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Shakedown Sunday at the 443 Social Club

Never miss a Sunday show.

Shakedown Sunday is a monthly series at Syracuse’s 443 Social Club, hosted by Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers and members of Dead to the Core with special guests, that celebrates the Grateful Dead.

The music spans not only the Dead’s originals but songs from across the roots and rock worlds they made their own, plus selections from Jerry Garcia Band, Garcia and Grisman, and Old and in the Way—and a sampling of original songs by the Shakedown Sunday performers. All delivered with the creative acoustic arrangements and lush vocal harmonies that are the hallmark of Dead to the Core.

Guest artists include an array of top-shelf singer-songwriters and instrumentalists from Central New York and beyond, digging into their favorite tunes.

Expect deep cuts, fresh collaborations, old favorites reimagined. Only at Shakedown Sunday, only at the 443.

Never miss a Sunday show.

Coming next

Oct. 26, 2025, with special guest George Newton

The October Shakedown spotlights a lesser known legacy of Jerry Garcia—as a pedal steel guitarist on not only Grateful Dead tracks but songs by Crosby, Stills, and Nash, New Riders of the Purple Sage, and more. 

George Newton has been playing the pedal steel guitar and lap steel guitar for 55 years—his curiosity aroused by experiencing Big Ed Little and the Adirondack Drifters and further enticed by the emergence of Rusty Young and others at the dawn of the country rock era. 

He has long been a fixture on the Central New York and Mohawk Valley club scenes and is currently a member of Quatro, the Dust Devil Band, Little Georgie and the Shuffling Hungarians, and Better Than Bowling. Newton can also be heard on many albums produced by top area singer-songwriters.

November 23, 2025, with special guest Jessica Brown

Jessica Brown is a singer-songwriter based in Syracuse. Originally from the Thousand Islands region, she started off singing in church and coffeehouses. Since moving to Syracuse in 2008, she briefly attended OCC for music and then pursued a music career with various bands.

Her reggae/soul-inspired band Root Shock has put out several albums and music videos and toured up and down the East Coast. Her other project Ruha (with Shakedown Sunday regular Brian Welch on drums) performs around Central New York. Both bands are currently writing and recording new music and excited for what the future holds.

Tickets go on public sale October 8 at 10 a.m.