The Felice Brothers: Black Cab Sessions

i noticed a few readers have seen this before. I missed it sorry. don't hesitate to send me what i am missing. this is good.

Duke and the King on Jambase

THE DUKE & THE KING
NEW DUO FEATURING SIMONE FELICE (THE FELICE BROTHERS) AND ROBERT CHICKEN BURKE (GEORGE CLINTON)
EMERGE WITH SUN-FADED SONGS FOR SUMMER ON NOTHING GOLD CAN STAY (AUG 4/RAMSEUR RECORDS)

On August 4, Ramseur Records will release Nothing Gold Can Stay by The Duke & The King, an album recorded in the coldest Catskill winter, that shimmers with the light of memory and hope. Nothing Gold Can Stay features ten new songs, all co-written by The Duke (Simone Felice of The Felice Brothers) and The King (Robert Chicken Burke), and was recorded on a two-inch tape machine in Burke's one-room, woodstove-heated cabin - affectionately known as The Chapel - in Woodstock, NY.

The Duke & The King grew out of Simone Felice's decision to take an extended break from The Felice Brothers at the end of 2008, after three years of non-stop touring. He set to work on his third book, and began writing and recording with his longtime friend Burke, himself on leave from recent stints with George Clinton, Sweet Honey in the Rock, and film scoring work for acclaimed French director Cedric Klapisch.

The two holed up in splendid isolation at The Chapel with a cache of vintage instruments, and emerged with an album of inspired contradictions. Made in the depths of winter, Gold feels sun-faded and warm. It emits a bucolic calm, yet was mixed and mastered in Brooklyn by hip-hop legend Bassy Bob Brockmann (Notorious B.I.G.). Fusing unlikely elements of blue-eyed soul, Topanga Canyon cool, and Marc Bolan-esque acoustic reverie, The Duke & The King sing of a time and place they can never return to, but will never forget.

The Duke & The King will tour extensively this summer and fall. Currently announced tour dates available here.


If you ever get Famous-new single

New Message Board

The Brotherhood: a Felice Brothers Message Board has been set


Frankiesgun.com

Drowned in Sound review of Yonder is the Clock

It’s easy to see why Conor Oberst fell for The Felice Brothers, picking them up for release on his fledgling Team Love imprint in much the same way Two Gallants found a home on Saddle Creek some years ago. As with that band, these Catskill natives mine fields riddled with Americana staples: murder, love, death and betrayal all contemplated against a backdrop of desolate train stations and dilapidated freighters, Coney Island beaches and New England winters. Taking its name from a Mark Twain passage, Yonder Is The Clock bleeds the kind of folksy sincerity that could so easily fall flat. It doesn’t endear itself with immediate effect, either. Rough-hewn to the point of occasional sloppiness, haunted by the spectre of The Band (Ian Felice’s smoky rasp bearing an uncanny resemblance to that of a certain Bob Dylan), and a touch overlong, it nevertheless emerges an utterly compelling whole.

Steeped in classic songwriting traditions, bar-room blues and tried-and-tested chord progressions, gracing the record with more than a cursory listen reveals a work of significant heft. Numerous allusions to the sea serve as an early signpost (recurring throughout, swallowing unfortunates into watery oblivion and generally doing that elemental thing it does so very well). The “ten thousand silver whales” of ‘Sailor Song’ knowingly evoke the spirit of Herman Melville, the song itself coming over like Tom Waits at his most melancholy; a piano-led waltz of striking gloom. That it could feasibly be Waits himself is a sword of the double-edged variety, engendering the sort of divisive reaction The Felice Brothers clearly gave up worrying about some time ago (if they ever did at all). The kicker? It’s a great song. And it’s in good company, too.

Against the odds – the songs structured around baseball games, squeezebox ubiquity, Jesse James shout-outs and slapdash take on the traditional ‘Memphis Flu’ – Yonder Is The Clock remains a record of its time. The doomed narrator of ‘Penn Station’ for instance, meets his demise on said depot’s bathroom tiles, damnation hurtling towards him. The contents of his pockets? “Five dollars and a dead cellphone.” Where that song raises an eyebrow, ‘All When We Were Young’ startles. What begins a sweet lament for lost innocence gradually unfolds into theological territory, before abruptly asking “Where’d those planes come from / That burned my city up?” It’s fairly heavy-handed as far as allegory goes, but that’s sort of the point. As this record’s rueful heart, it’s an underplayed and unqualified success.

In light of such rumination, songs like ‘The Boy From Lawrence County’ (featuring a Judas-esque narrator) and ‘Buried In Ice’ (a woozy cautionary tale) are thrown into sharp relief. Strewn with folkloric references and populated by a cast of redemption-seeking miscreants, they also stand up as fine tunes in their own right. That one of the three siblings at the core of the band has written a novel (Simone Felice – Goodbye, Amelia) comes as no great surprise, nor does it that chickens (yep, chickens) feature prominently in no less than two of the thirteen songs here – they were recorded in a renovated coop, after all.

For all the confusion and exasperation pervading this set, moments such as tender parting shot ‘Rise And Shine’ offer rays of light, a means by which to temper the collective mess we seem to have found ourselves in. The majority of the album in fact fulfils the latter of that criteria, for reasoning best put by its players:

Let the brass band play
Let them soothe your blues away
Let the fiddles serenade you
Find a shady place to lay

Missteps are present, however: the aforementioned take on ‘Memphis Flu’ was presumably a lot more fun for the band to lurch their way through than it is us to listen to, and the cyclic sprawl of ‘Cooperstown’ does drag over six minutes. Given that these flaws are inseparable from the album itself, however, they do make an odd kind of sense – as for Yonder Is The Clock to be faultless would be a fault in itself. As it stands, it’s an emphatically rich and addictive work. It does sound a whole lot like Dylan, yes. But it’s a whole lot of excellent itself, thanks very much.

8/10 stars

also posted here http://takethisbread.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=3

Bakers Dozen Mixtape

While the band is on a break from touring i figured its a good time to introduce different music that i am listening to, that is generally relevant to a fan of the Felice Brothers or good music, and might be of interest of readers out there.

1. Robbie Fulks-"She took a lot of Pills(and died)"
Country artist from Raleigh, who kinda has battled the industry over the years.
Tour dates are here a live performance of the song here
2. Lucero-"the Weight of Guilt" Memphis, Tennessee rockers, album is Rebels, Rogues and Sworn Brothers. Tour dates
3. Alejandro Escovedo- "Always a Friend " This cut has gotten an awful lot of airplay of late. He is an overnight sensation,25 years in the trenches for this Texas rocker. Excellent songwriter. His tour dates
4. The Ghourds-"Gin and Juice" Yes, these Austin roots musicians did cover Snoop Dog's Hip hop hit. I still believe this is where Simone Felice got the idea for adding it to Glory Glory. Tour dates here
5. Son Volt-"Windfall" Everyone knows Jay Farrar is a great songwriter and this is one of my favorite tunes. Tour dates a video is here
6. Dan Blakeslee-"Your Spanish Scarf" This guy i saw playing on the sidewalk outside a Felice Brothers show. He is a massive talent, engaging live performer, lovely voice, excellent songs. Here is a video of him playing the song in the park to some people with dogs
Amazing right! his tour dates
7. Old 97's "Question" they got their name from an old Johnny Cash tune, and they cover his songs quite a bit. They got a tour schedule and a video for this song
8. Richmond Fontaine-"Black Road" Pacific Northwest is where i believe they are based. Live at the Doug Fir Lounge is a great CD. Their Myspace page. Willy Vlautin, singer and guitarist is also a novelist.
9. Popup "Love Triangle" From Team Love. Video is available for free at team love
10. Cassette- "Never Shake a Baby" Gainesville singer, guitarist, songwriter. Found her through Dave Turbeville (Now the Felice Brothers drummer), beautiful voice and excellent songs and this one is great. Here is her myspace page.
11. Golden Smooth-"Until You Came Around" Supergroup of sorts, Wilco, Jayhawks, Soul Asylum...its really good tune. Video
12. Neko Case-"Thrice All American" Video of this amazing singer.
13. The Powder Kegs- "Better Weather" really catchy melody, from this Burlington, Vt group that is produced by Jeremy "Searcher" Backofen. Here is a video of them performing at Northhampton, MA.

"Marie" Lyrics

Over the past couple months The Felice Brothers have been performing a song that has many fans buzzing. "Marie" was written by Ian Felice, who was reluctant to play the song unless others in the band took a verse. It's a masterpiece, maybe the best he's written, and i hope soon makes it on an official release. The first verse is sung by James Felice, the second by Greg Farley, the third by Ian Felice. The final verse sees James return to shut the door on this classic. The melody is very reminiscent of Townes Van Zandt's "Pancho and Lefty". It doesn't get much better than that.

MARIE

They say we ran our course
But i feel like a racing horse
Got a Feeling i will running all my life
Oh, all i'm asking you Marie
is spend one more fare on me
Give me one more night

I thought i was smart enough
I read Moby Dick and stuff
I guess i ain't smart enough for you
oh, all i'm asking you Marie
is spend one more fare on me
give me one more night

You say you don't wanna dance
till i wash my hands
but my hands aren't as dirty as my mind
oh, all i'm asking you Marie
is spend one more fare on me
give me one more night

They say this song's in "G"
but i don't give a shit
i wrote this song in the key of love
oh, all i'm asking you Marie
is spend one more fare on me
give me one more night

The celebrated Dr. Armand de Montalban, of Paris Lecture on the Science of Phrenology

Actually The Duke and the King at Bush Hall in London. Great opportunity for fans in the UK to see this new collaboration. Come see the most charismatic live performer in music today, Simone Felice with his new band, The Duke and the King, with old friend Robert "Chicken" Burke.



Here is a map to find your way to Bush Hall.





Buy tickets here

Check out The Duke and the King on Demand in studio performance

WDST Woodstock

There is also a Felice Brothers 4-03-09 appearence there (Utopia)


and here is video of the Duke and The King in Studio


All from their forthcoming album "Nothing Gold Can Stay" which takes its name from the Outsiders film and the poem by Robert Frost


Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

Raleigh NC 5-02-09

FELICE BROTHERS IN RALEIGH

It was by a complete coincidence that I was able to catch the brothers for the fourth time in three weeks, this time on Saturday at the Berkeley Café in Raleigh, NC. My older sister had just moved there last week so me and our little sister drove down from Richmond and broke in her new apartment’s oven by baking the boys some cupcakes. We got to the venue a little early to chitchat and give out our treats; I think I’m developing a little bit of a reputation for being that weirdly enthusiastic fan who brings homemade food to shows, but that’s okay with me.

Before the show, we ran into Dave the new drummer, to whom my friend had given a quick drum lesson back in Alexandria, and he seemed cautiously optimistic about his ability to keep things together—this was only his fourth or fifth time doing a whole show. Felice Brothers fans everywhere agree that he has GIGANTIC shoes to fill after Simone and Searchbag, but his performance was very encouraging: Dave seemed to work well (though not perfectly—yet) with the rest of the band and as the show went on he appeared to get more comfortable onstage, occasionally flashing an earnest grin (his own version of Simone’s mischievous smirks?)

Even though the boys have a variety of shows coming up this summer (one in my hometown of RICHMOND; contact me if you need a couch to sleep on), they announced that this show was the last of their official tour and in retrospect it was a little bit obvious. Some of the slower songs lacked the intensity they typically generate, and some of the faster ones were a little forced—but at this point it’s hard to tell if that sort of thing was obvious to everyone or just crazy people who’ve seen them in concert a gajillion times. Either way, they put on a fun show, especially the newly edited “Swine Flu” and the song I would kill to download, “Marie.” Also I’m not 100% certain but there was an older fellow there who looked a lot like Ian, possibly Poppa Felice, and he was breaking it down in the front row with me and my sisters!

Looking forward to a great time in Richmond, Floydfest, and beyond!

Carly



set list Raleigh:

Big Surprise
Loves Me Tenderly
Whiskey in my Whiskey
Boy from Lawrence County
Marie (LOVE THIS SONG)
Greatest Show On Earth
Her Eyes Dart Round (LOVE this one too)
Goddamn You, Jim
Frankie's Gun
Ballad of Lou the Welterweight
Ahab (Not sure the real title of this song but on the setlist it's listed as "Ahab")
Run Chicken Run
**Let Me Come Home is listed next but instead they played Where'd You Get the Liquor--later James told Ian he felt up to singing Let Me Come Home but Ian said there wasn't enough time**
Farley's Song
Take The Bread
Swine Flu

Encore:
St Stephen's End
Two Hands
Penn Station


Carly


Video from the Show (Whiskey in my Whiskey KICKASS)

Knoxville Setlist 5-01-09

Barley's Taproom

01 Intro
02 The Big Suprise
03 Loves Me Tenderly
04 Whiskey In My Whiskey
05 Boy From Lawerence County
06 Marie
07 Greatest Show On Earth
08 Take This Bread
09 Where'd You Get The Liquor
10 Her Eyes Dart Round
11 Ahab Song
12 Run Chicken Run
13 Frankie's Gun
14 Ballad Of Lou
15 Lay You Down Slow(Farley's Song)
16 Goddamn You Jim
17 Memphis Flu
18 Let Me Come Home
19 Encore
20 St. Steven's End
21 Penn Station

The Duke and The King perform at WDST

Simone Felice, Robert Burke, and apparently two other band members known now as the Viceroy and the Magistrate of Powers (according to Simone) did two numbers in studio at Wdst in Woodstock. One of the tunes was If You Ever Get Famous, the other title is The Morning i Get to Hell

Simone Felice signs with Ramseur Records

(pic by Felicity Wormwood)
via Twitter, via Sean Russell.

thanks Sean !

Ramseur Records is the label of, most notably, The Avett Brothers.

http://www.ramseurrecords.net/

Felice Brothers Concert on Radio Again in Knoxville

Tomorrow at 3:00 pm EST


FELICE BROTHERS to Perform Live at Next "Funhouse Live" Concert at Barley's This Friday, May 1st!
The amazing FELICE BROTHERS will be the featured act for the next "Funhouse Live" at Barley's Tapprom and Pizzeria in the Old City, this Friday, May 1st at 10:30p.m. Touring to support their excellent new disc 'Yonder Is the Clock,' which features the song "Run, Chicken Run" as heard on The Rock, many compare The Felice Brothers to The Band. Show up and find out why!

www.myspace.com/thefelicebrother


The link to the internet feed for the station

Update
Acoustic performance in studio. Interviewer didn't ask any question interesting.
Songs:

Memphis Flu (edited by Ian and called Swine Flu)
Cooperstown
Lonesome Valley

The biggest story or goof was that they said they had Dave Dondero (fellow Team Love artist) with them. Of course they might have been goofing.

try this www.wutkradio.com

James Felice Knoxville Metro Pulse

By Matthew Everett (Contact)
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
The Felice Brothers


James Felice isn’t usually the voice of the Felice Brothers. When the accordion player has just woken up in the middle of the afternoon in the back of the band’s RV somewhere in the middle of Kentucky, he’s even less suited to interviews. In the middle of a phone conversation, he’s likely to set down the phone and take a good long, steady leak.

“Could you hear that, man? Sorry,” he says.

Felice’s discombobulation is understandable, though, considering what the last few months have been like for his band. The five-piece group—the three real Felice brothers, James, singer/guitarist/songwriter Ian, and drummer Simone, along with a pair of their childhood friends known only as Christmas and Farley—seems to be on the verge of national exposure with the release of its new album, Yonder Is the Clock. They’re tangentially based in New York, where they got their start playing together at subway stations near Greenwich Village, but their home now is essentially the Winnebago.

“It’s been renovated inside with a bunch of bunk beds,” Felice says. “We used to just tour in a bus, so this is a lot better.”

The group’s new CD has gotten positive, sometimes glowing reviews from Entertainment Weekly, Spin, and The New York Times. Critics have been nearly unanimous in comparing the disc to The Basement Tapes, the eccentric 1967 collaboration between Bob Dylan and the Band that was released in 1975. Part of that comparison comes from the Felice Brothers’ roots in upstate New York, similar to the location of the old farmhouse where The Basement Tapes were recorded. Part of it is that Ian Felice sings in a nasal drawl similar to the youthful Dylan. Mostly it’s that Yonder Is the Clock has the same kind of ramshackle, homespun charm of the Dylan/Band project. Like The Basement Tapes, Yonder is nostalgic but not remotely authentic; the Felice Brothers use old-fashioned instruments—fiddle, accordion, and washboard—to stitch stately folk, rambunctious barroom stomps, and old-time mountain music into something that echoes a dozen or more strains of American music from the early 20th century without replicating any of it. But their relative inexperience with their instruments—“I didn’t start playing the accordion until I was, like, 21, but when I did I wish I’d started a lot earlier—the sound it produces is just beautiful,” Felice says—frees them from the rigid formal traditions of the music they’re picking up and playing with. What they’ve conjured up is a sort of imaginary folk music, a democratic convergence of black and white and urban and rural traditions, that Dylan and the Band produced in the shadow of Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music.

“It just sort of came out that way,” Felice says. “We weren’t going for anything in particular. We love roots music, and the music we play sounds like that. ... What’s funny is I’ve never listened to The Basement Tapes.”

The mood of Ian Felice’s lyrics is often morose—the narrator of “Penn Station” seems to sing his tale from beyond the grave, and the underworld characters in the Cajun-flavored “Run Chicken Run” are very clearly headed for bad ends—but those songs are two of the rollicking highlights of Yonder Is the Clock. The band injects them with a desperate, shambling energy that threatens to careen out of control, and the wry point of view saves them from standard-issue sepia-toned romanticism.

“I guess it’s a downer album,” he adds. “But it has some beautiful moments. That’s my brother Ian—he writes most of the songs, and he definitely has a good sense of humor.”

James Felice interview Birmingham Box Set

Carla Jean Whitley

I spend a lot of time seeking out new music for our monthly music recommendations in Currents. A lot of times that means requesting the upcoming album by someone I’ve already heard a lot about, or keeping an eye out for something new from my favorite bands. But there’s no rush like the excitement I feel when I pop in a CD from a band I’ve never heard of and hear something worth falling in love with.

That’s what happened in early 2008, when the self-titled album from The Felice Brothers turned up in my mail. In our March 2008 issue, I wrote: “‘Greatest Show on Earth,’ the second track on The Felice Brothers(Team Love Records), is a cinematic composition—like something you’d hear on the soundtrack of a movie set in a saloon. The stateside debut from this rural New York band is at turns raucous (cue ‘Frankie’s Gun!’) and introspective (‘Wonderful Life’).”

You’ll have to excuse the self-referential quoting, but it’s still how I feel about this band. I’ve been trying to catch them live ever since, but I have a knack for going out of town when they come to Birmingham or Tuscaloosa. That will change—finally!—on April 28, when they play Bottletree in support of Yonder is the Clock, which dropped earlier this month. James Felice offered Birmingham Box Set insight into the new album and a preview of what to expect at Bottletree.

Birmingham Box Set: So much of your music sounds like a party—“Penn Station,” for example, on the new album. Is it as much fun to play with these guys as it sounds like?

James Felice: It actually is. It’s really fun. When we play live, we try to make it like a really fun environment for everybody. We just want everybody to have fun and feel good. People that are spending—I don’t know how much people tickets are, $15—but I want people to have a good time. If I go to a show I want to get drunk and rowdy to dance around.

BBS: And yet, y’all balance a really fun time with great lyrics, whether on the rowdy bar numbers or more contemplative songs.

JF: Thank you very much. That’s really important to us, too. The songs that have to be quality or else it’s not worth it. They have to be good. We write a lot of lot of songs. Only a few make the best quality, you know. While we have a lot of fun and rocking songs, a lot of the songs are much more somber. They have to be equally as good.

BBS: How does your songwriting process work? Does everyone contribute or one person do most of the writing?

JF: My brother Ian, he writes most of the songs. We all work on them in one way or another, [but] he’s definitely the main songwriter.

BBS: What influenced the songs on this album?

JF: Everything. You know? It’s not just one thing. …

We wanted to make an actual real album. Everything else we’ve done before was kind of piece meal and thrown together, because we didn’t have enough time and space for a real album. … For this record, it was nice to be in an environment where we could record and make a real cohesive piece of music.

We had the chicken coop that we recorded a lot of the last album in, and we put a roof on it and put walls up and that’s where we recorded Yonder.

BBS: You’ve got a variety of songs in your repertoire—when it’s time to be loud, y’all are really loud, but you also have plenty quieter, thoughtful songs. How does that contrast play out in concert?

JF: I think it works really well. We try to have an equal number of both. It depends on what we’re feeling at the time, what we feel would work best, how the crowd is feeling at the time. … I think it’s important to have moments of respite between the dancing around. We’re not a punk band you know, I think we’d all wear out if we were dancing around for an hour and a half.

BBS: Who have you been listening to lately?

JF: James Booker, actually. He’s a New Orleans piano player, amazing. And Gershwin, listening to a lot of George Gershwin. I don’t listen to that many things at once, I try to stick with one or two records.

Birmingham Box Set

The Felice Brothers to Play Austin City Limits Music Festival

October 2-4 Zilker Park


the 2009 lineup
Pearl Jam Dave Matthews Band
Beastie Boys Kings of Leon Ben Harper and Relentless7 Thievery Corporation John Legend The Dead Weather The Levon Helm Band Ghostland Observatory
Sonic Youth Mos Def Toadies Flogging Molly The B-52s Lily Allen Citizen Cope Arctic Monkeys The Decemberists Coheed and Cambria Andrew Bird Girl Talk STS9 (Sound Tribe Sector 9) Phoenix Bassnectar Bon Iver !!! Avett Brothers The Airborne Toxic Event Medeski, Martin & Wood Clutch Michael Franti & Spearhead Grizzly Bear Heartless Bastards Passion Pit White Lies
Dan Auerbach The Walkmen The Scabs Reckless Kelly DeVotchka Blitzen Trapper The Virgins Here We Go Magic Eek-A-Mouse K'Naan Asleep at the Wheel Dr. Dog The Raveonettes The Knux Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears State Radio Los Amigos Invisibles The Felice Brothers Federico Aubele Raul Malo Daniel Johnston Poi Dog Pondering Brett Dennen Rodriguez Henry Butler Preservation Hall Sam Roberts Band The Greencards Sara Watkins Walter "Wolfman" Washington David Garza John Vanderslice Zac Brown Band Todd Snider School of Seven Bells The Dodos Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3 Alberta Cross Deer Tick Bell X1 Alela Diane The Wood Brothers The Parlor Mob Rebirth Brass Band Marva Wright Terri Hendrix L.A.X. Lisa Hannigan The Low Anthem Sons of Bill Suckers Sarah Jaffe Cotton Jones The Henry Clay People Papa Mali Jypsi Vince Mira Jonathan Tyler & The Northern Lights Mimicking Birds Jeffrey Steele Jonell Mosser Leatherbag Keith Gattis Damien Horne Sarah Siskind The Dexateens Nelo Danny Brooks Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band The Soul Stirrers The Durdens Palm School Elementary The Gospel Silvertones Diaconos Quinn Sullivan Ralph's World Q Brothers Milkshake Telephone Company Loose Cannons Lunch Money

Welcome Dave Turbeville

Tonight at the Bottletree in Birmingham, Alabama it's the big night for Dave (Turbeville) taking over on drums for Searcher. Dave has been on tour all spring with the band and has been playing a tune or two on the skins for the past two weeks. Dave is from Gainesville, Florida (Yea, the place i got busted for robbing a bank!) and has been part of a few bands down there of very varying styles, Most notably, the Deep and Holy Sea as well as Cassette and Cowboys became Folk Heroes. Hereis a link to Deep and Holy Sea Myspace page and here is a video from Cowboys became Folk Heroes

Wish Dave well tonight. Sweet guy.



and goodbye and thanks to old friend Searchbag

Pics from Nashville

and video

and Penn Station too courtesy of Lizzie



Pictures by Chaya

Nashville (Mercy Lounge) 4-25-09

SETLIST NASHVILLE MERCY LOUNGE 4/25/09

Intro
Big Surprise
Run Chicken Run
Take This Bread
Marlboro Man
Whiskey
White Limousine
Boy from Lawrence County
Chicken Wire
Ahab (new Christmas song)
Memphis Flu
Murder by Mistletoe
Love me Tenderly
God Damn You Jim
Marie
Greatest Show on Earth
Her Eyes Dart Round
Marie
Frankie's Gun

ENCORE
St Stephen's End
Farley's Song
Two Hands
Penn Station

The boys were in fine form tonight in Music City USA. The Mercy Lounge is an intimate venue which was a nice change from last week at the soon to be infamous Trocadero show. James' cold seems to be mostly gone; he did a beautiful rendition of God Damn You Jim. Ian was in an exceptionally awesome state of mind cracking jokes throughout the night and randomly sticking his tongue out at the other band members. In the middle of Marie he announced "ambiguous instrumental solo" to which the band started to crack up. Christmas did his new song, Ahab, again. I hadn't heard it before and I really enjoyed it. Memphis Flu was a crowd favorite being that we were in Tennessee. There were some special guests on stage tonight. The lead singer and the guitarist from Old Crow Medicine Show were at the show and came up to play with the boys for a few numbers including Frankie's Gun which sounded better than I have heard it in a while. It was Searcher's last show of the tour and he got to play guitar on one number which was fun. Ian played bass during Christmas' song which was incredible. He enjoyed playing the bass so much making all sorts of interesting sounds and facial expressions. The crowd was really into the show, singing along and dancing up a storm. Farley used his usual hip-hop crowd riling tactics to get the audience involved. I must say I have become a bit spoiled seeing them play so many 2-3 hr sets that the hour and a half show tonight felt a bit short, but it was absolutely amazing all the same. They fit right into the style of Nashville and everyone had a ball. Well, it's 3am and I have a flight back to Philly in 4 hrs so it's time to catch some shut eye. That's it for me for a while...unfortunately.

chaya

Louisville: 4-24-09 Headliners (LUKE)

The Big Suprize
Run Chicken Run
Take this Bread
Marlboro Man
Whiskey in my Whiskey: Dave on Drums, Searcher on Second Guitar, James just singing, no instrument.
New Christmas Song: playing guitar and singing, Ian on Bass,
Chicken Wire
Boys from Lawrence County
Loves Me Tenderly
Captain's Wife
Frankie's Gun
Goddamn You Jim
White Limo
The Greatest Show on Earth
Ballad of Lou The Welterweight
Memphis Flu, Dave on Drums, Searcher on the Tambourine



Encore:
St. Stephens End
Farley Song (Lay You Down)
Helen Fry
Penn Station

Little bits from the show, crowd broke out into applause and cheering after James false started Frankie's Gun. James only played three notes yet everyone knew what was coming, the band was very impressed by the audience reaction. The band broke down into laughter at the end of the second verse of Ballad of Lou, no clue what the laughter was about but the only instrument going was the drum, pretty funny incident, the came back strong though on "Powder your nose", great recovery. Last little tid bit which seems to be a show standard but worth mentioning. Farley dived into the drum kit at the end of Penn Station, though this is the first time I've seen Searcher catch him in mid-air before completely destroying the drum kit. I guess one more tid bit, at one point during the show Christmas was on the bass drum playing a little bit, and Ian decided to join him at the same time. I've come to learn that those bass drums are pretty sturdy considering all the jumping up and down on that thing those boys do. Thats my report, I think my report was a little better than the last one, can't wait for the Nashville show. Laters.

Luke

Interview with James Felice in todays Louisville Courier

Q&A with the Felice Brothers

By Joseph Lord • The Courier-Journal • April 24, 2009



The Felice Brothers' solemn Americana pays homage to mountain music, replete with fiddles, drawling vocals and sad, sad topics. And, indeed, they hail from the mountains, just not the ones you'd expect. The band — Ian and James Felice, plus friends Greg Farley and Christmas Clapton — grew up in upstate New York's Catskills.
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The brothers began playing family barbecues and street corners throughout the Catskills, and eventually they moved to New York City and performed on subway platforms — details that lend to the common perception of the band as a scrappy passion project instead of city boys playing mountain tunes.

The Felice Brothers play Friday, April 24, at Headliners. Accordionist James Felice took a moment to chat about the band, his instrument — and his trademark porkpie hat.

Why did you start playing music?

We were poor and destitute and had no direction in our lives, so we just started playing. We decided to do this for the rest of our lives. We never had that much money, but we had a great family. We had shoes on our feet, clothes on our backs, but it was all pretty simple.

What did you all listen to growing up?

Anything we could get our hands on. Lots of Stevie Wonder and Neil Young.

What led you to playing folksy Americana music?

We all started playing together and this sounded right. This is what it sounded like; we just played what we know. ... You play music you want to hear. You dress the part, with the porkpie hat and all. The ladies love the hat.

How'd you pick up the accordion?

I didn't play accordion until a few years ago, when we started the band. In early America, there was an accordion in like every household. ... It was like the most popular instrument because it was pretty cheap, until the acoustic guitar came around. Then it fell out of favor and people started playing polka on it.

interesting battle Hanson vs Felice Brothers Taken from South Carolina Paper

Anderson Mail News (South Carolina) this is an excerpt


This week it’s new age folk act The Felice Brothers versus brand-new pop act Tinted Windows, a band comprising former members of boy-band Hanson (yes, the “Mmmbop” Hanson), the Smashing Pumpkins, Fountains of Wayne and Cheap Trick. Who said these matchups had to make sense? This may very well be the first time an accordion went face-to-face against an electric guitar. May the best man (or former member of Hanson) win.

Tinted Windows – “Tinted Windows”

Pros

This odd combination of band members is too much to resist, at least for novelty’s sake.

This is power pop at its finest with deceptively great musicianship.

If you listen closely, you can actually hear women’s undergarments hitting the studio floor.

“Cha Cha” is one of the catchiest songs I’ve ever heard. I hate that I love it.

Cons

I couldn’t help but think the Hanson stigma might be too much to overcome.

Cringe-inducing choruses like “without love, come on, come on, come on.”

Most of these songs are too short to be considered songs.

The Felice Brothers – “Yonder is the Clock”

Pros

Ian Felice sounds the way Bob Dylan sounded before he became unintelligible.

Probably the least pretentious band around. It’s obvious these guys just love performing music.

Three singer/songwriters ensure that nothing gets stale.

They’re prolific. If this wasn’t good they’d hit you with another album in a matter of months.

Not over-produced. Instead of being polished this is refreshingly covered in mud.

Cons

“Sailor Song” gets a little too close to sleep-inducing, Leonard Cohen territory.

Some songs sound like they were written on the back of napkins and slapped together.

Much less upbeat than the self-titled album that preceded it.

And the winner is…The Felice Brother’s “Yonder is the Clock.”

There aren’t enough bands out there doing what these guys are doing. They have a firm focus on musicianship and songwriting; I’m happy that I’ll probably never see a Felice Brothers music video. The Tinted Windows album is a pleasant diversion when you want to turn your mind off, but “Yonder is the Clock” is one of those sonic gifts that keep on giving. The song “Run Chicken Run” is worth the price of admission all by itself.

Running setlist Live at Lunch WFPK Louisville 91.9

the stream is still available i think fully here


Doing it right here!

1. The Big Surprise

sounds like there is about ten people there

2. Whiskey in my Whiskey: James sounds still a bit congested, struggling to hit notes with the power he usually does. nice guitar picking by Ian. Farley "Give it up for James Felice, he is all sick"

3. Marlboro Man
4. Chicken Wire: love this tune, they make it sound like a kinda like Barbara Ann by the Beach Boys, just rollicking hilarity.
5. Frankie's Gun: very good version, Ian has a chuckle in the middle, particularly good yodel at the end.
interview from the host to the band.
6. Which record is this?
JF- Between 2 and 5. James introduced the band.
Is your family musical?
JF- no
Ian- My mom hates music
interviewer: You got guys got discovered in the Subway in New York, right?
Christmas-"a doctor discovered me at Vassar Hospital 21 years ago, it was crazy"...this stuns the interviewer and effectively ends the interview. The Band laughs
7. Farley Song (lay you down)
8. Farley introduction for crowd participation for Penn Station. right into....
9. Penn Station
10. Farley "Christmas is going to sing a very seductive song"
11. Christmas new AHAB Song
12. Marie.
13. Memphis Flu
14. Ruby Mae
15. Run Chicken Run
16. Rise and Shine (debut): Love this song. Thought this song could be about not just a dying friend, but perhaps about a blood brother, or real brother, in a time of turmoil. love the detail. For me its an epitaph, a beautiful one, on this era of the Felice Brothers (with Simone).

Tommorrow: Live at Lunch Radio Show

91.9 WFPK Louisville (they will have Internet stream on their website)

I believe they archive the shows.

Should be fun.

Carly's Photos from Philly