Weathervane Music points the way for indie music on the rise

The Phillies taking the 2008 World Series. Barack Obama taking Pennsylvania in the 2008 presidential election. Dr. Dog taking Philly to the indie world stage. These are Brian McTear's personal benchmarks for the mid-aughts transformation of this city's cultural fortunes.

Weathervane's Brian McTear (left) and Peter English in the studio.
Hillary Petrozziello

The Phillies taking the 2008 World Series. Barack Obama taking Pennsylvania in the 2008 presidential election. Dr. Dog taking Philly to the indie world stage. These are Brian McTear's personal benchmarks for the mid-aughts transformation of this city's cultural fortunes.

"There was a pride in this place, and by 2008 it felt like the floodgates were opened. Everybody wanted to come here, and not get out of here. And it's an awesome transformation to experience," he says.

McTear's enthusiasm might seem idiosyncratic, but it's not unmerited. The 41-year-old record producer and executive director of Weathervane Music has had a front-row seat to the growth of Philly's independent music community. In the revered Miner Street Studios in Fishtown, some of Philly's most celebrated musicians have recorded their music and built their reputations with the help of McTear and his mentees. (The most famous of them, Jonathan Low, counts artists as varied as Restorations and The National as his clients.)

I talked recently with McTear and Weathervane creative director Peter English, 31, at Fishtown's Soup Kitchen Café, just a few blocks from Miner Street. Their conversation, a point-counterpoint interaction, underscored the vibrancy with which the nonprofit Weathervane engages in its work.

The uniqueness of Weathervane Music's situation is not lost on them. No other arts organization in Philly is as strongly focused on local, independent music.

Weathervane was born in reaction to the specter of that all-too-familiar crisis hitting the music industry more than a decade ago.

"All throughout the 2000s, people were making great art and music, and nobody knew what the right thing to do for their career was. That included me," explains McTear, who met English while producing Sex Piano, his band at the time, in the fall of 2008. "During this period of time when the music industry was falling apart, the economy was in a tailspin ... we determined that the biggest factor for success for anybody was just how smart they were. I think that really resonated with Peter because he's a really smart guy."

At this, English smirks. He's just happy to have a role in Weathervane. Early on, McTear asked him to edit a video featuring acclaimed singer-songwriter Sharon Van Etten, who had recorded a song at Miner Street. He jumped at the chance.

"Little known to Brian, I had never opened Final Cut [editing software] or anything," says English, laughing. "But you have those moments where you get that gut feeling that this is the right thing. I had no hesitation."

English's first editing job became the inaugural episode of "Shaking Through," the online documentary series for which Weathervane is best known. Acclaimed by Pitchfork and Stereogum, "Shaking Through" captures artists as they record one song in two days, interspersing clips in which they discuss their deeper creative and personal histories.

Produced with technical sophistication and an eye for the human condition — an approach that is also evident in the records conceived at the studio — "Shaking Through" has captured moments of creative brilliance and introspection from respected local acts, including Purling Hiss, Strand of Oaks, Cayetana and Lushlife (the last of which recorded a multi-movement, hip-hop suite — a rarity in that genre).

With only one other full-time staff member, operations manager Daniel Scholnick, Weather­vane Music produces a tremendous number of recordings for its small size. There have been more than 40 "Shaking Through" episodes to date.

At Miner Street, McTear and English sift through mixes from the latest episode, which will drop this week, and discuss the fundraising campaign for "Shaking Through's" upcoming sixth year. Haunting strings and impassioned baritone vocals come through the speakers, commanding everyone's undivided attention. Lou Rogai, of the band Lewis & Clarke, is singing a song influenced by an absence from performing because of family tragedies.

"This episode is the story of him coming back from the precipice, basically," says English. "You watch him create and realize that he's drawing from these experiences. You want to support these people who dedicate their lives to music, and if you can tell their story, hopefully you can make an impact on their ability to create a community around them."

"Shaking Through's" communicative power is evident in the support it gets both locally and nationally. Weathervane's policy of sharing raw tracks from these sessions with those who donate at a certain level has garnered the group strong allegiance from amateur producing communities online, and the organization's shows, held periodically, are always packed with notable people from the local music scene.

But in the moment, as Rogai's voice transfixes everybody in the mixing booth, the transformational value in Weathervane's work — for those on both sides of the creative exchange — is both sobering and obvious.