NPR Slingshot Emerging Artist to Know

shows

  • Saturday, May 03 2025 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm | BrewedFest '25 | The Brewed Awakening Cafe (44 S Broadway, Pitman, NJ, United States)

  • Saturday, May 10 2025 | 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm | Overbrook Park Library | Overbrook Park Library, 7422 Haverford Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19151, USA

  • Thursday, May 15 2025 | 5:00 pm - 10:00 pm | SEAMAAC's 40th Anniversary Gala | American Swedish Historical Museum, 1900 Pattison Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19145

  • Wednesday, May 21 2025 | 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm | Char & Stave Ardmore | Char & Stave, 21 Rittenhouse Pl, Ardmore, PA 19003, USA

  • Friday, June 13 2025 | 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm | Lot 323 |

     More info on time and other acts as we get closer. Free

  • Sunday, June 22 2025 | 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm | Hedgerow Theater with Last Chance and DJ Chuck Elliot | Hedgerow Theatre (64 Rose Valley Rd, Media, PA, United States)

  • Tuesday, July 22 2025 | 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm | Woofstock | Seger Park, 1020 Lombard St, Philadelphia, PA 19147, USA

  • Wednesday, August 20 2025 | 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm | Char and Stave Chestnut Hill | Char & Stave, 8441 Germantown Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19118, USA

  • Thursday, August 28 2025 | 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm | Hansberry Gardens Concert | Hansberry Garden (5150 Wayne Ave, Philadelphia, PA, United States)

  • Thursday, September 11 2025 | 7:00 pm - 9:30 pm | Jazz Leanings | The Fallser Club, 3721 Midvale Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19129, USA

    Whirled Music with Phyllis Chapell and Ken Ulansey

  • Saturday, September 13 2025 | 1:00 pm - 7:00 pm | Mount Airy PorchFest |

    Music all day! Stay tuned for lineup information. 

press

Five Acts to See at the 2024 Philadelphia Folk Festival

The folk-jazz duo of Bethlehem & Sad Patrick are one of the Philly music scene’s under-appreciated treasures. Bethlehem Roberson is a skilled, subtly emotive vocalist who met guitarist Patrick Arkins when the guitarist was hosting an open mic at a cafe in Germantown. Their 2023 album, This Is What We Do, is a minimalist delight, displaying Roberson’s impeccable timing as a vocalist on top-notch Arkins originals like “Because It Rhymes with Sin” and “Starving Kind of Love,” as well as an arresting cover of “House of the Rising Sun.” (Dan DeLuca)

Bethlehem and Sad Patrick are ready for love on latest single

Jazz-tinged duo Bethlehem and Sad Patrick write about love and other struggles, making music that softly rests upon the fragility of life: falling in and out of love, finding peace in the day to day, and staying positive despite the often touch-and-go nature of Philadelphia. In anticipation of their latest album, This Is What We Do, out August 17, the pair have released “Ready For Your Love.” Their latest single shines a warm, smoky light on all the best parts of their sound, marrying Patrick’s Wes Montgomery-esque jazz guitar lines with Bethlehem Roberson’s angelic vocals and unique body percussion, kindling a fireside style of jazz-folk minimalism that would compliment both a peaceful walk in the woods or a smoky night in a speakeasy.

“Ready For Your Love” follows lead single “Nostalgic”, a cruising upbeat track in which Roberson argues against the allure of nostalgia singing, “We were not always perfect, I know, and we were not always lots of fun / but when you get, get right down to it you know I’m the one. / Don’t you want to breathe that way again, like the whole wide world is rushing in? / Like it’s all ahead of you, like you’re just about to begin?”

Between honest storytelling, artistic ​​ekphrasis, and beautifully subtle guitar work, Bethlehem and Sad Patrick are perfect compliments to one another. Their 2015 album Did You Ever Do earned them a spot on Slingshot’s “10 Artists You Should Know From Philadelphia” as well as a WXPN Key Studio Session in late 2016.

10 Artists You Should Know From Philadelphia

The open-mic circuit surrounding the Philadelphia folk community is an ever-changing thing; for every aspiring artist that turns up regularly at their neighborhood’s weekly showcase, there are three more that make the rounds around the region, give it a go, and move on. The minimalist jazz-tinged duo Bethlehem and Sad Patrick is an example of permanence that sprung from this fluid environment; guitarist Patrick Arkins connected with the captivating vocalist Bethlehem Roberson at his local open mic, and they began working together to fuse her poetry with his Wes Montgomery-flavored phrasings. Their new album, Love and Other Struggles, encompasses a range of themes from romance to racism to rhapsodies about life in Philadelphia, all told through moving melodies.

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Main photo by Eddie Luks