Root Down in the Shadow

Philadelphia Americana Rockers Song Dogs are finally ready to present their next best work, Heartlands .  Over two years since the Bill Moriarty produced Wild Country, the band is poised and proud of their newest effort.  The self-produced album contains songs ranging from several years to a few months old. This collection, or more so, this atlas of songs speaks to the "people and places in [their] lives."  The band continues as a shared experience, rather than Mike Southerton' s or Sam Conver 's band. With each member sharing writing duties, it's a storytelling session amongst great friends.  Likewise, the band now features five vocalists throughout Heartlands with Mariama O'Brien and Emily Southerton each making their lead vocalist debut. To give a taste of the new album, Song Dogs have leaked "Sun In The Valley" to Root Down In The Shadow to share with readers as a free download.  The album will be on hand at their release party at Franky

Those who wanted to extend their Halloween festivities into the weekend were in for a treat this past Friday.  Milkboy invited three local bands to cover well known artists.  And this wasn’t just covering a band – it was completely embracing it.  Song Dogs as Talking Heads ; Ross Bellenoit as Elvis Costello; and Val De Val as Alice in Chains . Ross Bellenoit  kicked off the night, taking the stage as Elvis Costello.  Ross decided to pay tribute to Elvis Costello by performing his 1986 album Blood & Chocolate cover to cover. Some might think this to be a risk mainly because it’s not well known. But in chatting with Ross he told me it was just something he had wanted to perform for quite some time and also was attracted to the challenge of performing this album on stage.  Joining him in this feat was   Patrick Berkery on drums, Joe Baldacci on guitar, keyboardist Matt Landis , Todd Erk on bass, and Sonja Sofya who provided backing vocals.

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 bro.  The harmonies are great, ev

#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

#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 was o

When I saw the lineup announced for the recent Country Mice show at North Star Bar, I had to go.  First a national Indie band I kinda dug, two local bands I really wanted to see live, and a local musician that suddenly was in my radar.   I had to go, it was a must see.  Despite a crappy experience the last time I went to North Star, and despite a complete fail on my part the last time I tried to see the Song Dogs, I had to go.  If it took going early just to get a parking spot, so be it, it was going to happen.  I had to see this show!  Seriously how often do you get four acts out of four that you want to see?   Kiel Everett/Tin Horses   http://tinhorses.bandcamp.com/ Kiel Everett-Vocals, Guitar Michael Sobel-Guitar, Lap Steel Patrick Hickey-Vocals, Bass Aaron Chiazza - Drums First up was Kiel Everett.  Kiel was originally set to be solo that night, due to a lack of drummer.  Things fell into place for the night with Aaron Chiazza playing with them.  Kiel still s