Paul Lorenz Before putting Season One of CoverClub to rest, it seemed like a great time to share the demo session from August John Lutz II of Levee Drivers . This first session brought together producer Peter Joseph ( Married In The Aviary by Chelsea Mitchell 's) and his Break Neck Studios with #Cover Club.  Two fantastic sessions were recorded at the Newtown, PA studio, but this hot August demo session is what started it all.   Here's the still unreleased track, "All Dolled Up In Red" by the Levee Drivers front-man. The long-time live show fan favorite, has yet to be recorded on an album. Although, there are rumors of the song making its way to a new project soon, but only time will tell.  Make sure to head over to LeveeDrivers.com and let them know you want to have the song released! Cover Club / August John Lutz II (Levee Drivers)  "All Dolled Up In Red" Levee Drivers can be next found live at Bo...

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...

by Mariel Lorenz & Dan McGurk When you pull up to East Coast Recording Studio at 780 Falcon Drive, tucked away off of a Street Road industrial park in a Warminster, PA, you’ll see FUGE in huge letters above the entrance of the building. This was once part of the Naval Air Development Center Johnsville .  The centerpiece of this park was a centrifuge where future astronauts came to experience what the force of gravity felt like on their bodies. Technologies, like GPS, that we depend on so much today saw its development here too. Although the Navy has left the facility more than 20 years, the centrifuge is still there as part of an event space. Many companies have also moved in to set up shop, but one company here could raise a few eyebrows – a recording studio ran by a Grammy Award winning producer. Levee Drivers at N.A.S.A. control? East Coast Recording boasts an 1100 square foot live room. Not only could a band fit in here, but 50-70 of their friends as ...

August John Lutz II & Kyle Perella - Levee Drivers - photo by Dan McGurk Levee Drivers love two things: playing live music and setting up another chance to play live music.  Regrettably another key ingredient for bands is selling albums and merch.  For a long time, putting out new music got pushed aside.  It wasn't the perfect time, it wasn't ready yet.  After the band-aid was pulled off last fall with the Speakin' Bourbon Coated Blues EP and the Live Studio Session- East Coast Recording, things changed for the Levee Drivers.  Next they added a Key Studio Sessions and #CoverClub session.  Clearly, August John Lutz II & Kyle Perella had a change of plans and recently they've been in the studio aggressively recording their long-awaited full length album.   For this special show at Ortlieb's , they announced they'd be playing their new album for the first time front to back. The set was intriguing as I imagined the finished ...

It's # CoverClub time again and this week we unveil the final artist from our Breakneck Recording Studios / Cover Club session 2.0: Leaf & Tree covering Levee Drivers .  Leaf & Tree is the fourth of four artists we invited to record for this session, including Levee Drivers covering Chris Kasper , Lucy Stone covering Cruiser , and Mat Burke covering the Menzingers .  Recorded on a chilly January day, we took to the cozy confines of the intimate Breakneck Studios. Leaf & Tree at Breakneck Studios As sole founder and mastermind, Peter Joseph is no stranger to the angular attic space lovingly known as Breakneck Studios. Under his care and guidance, Breakneck has quickly become the fountainhead of fine-tuned Bucks County folk rock, including that of Peter’s own project, Leaf & Tree. It’s also the birthplace of Cover Club, which likely would never have come to fruition if not for Peter and his seemingly unremarkable - yet somehow magical - attic.  A ...

Earlier this week for #CoverClub we released a stunning cover of Chris Kasper 's 'Walking on Water'.  To complete the session, August John Lutz II , reached deep into the vault for the original Levee Drivers selection to recover 'Going Nowhere'. Photo by Bob Sweeney Lutz explained " 'Going Nowhere' is a very, very old Levee Drivers song.  I think it might be the first slow song I ever wrote for Levee Drivers.  It used to be a regular in our live shows, but for some reason we shelved it a few years ago.  With this particular lineup of my band and how we all play off of each other, it made a lot of sense to resurrect this song." Cover Club | Levee Drivers "Going Nowhere" Where to see Levee Drivers next?: 2/09 - Tellus360 in Lancaster (with T. Hardy Morris ) 2/21 - Live @ 5 Radio Show on 104.5 2/27 - MOM's in Doylestown 2/28 - Ortliebs in Philadephia (with The Rivals ) 3/12 - World Cafe Live in Philadelp...

In mid-January the Root Down In The Shadow Cover Club film crew of Bob Sweeney & Paul Lorenz were back in action with our friends at Break Neck Studio .  After a successful first round with Kevin Killen, Christopher Davis-Shannon, Chelsea Mitchell of Dirty Dollhouse and Brian Strouse & Vanessa Winters of The Lawsuits we followed our model of getting four bands into the studio for a Philly centric cover and an original track. Our first release from the 2.0 session of Cover Club at Break Neck Studio features Root Down In The Shadow favorites, Levee Drivers .  Front-man August John Lutz II has been heavily involved in the series as a co-producer, handpicking our Bucks Co. studio partner himself.  His band was a more than obvious choice to include in the series, as Levee Drivers are one of the most captivating bands gracing Philadelphia stages today.  It seems somewhat easy to figure out some of August Lutz' stylistic influences such as Johnny Cas...

Back in May #PhillyPresents was launched.  The series allowed Philly bands to share with their fans and Root Down In The Shadow fans, the music they listen to amongst the Philly scene.  What better way to get to know bands, than to have your favorite band tell you who they like? Seriously, what could be better?  Well, that would be those same favorite Philly bands COVERING other Philly bands.  Covering their favorites!  Covering legends of the scene!  Covering bands we need to know!  With the help of our friends at Break Neck Studios & RLS Video, we're going to get them in the studio to capture these covers and session tracks! To get a taste of what to expect, here's our two promos for #CoverClub.  Enjoy! August John Lutz II of Levee Drivers

From time to time, there comes a need to bring fans up to speed with all the goings on with a band.  Hence the "Catching Up With...." series here at Root Down In The Shadow Levee Drivers at XPoNential Festival for a World Cafe Live #PopUp Session Briar Patch Video Session While on their recent East coast tour, Levee Drivers sat down with the folks at Briar Patch Video to record four songs, 'Off Them Tracks', 'Burbon Coated Blues', 'Waking Up in Memphis' and 'Midnight in My Hometown'.   These new tracks have been making their rounds at shows this year.  Keep tabs on Levee Drivers for what looks like a fall EP announcement.   World Cafe Live Pop Up Session : During the successful XPoNential Festival put on by WXPN, World Cafe Live curated a few Pop Up sessions near the World Cafe Live and Main Street Music tents.  Although they fought crowds heading to hear a rare Dr. John set on the River Stage, Levee Drivers were ...

#Philly Presents: The Late Ancients by Dan Cooper of Song Dogs Your band name: Song Dogs Dan Cooper of Song Dogs on the drums! Your style: Prairie Heavy/Americana Rock Years on the scene: 4 total; 1.5 with current line-up Current members: Sam Conver : Bass; Vocals Dan Cooper : Drums Ryan McCloskey : Guitar; Vocals Mariama O’Brien : Percussion Emily Southerton : Keys Mike Southerton : Guitar; Vocals Website : wearesongdogs.com ( facebook.com/wearesongdogs ) Current Project: We are going into The HotBox Studios to film a HotBox Session that will be released in a very special, very exciting format that even we have a hard time believing is actually happening! Look for the videos as part of a major release later this summer. We are also in the process of writing new material after releasing our debut LP, Wild Country , this past January. Recent and/or most unique/exciting show : Definitely the most exciting Song Dogs show for me was our album release show i...

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...

#PhillyPresents: by August John Lutz II Your band name:   Levee Drivers Style:   Country Sleaze Years on the scene : 4 Current Project: Levee Drivers are in the finishing stages of mixing and mastering our brand new upcoming EP (date TBA) Members : August John Lutz II - Vocals/Harp/Guitar Kyle Perella - Bass/Guitar/Vocals/Mandolin with the help of:   Jeff Orlowski - Drums Chelsea Mitchell - Vocals/Mandolin Music info/source site for Philly : Kyle Perella's Twitter! Most unique show : Hands down.. .TJ Kong' s Halloween Costume Ball Rock & Roll Murder Show at Underground Arts in 2012. It was an amazing event and lineup to be a part of, it had some out of control costumes and to top it off it was definitely a booze filled experience put together by the talented Dan Bruskewicz . And I finally got to see a female version of Han Solo ( Lynne Krohn - manager of the great and powerful Penrose) . Introducing : The Rivals ...

#PhillyPresents: Today we kick off a series in which local bands take the blogging reins and introduce us to bands we need to know!  Before we get started, I wanted to take a minute to go back through recent months and look at the impetus for such a series: Just over a year ago, I reached out to the Lawsuits to cover their Hot Love EP release show at MilkBoy Philly.  That night in Philly, I wrote a fun review; but more importantly, I made a connection with the Lawsuits and got an introduction with their cohorts Levee Drivers . Fast forward through the year, I kept going to a steady diet of Lawsuits and Levee Driver shows while stumbling onto more local Philly music where I could find it represented on the internet.  I sometimes browsed "local"sites , but despite their incredible efforts, I still hard a hard time finding more sources.  Getting to know the Philly's scene through this city's national press mentality was tough. Eventually, 2013 hit and I...