Root Down in the Shadow

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 . Small Houses - video capture (Mike Batchelor/Kettle Pot Tracks)   Back in June 2013, the first time I met Small Houses was a Sofar Sounds: Philadelphia show in the Northern Liberties section of town.  The adopted Philadelphian felt like a friend from the minute you met him. From the J une 2013 Sofar Sounds Philadelphia review : "First on the bill, at the Northern Liberties new row home, was Small Houses: the Michigan-bred, Philadelphia-based, rambling one-man band.   The crowd settled in rather quickly, whether coming in after work or arriving from another #MakeMusicPhilly show.  For his set, Jeremy Quentin treated the crowd to raw cuts from his 2013 release Exactly Where You Wanted to Be and...

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.   We started Cover Club as a means to share the diversity and strength of the Philadelphia scene.  So when we had a chance to collaborate with Kettle Pot Tracks for a Small Houses session of Cover Club, we jumped at the chance.  This session represents a culmination of so many things going right.  It goes back to the June 2013 Sofar Sounds: Philadelphia show when I met Small Houses.  He had recently done the local On The Hill Sessions for Kettle Pot Tracks, a site that is/was one of the places we would look to find more out about bands from Philly.  So when I got a call, last summer from Mike Batchelor of Kettle Pot Tracks, "hey Jeremy Quentin is here recording, do you want to do a...

In early 2011, I was excited for the release of the Iron & Wine album Kiss Each Other Clean .  I had been keeping an eye on their website for details of shows and maybe a free single.  At the time, the depth of what you could find on the internet for music was burgeoning.  The fans had spoken and wanted more music, but the free-for-all that was Napster, etc was over.   With Kiss Each Other Clean, s omething happened, that I had never experienced before.  All the promo stuff that happened previously city by city, limited to local fans at record stores and radio stations, this now was out on the web for all to see.  There were many session from stations across the country.  Included in this promotional explosion was a video session at Daytrotter.com! Here it was a Daytrotter session in video form. Iron & Wine pre-Kiss Each Other Clean  - Jan 12, 2011: Daytrotter Studio, Rock Island, IL This was and still is a beautiful piece of recordi...

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...