I am just a small time reporter from Rolling Stone Magazine here to do a story about Michael Jackson!

Back Porch Talk with the Felice Brothers

RollingStone.com

June 3, 2009 11:42 AM

So we're a little late to the party -- the record came out in April -- but we've seriously been digging Yonder is the Clock, the newest effort from mountain boys the Felice Brothers.

The Felice Brothers are made up of brothers Ian (vocals and guitar), James (accordion, piano, vocals) and Simone Felice (percussion, vocals) and family friends Christmas (bass) and Farley (fiddle). They've been playing music together for years, starting at backyard BBQs in upstate New York before moving to Brooklyn to try their hand at busking in the streets and subway stations.

The Bros have been a staple at folk and jam festivals over the past few years and are about to embark on an extensive tour across the country. "We're looking forward to heading out west, it's always fun," James Felice tells us. "Touring with my brothers and close friends, it's pretty laid back. Every now and then there's a moment of violence, but it's very few and far between. And now we have XM radio so we can listen to Yankee games while we're on the road."

Onstage, the Felice Brothers ar super-high energy. There's a story about the brothers playing at the 2008 Newport Folk Festival during a wicked thunderstorm. The power was cut, so the guys jumped off stage and played an impromptu acoustic gig in the mud with their fans. "That energy came about when we started playing in the streets and in the subways," James says. "We just had to be as loud and obnoxious as possible to get people's attention. To play in a dour sort of way, especially our music, would be ridiculous."

Check out two tracks below, "Penn Station," which James tells us he wrote about architect Louis Kahn, and "Run Chicken Run," which is "just a wacky, fucked up tune."

editor of blog note: way too little and way too late. I have been busting their hump for a few months about this oversight, and we don't get the magazine?