Raymond Simon

By Raymond Simon Photo by Olivia Vaughn “I am pretty knee-deep, almost buried alive, in American roots music,” Ron Gallo writes via e-mail from somewhere just outside of Birmingham, Alabama, where he’s on tour with his band, the Toy Soldiers. “In specific Read More

By Raymond Simon The Philadelphia Folk Festival is about as far from a honky-tonk as you can get. There are no sawdust-covered floors on the campgrounds in Schwenksville, and the air won’t be thick with the tang of tobacco smoke and the odor of stale beer. But when the Read More

By Raymond Simon “You studied cinema, you said you knew the price of fame,” Glenn Donaldson sings on “Sculpture Gardens,” a tune on the Art Museum’s debut record, Rough Frame. When asked about that song, Josh Alper, the other half of the duo behind Read More

By Raymond Simon According to Herbie Shellenberger, one of the guys behind England Belongs to Twee, Philadelphia’s oldest established permanent floating disco devoted to Oi, British punk, and indie pop, the March night when he’d booked Standard Fare to play at The Ox Read More