photo: Sarah Bruno

An Evening of Eastern PA Deep Cuts

On November 7th, Kitchen Dwellers led a packed crowd at Philadelphia’s Underground Arts on a sort of guided tour of eastern Pennsylvania, both past and present, in Philly and beyond, on and off the beaten path. After the prior night’s gig 100 miles west in Harrisburg, the jamgrass innovators made the most of their time in Philly and played two sets of music inspired by the eastern part of the commonwealth. It made for a memorable and special evening for all in attendance, both on and off the stage.

Before they played a note, the Bozeman-based Dwellers took full advantage of being in a foodie town, finding sustenance from excellent local purveyors both old and new – and not the most obvious spots. (Roast pork sandwiches from DiNic’s – over 50 years in business – fresh oysters from Reading Terminal Market, which dates back to the late 19th century, and pizza from Del Rossi’s, founded in 2012 and most recently purchased in 2020.) This “not just the greatest hits” mentality infused the rest of the evening with a spirit of zagging where others might zig: the band crafted a setlist that didn’t include a single tune from their latest studio album, 2024’s Seven Devils, and instead curated a set of fan favorites, lengthy jams, and hyper-local covers.

Before the Dwellers took the stage, they took the floor and treated VIP ticketholders to an intimate acoustic session that focused on their traditional bluegrass bona fides. As the quartet ran through classics like Bill Monroe’s “Gold Rush” and “Fall On My Knees,” the crowd stood in awed and appreciative silence: you could hear mandolinist Shawn Swain’s boot tapping the venue’s floor as he kept time. The members of the band were in good spirits, with banjo player Torrin Daniels playfully shouting out guitarist Max Davies for the Tony Rice-style reverse bend he’s been woodshedding. It was a fun way to start the night, knowing how heavy and deep their amplified sets get.

After the VIP set, Annapolis-based Pressing Strings took the stage. Lots of people think they’re a bluegrass band, a common mistake that frontman Jordan Sokel cleared up by bringing a Gary Clark, Jr., style righthand technique to his distinctive Knaggs Choptank and Chena guitars. (He also played acoustic guitar and harmonica throughout the night.) Bassist Nick Welker and drummer Justin Kruger fused loose elements of reggae with tight elements of funk, and their vocal harmonies paired with Sokel’s melodies to elevate the entire soundscape. Replete with hand claps and chanting, the band’s performance of “Oh My My” brought Nina Simone “Sea Lion Woman” vibes. (Despite their not being a bluegrass band, it somehow could work on the O Brother, Where Art Thou? Soundtrack.) Pressing Strings is releasing a live EP this winter and new original music in the spring.

As the Dwellers opened their main set, Davies took lead vocals on opener “Letter Bound,” four fast and furious minutes that led directly into an eight-minute “Ebenezer’s Winter” that went from locomotive to spacey and back. This was the first song of the night that came from their 2017 debut LP, Ghost in the Bottle, which would go on to become the case with half of the music they would play throughout the night. From the get-go, lighting director Matt Allmond demonstrated how well a good light show can augment high energy jamgrass in a dark room. The band pushed the tempo, and bassist Joe Funk charged hard and provided a stable foundation that Swain augmented lightly with some percussive pick scrapes. 

They followed with an old cowboy song, “Willy the Wandering Gypsy and Me,” before the anthemic “Guilty” and the epic and expansive “Visions of More,” which would close the set. The last tune began quietly before blooming into a full blown rager and shredfest over almost eleven minutes before leading the band to their first tip of the hat to regional music – in this case, an embedded cover of the Scranton-based Menzingers’ “Anna,” with its eminently apt and somehow cathartically shoutable lyric: “Please come back to Philadelphia!” The band took the volume and energy down a bit as they returned to “Visions” and steered the jam from atmospheric to insistent, triumphant to serene, before ultimately closing on a jubilant note to end the set.

The Dwellers opened their second set with an exploratory 13-minute “Ghost in the Bottle” that they eventually would revisit and complete over an hour later to close the set. During that time, they played more originals, many from the so-named album. They also played some deep and intense jams throughout these songs, veering into old Santana territory during an extended jam in “Rejuvenation.” The clear highlight of the second set came in the form of their second major PA-inspired cover: Ween’s “Transdermal Celebration,” which they’ve covered before but somehow hits different so close to New Hope, birthplace of the internationally renowned weirdos who haven’t performed live as a group since stepping away from the stage in 2024. “Transdermal” feels like just the right Ween song for the Dwellers to cover: beloved by fans and yet on the other side of their commercial peak; something the Dwellers can make their own and not be as “on the nose” as doing something from 12 Golden Country Greats. A very brown selection, as was their one-song encore, ‘90s country hit “Queen of My Double Wide Trailer,” which somehow fit the theme of having fun and being unconcerned with pretense.

The members of a touring band don’t have to travel like tourists, and every aspect of Kitchen Dwellers’ set at Underground Arts felt like a homecoming.