Root Down in the Shadow

#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: by Aaron Brown Your band name: Aaron & The Spell Style: Indie Soul Years on the Scene : With this band - 2 years; in general - 7 years Current Project:   Sing is available on iTunes ? No, album projects in the works for this year. I'm looking to get in the studio again this fall for my follow-up record. As far as the record being noticed - recently the song "A Beating Heart" off my record was nominated for an Independent Music Award in the adult contemporary song category. Members : Aaron Brown - Vocals, Guitar Mike Pietrusko - Drums Brian Schuman - Bass Imani Roach - Vocals, tambourine Allison Polans - Vocals, tambourine Adam Zielinski - Guitar Recent and/or most unique/exciting show : North Star Bar opening for Clairy Browne & The Bangin' Rackettes.  This show was so exciting to play because the crowd there was one of the best ones I've played in front of.  Also, the band was smokin' that night.  And, Clai...

Maine, singer-songwriter Max García Conover , shook off the New England winter funk and hit the road in April.  For Max García Conover, April marked many premiers.  April 2nd was the launch of his debut album Burrow and his inaugural Philadelphia show! "Burrow is the debut album from Max García Conover. Recorded in Max’s attic studio during winter in Maine, these songs are about digging in, or trying to, through the work that we do and the art that we make. Burrow was mixed, mastered, and co-produced by Pete Morse ( Red Vault Recording ). Pete also wrote and recorded the electric guitars. The album is being released through Clip Records , a Portland-based independent label. The artwork is by painter Meghan Howland ." While 2012 was a time of growth, as he worked on his ambitious Sunday Sessions and was rewarded with Maine’s Best New Act ( Portland Music Awards ). 2013 has been the time to show off his wares, taking the best songs from Sunday Sessions and...

#PhillyPresents: by Brian Dale Allen Strouse Your band name:   The Lawsuits Style: Rock & Roll   Years on the Scene : 3 Current Project: We just wrapped our first full-length album called Cool Cool Cool that will be released sometime this year. Members : Brian Dale Allen Strouse - Guitar/Vocals Brendan Cunningham - Bass Vanessa Winters - Vocals Josh Friedman - Drums Noah Skaroff - Banjo, Guitar, Slide, Sax, etc.. Music info/source site for Philly : The Key XPN Unique Show : Caravan 2012 was one of the most unique and fun experiences we’ve ever had as a band. It’s put on by the Murphy brothers (of Penrose ) along with their manager Lynne Krohn and friend Matt Manser. Last year we joined Penrose, Cheers Elephant , TJ Kong and the Atomic Bomb , Juston Stens and the Get Real Gang , Levee Drivers , and about 2 dozen other Philly artists. The festival spans 3 days on Matt’s family’s property on the Belgrade Lakes in Maine. We are excited to be jo...

#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...

Contributed by Mariel Lorenz Mariel Lorenz is a contributor to Root Down In the Shadow with concert reviews and valuable insight with local bands venues!  She also serves as primary concert buddy!  Many musicians are teasing their fans with new music via "The Album Trailer". It's a about the length of a movie trailer and might provide snippets of songs that keep us all on the edge of seat until we can get our hands on an artist's new material. Two days ago throwback Motown soul singer  Mayer Hawthorne released an album trailer for "Where Does This Door Go", his third studio album. It not only features the title track, but also a compilation of various movie scenes of people opening doors ranging from the Wizard of Oz to The Shining.  The album comes out July 16 and Mayer Hawthorne has described it as "a journey into the unknown." Here is the clip via the link (make sure you watch to the very end): Where Does This Door Go by Mayer Hawthor...

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...