Root Down in the Shadow

It's January 31st.. hardly the time to look back at the year prior.  But ripe with the awards season, Grammy's, Golden Globes, Tri State Indie Awards, etc it seems like the perfect time to share some thoughts about the year before.   2013 was a pretty damn good year for new music.  When compiling the year end list, it was remarkable how many outstanding Philadelphia based releases there were each month.  As with all things here at Root Down In The Shadow, we're going to skip retelling what you've read every where else.  Here we are going to do a Philly only year-end review!  Sorry to those of you who may be expecting Bastille , Aoife O'Donovan , J. Roddy Walston & The Business , or Phosphorescent on a year end list, like most things here at Root Down In The Shadow, this list will be Philly-centric!   Finally, apologies to Dr. Dog and Amos Lee, but I think everyone is aware already of B Room and Mountans of Sorrow, Rivers of Song.  A...

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...

So much excitement is brewing around Philadelphia 's burgeoning music scene. It seems the theme this summer is album releases.  Pretty much every Philly band that has been covered here on Root Down In The Shadow has a release dropping this spring, summer, or fall.  To kick off the coverage of these new albums, here's three hot new singles that have caught my attention in the last two weeks. RELEASED 4/30/2013 "Married In The Aviary"  CHELSEA MITCHELL Married in the Aviary by Chelsea Mitchell * This new single, 'Married In The Aviary' is the first tease from the Married In The Aviary EP.  Set to release is 6/4/13 Chelsea Mitchell tackles her most complex release to date.  This evocative track will make even the least romantic person you know take a dreamy walk through the garden in their mind as the song plays. Enjoy Chelsea Mitchell and her cast of musicians as you count the days until her release show at World Cafe Live June 7th with t he Lawsui...

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 nigh...