The Duke & the King, a new Huckleberry Finn-inspired project led by Simone Felice of the Felice Brothers, can be best described as loping, sun-faded melodic pop with touches of country, gospel, and folk. Their forthcoming album, Nothing Gold Can Stay, was recorded over a cold winter in the Catskill Mountains. The Duke & the King, while sonically different from the Felice Brothers, should be an interesting listen. Nothing Gold Can Stay is out August 4 and a tour is in the works, but no dates have been announced. Below is Simone Felice’s Poetic Memory.
MP3: “The Morning I Get to Hell,” the first single from Nothing Gold Can Stay
MP3: “Frankie’s Gun,” by the Felice Brothers
Poetic Memory is a regular Owl and Bear feature in which musicians disclose their influences—whether it’s albums, songs, artists, or something random. If you’re interested in being featured here, send us an email.
Joni Mitchell - Blue: Songs are like tattoos. My mother played this album when I was a small boy. It is the saddest, most beautiful honesty, like an angel caught in a strip-club.
Van Morrison - Astral Weeks: The poetry and the mood are untouchable; he made this in two days in New York City. They don’t make them like this no more.
Sam Cooke’s song ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’: I was born by the river in a little tent, and just like the river I’ve been running ever since.
Nelson Algren’s novel The Man With the Golden Arm: Chicago after WW2, a junky with a heart, a beat-up girl, don’t wanna give away the rest. Division street, where angels bruise and lose their routes to heaven.
My lilac tree: These small white flowers take me back to my first memories on earth, when people still smoked in hospitals, when life was
