I always thought Philly to be more of a bluegrass town, what, with its West Philly front porch jam sessions and train terminal busking, but that sweet-and-sour country style is alive and well in our fair city and giving us cause to celebrate. We have here a session from local twang connoisseurs Morning River Band, who came to us on the verge of releasing their brand new LP To Suzie.

For me, Morning River Band serve up just what the doctor told you not to order, but goddamn, you’re gonna order it anyway — songs of hard luck, hard times, and harder liquor. You may be sent goin’ down the road feelin’ bad, but you’ll have some fine tunes to whistle courtesy of the Morning River Band.

Head over to Milkboy Philly tomorrow, Friday, May 17th for the Morning River Band’s record release show for their new album To Suzie. The bill features fellow homebodies The Miners and John Train. Don’t forget to tip your bartender.

Photo by Taryn Kent

We can’t be murder ballads and introspective fingerstyle guitar playing all of the time. Sometimes we just need to let our hair down, grab a cold one, mosey on over to that dancefloor, and enjoy ourselves. This is even more poignant as we venture further into the days of warm weather and extended hours of sunlight (and am I smelling BBQ right now?!)

We were looking for fun and then we found fun, and heaven knows we’re thankful for Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers. Nicki and her music fulfill all of the qualifications for having a good time – energetic playing (✓), rock swagger (✓), makes you want to sing along (✓), killer vocals (✓), a good helping of soul and passion (✓).

Nicki first grabbed our attention with her rootsy 2011 album ‘Driftwood,’ which showcased her knack for singing and songwriting. With her latest digital single and, I’m sure with her forthcoming LP, Nicki (now billed with her Gramblers) amps up the full band element and, with it, the fun factor.

We snagged Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers for our latest Folkadelphia Session before they played on World Cafe Live on March 26th, 2013. While the band appears here in a stripped-down , acoustic configuration, there is no lack of passion, energy, soul, or delight; they still make me want to blast it out of a convertible.

Painting by Jay Eisenberg

With the Folkadelphia Sessions, it has been quite thrilling to be able to share some of the recent in-studio performances that we have recorded with a diverse set of musicians. But it’s not like this is a new thing for us; Folkadelphia has been recording and airing our sessions via our weekly radio program (now on Singer-Songwriter Radio Sundays 3-5 PM and Mondays 9-11 PM) since our inception.

Every so often, we will dig into the vaults, dust off a few WAV files, and present to you a new (old) session that you may have missed hearing the first time around.

Today we give you a session that was recorded live on the air on September 25th, 2011 with Philadelphia multi-instrumentalist and man about town Jesse Sparhawk. He appeared on the Folkadelphia program to play a few of his guitar compositions and guest DJ. This month, Sparhawk makes two local appearances to be aware of. On May 10th, he performs a solo acoustic show (not unlike what you’ll hear in these recordings) at Fishtown’s Highwire Gallery with Trevor Healy and Travis Woodson; on May 22, he plays a trio show with two drummers at The Rotunda.

Photo by John Vettese

While she may not quite be a household name, especially for people tuning in or checking out our “folk-adjacent” radio show, Nadia Sirota, New York based violist, may very well have played on one of your favorite records or even changed your life while playing live with any number of musicians, bands, ensembles, or orchestras. Among her many accomplishments, she has been featured on albums from the Arcade Fire, Grizzly Bear, and the National, performed with the Swell Season, Sam Amidon, and Max Richter, hosted WQXR’s Q2 station, and engaged with music students through a variety of programs. Sirota acts a conduit for musical excellence and progress and a connector between the vast array of genres that we, the listeners encounter so frequently and randomly in the modern age. She seems to puzzle it out, make sense of the noise, and bring a unique perspective to the mix. Perhaps that is why composers like Nico Muhly and Shara Worden (My Brighest Diamond) seek out her services and interpretations for their own pieces.

It is on Baroque, Sirota’s latest album, that she calls upon her friends and musical compatriots, like Muhly and Worden, and also Judd Greenstein, Missy Mazzoli, Paul Corley, and Daniel Bjarnason, to contribute pieces that display her own flexibility and singularity in playing and rendering musical ideas. Each composition feels and sounds wholly unique, but at the center of it all and what is common to each piece is not only Sirota’s attention to the detail of the musical content, but also the bredth and depth of the emotional content contained within each piece. For non-musical listeners who may not understand the compositions’ intricacies, Sirota channels the heart and soul of the works in a way that can affect everyone.

Still, for our “folk-ish” radio show, it may seem odd to feature Sirota and Valgeir Sigurðsson, who produced, played on, mixed and mastered Baroque, and is also, separately, a brilliant musician and producer in his own right. To that claim, I point back to Sirota’s personal example. She succeeds in bringing all manner of art and music together to create what I consider truly modern music. It mines the past for inspiration, it draws from the contemporary musical community, and it looks to the future for what could be next. We hope to do the same here with Folkadelphia.

Please enjoy Nadia Sirota’s renditions of “In Teaching Others We Teach Ourselves,” composed by Judd Greenstein and “Etude 3,” composed by Nico Muhly, as well as Valgeir Sigurðsson’s “The Crumbling.” These were recorded live at the XPN Performance Studio on March 28th, 2013 before their concert at the First Unitarian Church Chapel (presented by R5 Productions).

On Mount Moriah‘s sophomore album Miracle Temple the band distills and expands upon the more countrified elements that made their eponymous 2011 debut such an exciting listen and that separated the group from that pleasant, but innocuous upbeat rock style that becomes a pitfall for many would-be awesome acts. It’s a credit to the Mount Moriah’s musicianship and inventive songwriting that they rise above the noise floor. A point of differentiation exists in Mount Moriah’s not-so-secret weapon, frontwoman Heather McEntire who croons, quivers, quakes, and generally does everything she can to tug and pull at your heartstrings. It’s a joy to listen to McEntire jump from brash to beautiful instantly and effortlessly. The full band experience, which translates into a powerful live show, exists at the crossroads of twangy southern rock, postpunk indie rock, and heartland americana creating a patented sound, perhaps country music for the youthful underground scene.

We captured Mount Moriah’s energetic live dynamics here at the WXPN Performance Studio before their show at Johnny Brenda’s on March 26th. Enjoy these four takes from Miracle Temple.

Legendary folk musician Richie Havens is remembered for his soulful voice and historic set at Woodstock [link]

Mike Kinsella of Owen previewed new material in this week’s Folkadelphia session [link]

In celebration of Earth Day, The Key took a look back at Philadelphia’s Earth Week in 1970 [link]

Suzie Brown, Cheers Elephant and more to play the 65th Annual Pastorius Park Free Summer Concert Series in Chestnut Hill [link]

Ryan Tennis brings his nine-piece band to XPN for a Key Studio Session [link]

Make Music Philly brings DIY concerts to the streets on June 21st [link]

Johnny Marr gives advice and talks about his new solo album in an interview with Nikki Volpicelli [link]

Get a look inside Pattern is Movement‘s recording process with an “album screening” at PhilaMOCA [link]

Bad Braids‘ upcoming Supreme Parallel is featured in this week’s Unlocked series [link]

Download “I Had Love” from Chicago’s Fort Frances [link]

Kennett Square’s Friday Nights Under the Stars announces their line-up with New Sweden, Ryan Tennis and more [link]

Folkadelphia’s Fred Knittel and musician Grey Reverend | Photo by Doug Seymour

If you frequent the Key, you may be familiar with Folkadelphia as a resource for in-studio sessions featuring a diverse set of folk-adjacent artists, from Sera Cahoone to She Keeps Bees to Quilt, and many more. This however is only a part of the puzzle.

Folkadelphia is also a weekly 2-hour radio show on XPN’s online and HD station Singer-Songwriter Radio, airing Sundays from 3-5p and rebroadcast Mondays 9-11p. The show originated at Drexel University’s WKDU and has now been a part of XPN’s online/HD weekend offerings for over two years.

For those that miss it, you can now stream the most recent Folkadelphia Radio episode to hear what we have been up to, listen to all things folksy, both new and old, and check out our latest Folkadelphia Session, this week with Owen.

True to the project (or perhaps because it is expensive to schlep around a backing band), Kinsella often performs and tours solo. It is in this lonesome configuration though that Owen’s saturnine lyricism and guitarwork feel most effective and intimate. It is captivating to behold in a tiny chapel, an concert hall, or here, in this Folkadelphia Session, which we recorded on March 21st, 2013 at the XPN Performance Studio.

Team Folkadelphia in the studio with artist Jason Myles Goss | Photo by Doug Seymour Photography

If you frequent the Key, you may be familiar with Folkadelphia as a resource for in-studio sessions featuring a diverse set of folk-adjacent artists, such as our most expansive with Devotchka featuring an orchestra to our most intimate with Small Houses or Trixie Whitley, and many others in between. This however is only a part of the puzzle.

Folkadelphia is also a weekly 2-hour radio show on XPN’s online and HD station Singer-Songwriter Radio, airing Sundays from 3-5p and rebroadcast Mondays 9-11p. The show originated at Drexel University’s WKDU and has now been a part of XPN’s online/HD weekend offerings for over two years.

For those that miss it, you can now stream the most recent Folkadelphia Radio episode to hear what we’ve been up to, listen to all things folksy, both new and old, and check out our latest Folkadelphia Session.

Hear it in two parts and enjoy:

A band’s age can say much about their continued creative impetus and longevity. A newly founded act often wears its major influences on its sleeve, whereas a seasoned group sometimes becomes the musical ideal, the touchstone influence for a scene, and the model for all of those that would follow, owning a sound that is very much specific and inextricable to them.  However at a point in many a band’s lifetime, they will fall into the trap of playing it safe, shirking away from musical risk-taking, and instead focusing on what is familiar and “tried-and-true.” If a band cannot evolve over time, they may not disappear, but they certainly stagnate indefinitely.

Often, when a group sticks around and breaks the decade mark, it means that they may have figured out something important about continued growth as musicians and musical partners; you must walk a fine line between musical reinvention and dependency. Reinvention may be too severe and end up isolating a band’s fanbase and betraying any consistency or integrity displayed in the past. However, as mentioned before, if a band does not grow, if they depend on their same sound album after album, they become played out and a bit of a caricature of themselves.

DeVotchKa, now close to their second decade milestone, understands this dilemma intimately, but have succeeded in keeping their music sounding fresh, imaginative, and fun. They have managed, throughout their lifetime, to walk this fine line, building off their gypsy rock foundation and incorporating elements of punk, country & western, cabaret, international folk, classic pop, soundtracks, and, in this latest musical chapter, orchestration. The band has always flirted with orchestral flairs and flourishes, but they took it to the next level when they fleshed out and scored their oeuvre for a live album recorded and released last year, and a handful of concerts (like the one at the Trocadero on March 8th). They imbue new life and energy into songs I’ve heard a thousand times. One thing for sure is that whatever sound DeVotchKa chooses to experiment with next, they will make it wholly a part of their branded, signature style – I can’t wait to hear what they’ll be working on.

DeVotchKa and their orchestral compatriots were kind enough to stop by the WXPN Performance Studio on the morning of March 8th, 2013 to play a few songs for us for this latest Folkadelphia Session.