Chicken Wire from Knoxville

Link

Rte 29 Revue: Columbia MD

Short set but very tight.

Marlboro Man
Roll on Arte
Whiskey
River Jordan
Two hands
Chicken run
Chicken Wire
White Limo


Other highlights of the show. Justin Jones was really good. The Levon Helm Band, played without Levon singing b/c voice is needing rest. No matter, as his stellar band still were standouts, as the nights biggest star, legendary sideman Larry Campbell, played and sang wonderfully, and renditions of "it makes no difference" and "the shape I'm In" were eulogies to Rick Danko and Richard Manuel.

Old Crow put on the usual stellar show with guest appearences by the Felice Brothers, and Iron and Wine was fine as well, but a little misplaced in this rocking lineup, and was a particular problem having to follow the mercurial Grace Potter who could steal the spotlight from just about anyone.

AmericanaUK: Nothing Gold Can Stay is Superb

""All our days are just so many waves in the wind"

Erstwhile Felice Brothers Drummer/Vocalist Simon Felice, along with new cohort Robert ‘Chicken’ Burke have mined a rich vein of American storytelling for their debut album (Their Moniker comes from some troublemaking Mark Twain characters for a start).

As has been widely reported already, ‘Nothing Gold Can Stay’ had the saddest genesis imaginable, when Felice and his partner lost the child they were expecting. Prompting something of a life-changing rethink, he quit his sibling’s band just as their popularity approaches an all-time high, and started bravely down a new path. The sense of transience and uncertainty is evident in these thoughtful, wonderfully written songs, but while he may have had every right to let his grief flood these narratives, instead they are imbued with a bright, spacious soul, some regrets but also optimism. The reflection and sadness are outward-looking, aimed more generally at the loss of innocence and more importantly, other people’s lives circling in doubt and inevitable transience.

Felice fans will note that the wonderfully rambunctious grooves of the Brothers have been polished and transformed into spacious, dusty and understated country-soul. Felice’s own vocal here is softer, an understated and emotive croon that surfs perfectly over the top of these careful, sparsely constructed natural feeling songs.

The overall sound is supremely sun-kissed, with swathes of high harmonies shadowing Felice’s every beautiful melodic twist. It is, surprisingly, ‘70s west coast FM rock that seems to be a constant sonic reference (perhaps for nostalgia's sake), though often with enough of a modern rhythmic feel to never feel unsure as to which decade this record was made. That being the case though, some of the strongest (if softer) moments on the album such as ‘Union Street’ have a dark heart lurking not far from the surface “You were the prettiest girl around, but your Ma was a druggy and she kicked you around”

Dusty ballad ‘If You Ever Get Famous’ is fragile & poignant, opening the album with a lump already in it’s throat as in the first couplet Felice begs not to be forgotten amongst the ephemera of someone else’s life moving on. ‘The Morning I get to Hell’ is another quietly spectacular moment, tackling mortality with some grace and wit.

‘Lose Myself’ is all hook and no song, before almost exploding (or rather, erm, losing itself) in a fit of noise, quickly gives way to ‘Suzanne’, certainly the most straight ahead unrepentant soul groove on the album. Elsewhere the cracked and fragile cornerstone ‘One More American Song’ closes the album with tragic tales of ordinary folk returning damaged from the war.

An album about loss, hope, longing, regret, optimism and growing up that doesn’t, despite its languid pace, waste a precious second.

In a word, Superb.

linkage

James Felice Interviewed: Nashville City Paper

The New York folk and Americana ensemble The Felice Brothers have appeared in Nashville before, but they openly admit that Thursday's appearance at Riverfront Park is something quite special and unusual.

First, they're part of the heralded multi-artist event being billed as "The Big Surprise Tour" along with Old Crow Medicine Show and The Dave Rawlings Machine with Gillian Welch and Justin Townes Earle. Second, they're doing a rare outside show, and that raises the stakes both sonically and personally for the band.

"We don't do a lot of outside dates other than the occasional festival," James Felice said. "You always have to think about a lot of other things when you're not in an arena, and especially when you're playing in a spot as big as Riverfront Park. The weather might go haywire, you've got to think more about projection and volume, and your set list might change. Plus, you're playing in Nashville, one of the places with more great musicians than probably anywhere else in the country, especially in terms of the type of music that we play.”

Despite the challenges it poses, the high stakes are worth it to play alongside the A-list group of musicians who are both their friends and their inspiration, James said.

“We had been talking with Old Crow about doing some things together for a long tour, and the idea for a big type of traveling revue, where audiences got the chance to see a lot of performances for one price, seemed to be a great idea. When you think about how things have been out on the road for a lot of groups, it also makes really good economic sense,” James said. “But on top of all that, we're a big fan of all these performers. So far, the shows and the vibe have been fantastic. It's something we're definitely happy to be a part of and to participate in, and it's another sign things are improving for us as a band."

Considering that The Felice Brothers were formerly playing in a New York subway station, they've certainly come a long way. The original group of James, Ian and Simon Felice, along with family friend Greg Farley (washboard/fiddle) and the bassist known only as Christmas, became well known on the East Coast for a demonstrative brand of original numbers and reworked vintage blues, folk, country and old-time numbers.

James' instrumental versatility (accordion, organ and piano), plus the harmonies and interaction with Ian and Simon's fiery drumming, generated plenty of interest among the East Coast folk underground.

Manager Paul Schiavo landed the group a series of dates in England in 2007. The resultant publicity, coupled with critical praise for the self-released CD Through These Reins and Gone helped finally secure a label deal in 2008 with Team Love Records.

Adventures of the Felice Brothers Vol. 1 further propelled the band’s popularity, along with 2008 appearances at such events as Bonnaroo, Newport, Levon Helm's Midnight Ramble and other rock and folk festivals both in America and overseas.

But in addition to their participation on the Big Surprise Tour, it's a new CD Yonder is the Clock, released in April, that's finally getting The Felice Brothers some mainstream recognition.

"This is really the first time that I think we've tried to get into the whole art and process of making a record," James said. "What we've always heard from people who've heard the other things we've done is that we sound so much different in person and we do so many other things that don't necessarily find their way onto the recordings.

"So this time we were very conscious about everything. We wanted to make this as close to the way we sound in person and on stage as possible. We didn't do all that much overdubbing, and we didn't do a lot of takes with the vocals. I think it's really about as close to being a spontaneous record as we can make. We're all very happy with the way it turned out."

There's a host of subjects and topics covered on Yonder is the Clock. The band does murder ballads and weather tunes, numbers about baseball and life on the road, old and new pieces about romantic triumphs and failures. The singing is joyous and energetic, the playing resourceful, engaging, yet tight and disciplined.

Whether they're looking backward ("Penn Station," "Memphis Flu") or toward the future ("Rise and Shine," "Katie Dear"), The Felice Brothers are displaying the kind of rollicking spirit and musical adventurousness on disc that's the cornerstone of their live performances.

James adds that there's one style of music the Brothers enjoy that might surprise even their most avid followers.

"We're all big hip-hop fans," James said. "Especially Jay-Z, but we also like Biggie Smalls. It's something we listen to a lot when we're on the bus. But so far we haven't figured out a way to get that into the live show, but we're thinking about it and working on it."

They've undergone a musical adjustment recently, as Simon has now left the band and started his own group, The Duke and the King, which issued a debut CD Aug. 4.

Besides the various tour dates, The Felice Brothers will be on the road most of this year and well into 2010. They have another European visit scheduled down the line, and James notes that the writing process is always underway.

"The way that we work, we're always writing songs," James said. "It's an ongoing process, because all of us really love different things, and constantly we'll hear something that inspires us and we try to work it into a song. I think our new release will be a lot different from this one, because we really don't even do the songs the same way from night to night."

article here

Nashville Scene: Big Surprise Tour

http://www.nashvillescene.com/2009-08-13/music/on-the-big-surprise-tour-old-crow-medicine-show-dave-rawlings-gillian-welch-felice-brothers-and-justin-townes-earle-jam-by-the-seats-of-their-pants/A name like The Big Surprise Tour is bound to invite speculation about what unexpected things the acts on the bill have in store. And—just to clarify—the acts on this nine-date package tour are Old Crow Medicine Show, the Felice Brothers, Justin Townes Earle and the Dave Rawlings Machine (as in, Rawlings as frontman with Gillian Welch supporting).

James Felice—accordion and organ player for the Felice Brothers—places all tour-related curiosity in perspective. One minute he's describing his band's wide-open musical sensibilities; the next he's stumbled onto an absurd idea.

"Who knows what we're going to sound like tomorrow?" Felice says. "We'll get inspired to go in a different direction, then it's all over. We'll all be playing electronic music on keyboards onstage, laptop computers. Maybe that's the big surprise."

He considers this scenario a moment, then goes further: "It's all, like, laptops and Nord keyboards and a DJ booth. I just let the cat out of the bag. That's what's going to happen. And have a small Swedish girl singing bizarre vocals."

He's kidding, of course.

Sure, all these performers reserve the right to expand on and update the rootsy things they do. Old Crow leavened their string band-based sound with a classic rock feel on last year's Tennessee Pusher. In recent years, Rawlings and Welch have spent more time artfully covering Neil Young, Bob Dylan and even Cyndi Lauper, and sitting in with Bright Eyes and Rilo Kiley than they have channeling Appalachia in their own indelibly haunting songs.

The Felice Brothers applied more of a punkish attack to parts of their latest album Yonder Is the Clock than they did to its self-titled predecessor. The title track of the country-, ragtime- and blues-reviving Justin Townes Earle's second album, Midnight at the Movies, isn't pitched far from delicate indie ruminations of this decade.

"When I was indulging in Mance Lipscomb and Lightning Hopkins, I would study that stuff," says Earle, no doubt listing LPs he found in his dad, Steve Earle's, collection. "But then when I was sitting around smoking a joint, I would put on The Replacements or Carl Perkins, Billie Holiday or Chet Baker. There's no such thing to me as strict old-timey. I pay very close attention to all kinds of music, because I just don't think that old-timey's the rule."

True enough. But it's also true that the acts have distinguished themselves by drawing some on old-timey basics (if not acoustic instruments, at least live ones that can be played with demonstrable vigor) and by flat-out entertaining.

For some of them—Old Crow and Earle especially—that can take the form of jaunty stage banter. "I mean, 50, 60 years ago, there was a style of performance and a warmth and a connection between the performer and the audience that really does not exist today—and especially amongst singer-songwriters," says Earle. "I don't want to pay $15 to see the record performed live. It's like, give me a fucking break. I like it to be two separate things: Be serious about making the records, but then onstage it's all about just making sure everybody has a good time and they want to buy that ticket again."

The Felice Brothers—who, like Old Crow, developed a knack for showmanship by busking on street corners—burst with unbridled energy live. And Felice shares Earle's convictions about performing: "That's why people will drop a pretty good amount of money for a ticket for a couple hours. They want to be entertained, forget about the crap that's going on in their lives, just have a damn good time. That's our job, to make sure everybody in the audience is having fun."

Laptops aside, the tour—named for the epic lead track on the Felice Brothers' latest and dreamed up by members of Old Crow after the two bands shared a string of dates—has plenty of space built in for the element of surprise. A point of the tour and what makes it an experience—for the musicians and audiences—is that they're not just doing their own sets, but also mixing it up together.

That's a bigger change for Earle than anybody. As the only solo singer and songwriter in the bunch, he's the odd man out. "You know, I did decide to become the boss [of my musical career] and I'm not saying that that was the greatest decision," Earle says. "It's a very difficult situation a lot of times, because when shit goes down, it's nobody else's problem but mine. There's not five other guys that have stock in it and can help fix the problem. It will be really nice to not have it all on my shoulders for a little while."

Exactly what they'll play together is the unknown element. Maybe a little pre-war blues here, a little country-rock there, and some communal originals cooked up just for the occasion—above all, material that lends itself to a big, loose band.

The vibe of the tour is meant to be pretty spontaneous. Everyone convened in Vermont—minus Earle, who was playing a music festival on the West Coast at the time—to brainstorm and jam a little just before they hit the road. "I think it's going to definitely have a lot of energy," says Felice. "That's the one thing we're not worried about."
There was a time, early this decade—before Old Crow had wooed a big new audience to hot acoustic music, before Earle had gotten clean and he and the Felices had started putting out albums, before O Brother had faded in everyone's minds—when Welch's name would've been the first and biggest on the marquee for a tour like this. But as the Big Surprise billing suggests, she cares little about name recognition for its own sake. After all, she and Rawlings—in an egalitarian move—flipped lead and supporting roles in the Dave Rawlings Machine, and she's done a lot of guesting on other people's projects since she released anything under her own name.

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Details:

The Big Surprise Tour featuring Old Crow Medicine Show, Dave Rawlings Machine (w/Gillian Welch), Felice Brothers & Justin Townes Earle
Playing Thursday, 13th at Riverfront Park

But Welch's and Rawlings' importance to the still-growing, indie-friendly scene of musicians with rock 'n' roll-informed, old-timey sensibilities that's showcased on this tour can't be denied. The whole thing—these particular acts tumbled together this particular way—ought to be a good time, and it bodes well for the present and future of the music.

"Some of us have known each other for upwards of about 15 years," Earle says. "It's just really cool that it's finally coming together and we're getting to work with people that think like us. Shit, I'm getting to work with people that I've looked up to for years—those musicians who...forged the way with old-timey music, you know, the Old Crow boys and Dave and Gil."

"It'll be fun," he adds, "because I mean, when I was, like, 14, I used to drink a bottle of Thunderbird wine and go into the Radio Café and see The Esquires. It was Rawlings playing guitar and Gil playing bass and David Steele playing drums. And they did Bob Dylan and Tom Waits covers. It was awesome."

Big Surprise on Cary NC: Poem

T’was one hundred degrees out, and all through the house
Not a creature went outdoors: it’s August in the South;
Yet speakers were hung off the rafters with care,
In hopes that the audience soon would be there;
The bands were nestled all cool in their bus,
While whispers of heat stroke passed between us;

My wife in her sunglasses, and I in my cap,
Had found a good spot, to watch the opening acts,
I was buying some wine, when there arose quite a clatter,
I turned my head to see what was the matter.
Back to our lawn chairs I flew like a flash,
Passed the wine I’d just bought, and let out a gasp.

The rollicking cast of this bluegrass-themed show
Played the opening song, which I did not know.
But, who to my wondering eyes should appear,
But Gillian, David, and twelve tiny reindeer,
Err, no, t’were not reindeer, t’was a different show.
No, these were musicians, some you might know!

More rapid than weasels their guitars they played,
David strummed, and shouted, and called them by name;
“Now, Critter! now, Ketch! now, Morgan and Gillian!
On, Greg ! on Christmas ! on, Ian and Justin!
To the top of the verse! now wait for the call!
Now solo! solo! Solos for all!”

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When one missed a line, they all let it slide.
Through song after song the players they flew,
The dozens of boys (and Gillian too!)
And then, with a winking, most departed,
For the first band’s set had officially started.

Justin Townes Earle was doing his show,
Though soon was re-joined by some from Old Crow.
He was dressed all in white, at least it looked to me -
For from where we were sitting, we couldn’t see his feet.
An acoustic guitar he had flung on his back,
And he sang country songs, old-timey, in fact.

Then the Felice Brothers: their antics, how merry!
Their cheeks were like roses, their noses like cherries!
Carefree and raucous through their songs they careened,
Like Marah and Dylan, the Pouges and Springsteen.
So joyous their playing, we assumed they were drunk;
So young, so irreverent, my wife called them “punks”.

In his grey flannel suit and her simple black dress
The David Rawlings Machine came up to play next.
Songs about sugar, Cortez, and Queen Jane,
Gillian Welch strummed, while David Rawlings sang.
Though it’s not quite the same, to see them this way,
It’s still a good time, and boy can he play!

The Old Crow Medicine Show, they were the last;
They sang of cocaine and moonshine, love and white trash.
They’re a boatload of fun, with their songs about sin;
And they played fast as lightning, and sharp as a pin.
We’d seen them before, but they were better this time;
Or maybe it was the heat – and the beer, and the wine.

And then all the bands, they all went to work,
And filled up the stage; then started with a jerk,
A song from the Willburys: The End Of The Line
Though it was a little rough we all liked it fine.
And then a ‘Mats song, from Pleased To Meet Me.
Justin Earle sang it, it felt a bit sleepy.

Yet then came a song they played with real feel
Old Crow’s Dylan re-work, the great Wagon Wheel
The crowd sprang to their feet, with cheers and with whistles,
And the band played the song, and man did it sizzle.
And then they were done, and up came the lights,
“Thank you to all, and have a safe drive.


”http://ok-cleek.com/blogs/?p=6538&cpage=1

Charllottesville VA: The Big Surprise

http://www.hickorywind.org/002070.php

August 11, 2009
The Big Surprise Tour @ Charlottesville Pavilion
Posted by Sean Moores at August 11, 2009 1:08 PM

The Big Surprise Tour
Charlottesville (Va.) Pavilion
Aug. 9, 2009

The Big Surprise Tour, a caravan composed of Justin Townes Earle, The Felice Brothers, Dave Rawlings Machine and Old Crow Medicine Show, rolled into Charlottesville Pavilion on Sunday night brimming with the promise of delivering a top-notch trip through the gamut of American roots music. Four hours later, the revue had more than lived up to its potential. It’s safe to say that The Big Surprise Tour is one of the best packages of the year. And it’s unlikely that concertgoers are going to find a better bargain, an added bonus in this turbulent economy.

The bang-for-the-bucks aspect of the show was on display from the start. The musicians gathered onstage and opened with the Felice Brothers song from which the tour drew its name, “The Big Surprise.” As the tune’s intensity built, so did the feeling that this would be a night on which great and unexpected things would be possible. (Though given the collection of talent, they might not be all that surprising.)

The stage quickly cleared save for Earle, his multi-instrumentalist sidekick Cory Younts and Old Crow’s Morgan Jahnig (acoustic bass), Ketch Secor (fiddle) and Gill Landry (pedal steel and dobro), who launched into Earle’s “They Killed John Henry,” from his recent release, “Midnight at the Movies.” Musicians came and went as Earle delivered an energetic set heavy on honky-tonk and folksy showmanship. An early highlight of the night featured back-to-back harmonica workouts by Younts on “South Georgia Sugar Babe” and “Halfway to Jackson.”

The camaraderie and collaborative spirit that brought these groups together were on display throughout the night. Younts, Landry and James Felice, who was the reigning keyboardist in tow, appeared frequently onstage, and each of the musicians showed up during sets other than their own. These groups clearly were kindred spirits, and their enthusiasm for performing was infectious.

Next up were the Felice Brothers, who share more with The Band than their Woodstock, N.Y., locale. Much of their material has a timeless quality, walking the line between the old, weird America of Bob Dylan and The Band’s “Basement Tapes” and more current settings and themes. They maintained the energy Earle brought to the proceedings with their rollicking, accordion-driven “Frankie’s Gun!” and the unreleased “White Limousine.”

After a brief intermission, Dave Rawlings Machine, the duo of Gillian Welch and longtime musical partner Rawlings, slowed some of the tempos a bit but gave a performance that was nonetheless intense. As the name implies, the focus is on Rawlings, and the pair relied on covers and Rawlings compositions rather than Welch’s impressive catalog. The set-opening “I Hear Them All,” which was co-written with Old Crow’s Ketch Secor and Willie Watson, segued seamlessly into and out of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land. (“I wrote everything but the really good part in the middle,” Rawlings quipped.) Rawlings and Welch’s voices blended nicely, as always, and Rawlings’ articulate picking and cascading notes from his small archtop gave ample evidence that he is a criminally underrated guitarist. Other highlights from their set included a pairing of Bright Eyes’ “Method Acting” and Neil Young’s “Cortez the Killer,” Jesse Fuller’s (by way of the Grateful Dead) “The Monkey and the Engineer” and a set-closing cover of Bob Dylan’s “Queen Jane Approximately.”

Old Crow Medicine Show, for all intents and purposes the night’s headliner, followed Rawlings and Welch with a mostly pedal-to-the-metal set that included crowd favorites “Hard to Tell,” “Minglewood Blues” and “Mary’s Kitchen.” The members of OCMS lived up to their name and reputation, playing with the intensity of an old-time revival. This time, they had lots of help.

The entire entourage returned to round out the evening. Earle led the group in his cover of The Replacements’ “Can’t Hardly Wait,” which lent itself to The Big Surprise Tour’s large chorus. The Felice Brothers next moved to the front with “Chicken Wire,” from their latest effort, “Yonder is the Clock.” Welch’s many, many fans in attendance cheered in delight when she and Rawlings kicked off her “Look at Miss Ohio.”

The only real misstep of the night followed, when the assemblage attempted to tackle the Traveling Wilburys’ “End of the Line.” Most of the singers were working from written-down lyrics, and a few stumbled over their lines. The changes from microphone to microphone led to uneven sound and at times no vocals at all. But their hearts were in the right places, and as Otis Wilbury (aka Jeff Lynne) sang on the original recording, “the best we can do is forgive.”

The encore featured two selections from the Old Crow songbook: “Tell it to Me” and “Wagon Wheel,” which has become a modern roots-music standard. The singalong, both onstage and off, spoke volumes about how music brings people together. One can only hope that these groups bring themselves, and us, together for future tours.

The Duke and the King The Basement in Nashville

http://www.americansongwriter.com/2009/08/...e-tenn-8112009/

The Duke and the King @ The Basement, Nashville, Tenn. 8/11/2009
Posted by Caine ORear on August 11th, 2009

The Duke and the King play The Basement, Nashville. Aug. 10, 2009

Before launching into “Union Street” at The Basement Monday night, Simone Felice of the Duke and the King said the song recalled a time when Genesis and Cyndi Lauper ruled his headphones.

The tune, which is off the band’s new album Nothing Gold Can Stay, revisits the singer’s first romance with rock ‘n’ roll –and everything that goes with it. On the streets of Brooklyn, the young Felice craves MTV, pops pills and perhaps gets fresh with a friend’s drug-addicted mom. Ah, sweet bird of youth.

The Duke and the King is the new project of Simone Felice, formerly of the Felice Brothers, and Robert “Chicken” Burke (George Clinton, Sweet Honey in the Rock). The band’s debut album, released Aug. 4 on Ramseur Records, has garnered critical reviews here and abroad.

Themes of loss and transience permeate the record. (In an open letter to fans, Felice said the songs were inspired by the loss of his baby girl, penned during the winter of his discontent, in the wilds of upstate New York). But where the Felice Brothers recall a dusty jug band from the old, weird America, the Duke and the King are mellow and introspective, moving to the R&B grooves of the man they call “Chicken.”

Live, the band amps it up a notch. Monday’s show featured the drumming of Nowell “The Deacon” Haskins, an ex-preacher from New Jersey with a heap of Northern soul, and a Wu-Tang shirt to boot. Electric violin rounded out the lineup.

On stage, the Duke and the King exude an easy, loose vibe that lightens the often dark subject matter. All told, it’s a show not to be missed.–Caine O’Rear

Big Surprise: Philly

The Delaware Online

With a show stacked with American roots acts — Old Crow Medicine Show, the Dave Rawlings Machine featuring Gillian Welch, The Felice Brothers and Justin Townes Earle — a guided tour of country, blues and old time music was expected at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia Friday night.

So after nearly four hours of music and with all four acts on the stage for a show-stopping encore, you might expect a sing-a-long to Bob Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released” or maybe Neil Young’s “Helpless,” no?

Instead, the familiar driving beat of Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” filled the converted warehouse for a ramshackle tribute to the King of Pop — a tribute that included Gilliam Welch singing a verse, along with the elder statesman tour, her longtime collaborator, Rawlings.

It was a fitting end to a marathon night of music, dubbed “The Big Surprise Tour,” that celebrated all types of American music with Earle, son of Americana hero Steve Earle, opening the night with a set of retro honky tonk tunes, winning over the crowd with his “Revenge of the Nerds” look, complete with too-short white pants and matching white shoes.

Earle sounded like a country star from the ’50s as he sang the songs from his first two albums — nothing like the current roster of pop products that reside on the top of the country charts. The lanky Earle made the most out of his 30-minute set, which included visits from a rotating cast of musicians from the tour, something that happened throughout the night.


Earle’s pleasant opening led us to a high-powered triple threat, starting with The Felice Brothers and their raucous set of controlled chaos with band members crashing into one another, letting the stage show sometimes overshadow their music.

Just like with the Michael Jackson song, the Felices are not what you might expect. Sure, they are an emerging Americana act, but their fiddle/washboard player, Greg Farley, was found on this night wearing a sideways New York Yankees hat and a plain white t-shirt as he acted as the band’s hype man in between songs. As he leaned over the lip of the stage rapping about how the crowd should “shake it,” Farley looked more like a member of 50 Cent’s crew, minus the fiddle and washboard, of course.

Still, the band is grounded by the otherworldly voice of lead singer Ian Felice, whose lyrics and tone hearken back to the The Band’s time at Big Pink, near where the Felice Brothers are also from. Not only did the singer — think of a more gravelly Paul Westerberg on “Stereo” — score on songs like “Frankie’s Gun” and “Penn Station,” his childlike circular runs while playing guitar were especially endearing considering the band’s groggy bassist, Christmas, seemed a bit lost as a whirlwind of activity surrounded him.

After a 20 minute intermission, out came the Dave Rawlings Machine with Welch taking an unusual backseat to her longtime guitarist/producer Rawlings.

Rawlings leaned mostly on songs he co-wrote for others and cover songs for his 50-minute set, including some real gems. “I Hear Them All,” which appears on Old Crowd Medicine Show’s “Big Iron,” included. Towards the end, the song melted into Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land,” one of several nods to the tour’s musical forefathers, which also included a Rawlings/Welch collaboration on Young’s “Cortez the Killer.”

Rawlings’ slowed take on “To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High),” which he co-wrote with Ryan Adams for Adams’ 2000 solo debut, “Heartbreaker,” was a great surprise, especially with Welch’s singing in the background.

But it was their expansive version of Dylan’s “Queen Jane Approximately” with Benmont Tench, a founding member of Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers, on organ that made for the night’s best musical moment. The combination Tench’s organ solo with Rawlings’ unique guitar work brought the song closer to a transcendent Grateful Dead version of the song than the version Dylan sings these days. (Tench sat in with all acts throughout the night, which was a welcomed surprise.)

By the time Old Crow Medicine Show came on stage, the crowd was already more than 2-1/2 hours into the concert. But the fan base for the old time string band is as dedicated as they come, dancing early to “Humdinger,” with Felice’s Farley sitting in on fiddle, and “Alabama High-Test.”

“This little number is straight out of Delaware — straight out of the gritty streets of Wilmington,” joked OCMS singer/fiddle player Ketch Secor before the traditional “Poor Man,” a song that ushered in a taste of Depression-era music from the band, including “C.C. Rider,” bringing the ghost of blues/folk Leadbelly into the mix.

Soon, the stage was full with 15 musicians as the four acts came together to close out the night. After the Jackson tribute, Earle took the lead on The Replacements’ “Can’t Hardly Wait” and Welch finally came to the front and sang “Look at Miss Ohio,” one of her own songs.

But as expected, the musical revue did come down to a Dylan sing-a-long.

Well, sort of.

OCMS dug out their greatest hit, “Wagon Wheel,” which includes long-discarded lyrics from Dylan. With Rawlings and Welch, early mentors of OCMS, mingling with the newest generation of their inherited musical movement, they sang with one voice, taking the crowd through one last journey through the past: “Rock me mama like the wind and the rain/Rock me mama like a southbound train/
Hey, mama rock me.”

The Owl and the Bear: Poetic Memory with Simone Felice

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

Birmingham Box Set: Carla Jean Whitley interviews Simone Felice

The Duke and The King

The Duke and the King. Photo: Dave Herron.

Simone Felice answers the phone laughing. It’s 3 p.m. on a Thursday and he’s on the road, in a van filled with band members. “We’re getting out of New York City, which is a good feeling, and heading down South, which is an even better feeling,” he says.

Felice is en route to Chapel Hill, N.C., on tour with The Duke and the King. It’s a new project for Felice, who has already established a reputation for his songwriting and musicality in the Felice Brothers. The Duke and The King’s debut album, Nothing Gold Can Stay, was released Aug. 4 and is the featured CD in this month’s Birmingham magazine.

Felice (the Duke in this Huckleberry Finn allusion) and Robert “Chicken” Burke (the King) will play the Bottletree Café on Saturday, joined by Nowell Haskins (the Deacon) and Simi (The Dame).

Birmingham Box Set: How did this project come to be?

Simone Felice: It was a real sort of natural thing how it all came together. Me and Robert were recording some songs. At that time, in the winter, my long-time girl and I lost our baby in a late miscarriage. It was really sad. It made me rethink everything I’m doing in life and I got inspired to write these new songs. There’s a lot of new songs that are inspired from the healing of that tragedy.

It just came out that we sort of naturally made this record without even thinking about it. My brothers and I are totally supportive of each other, and they came out to the first night of the tour of The Duke and The King and did some songs with us.

We’re rolling down the river and our paths will converge. It’s just a part of that big river of life.

BBS: You know, this album really encompasses those emotions. There are moments of sadness, but hope shines through.

SF: Very great observation. That’s what we hoped it would feel like, a balance of sorrow and joy, which is what life is all about.

It’s universal. Sorrow is universal. Everyone knows that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. I think in our life, music has been one of those things that helps us to see that light at the end of the tunnel. Music, lyrics, harmony. Music is a healer, and we would hope that music would be the same thing for people, a healing force for the world.

BBS: Correct me if I’m wrong here—it’s your album, after all. But in listening to Nothing Gold Can Stay, I seem to hear a lot of the sounds of the late ’60s and the ’70s. What were your influences?

SF: We grew up listening to that music. It was all around. The Beatles records, the Stevie Wonder records, the Neil Youngs, the Parliament Funkadelic records and the Joni Mitchell records. That’s what influenced our understanding of music. … We’re lucky enough to live in a time where we can hear that music and be inspired.

BBS: Inevitably, there are comparisons to the Felice Brothers. You’ve stepped to the front on The Duke and the King. What’s that been like for you?

SF: Both roles are an honor for me to be a part of, and have been an honor for me to be part of. With this album, I got to really try my own stuff and the story of my man Robert and me in the winter and sort of dealing with heartache and love and all that comes along with life. It’s a really nice vehicle to be able to tell a more personal story, which I hope would hope to be a universal story too. A lot of work on this new album is autobiographical. It’s a nice change, you know.

We’re working on having a harmony band [with the addition of Nowell Haskins and their friend Simi, both of whom will be at the Birmingham show]. We want to be a vocal band, which to me is my favorite kind of band. … A lot of vocals, trading back and forth and all singing together. It’s my favorite kind of music. With this band I get to explore that in another way.

BBS: What’s ahead for The Duke and the King?

SF: We’re doing a ramble with Levon Helm … which is a big honor. You know Levon Helm from The Band. He has a special show at his house, in his barn, and we got asked to do one in November.

The Duke and the King will continue to tour in the United States, Europe and Australia, but you can catch them Saturday night at Bottletree Café. Tickets are $10 and available by calling 533-6288 or online at thebottletree.com. Duquette Johnston will open the show, and doors are set to open at 8 p.m.

You’ll also hear Felice’s drumming on “I and Love and You,” the title track on the upcoming album from the Avett Brothers. This winter, he’ll return to the studio with The Duke and the King to record the band’s second album.

The Duke and the King at the Local 506 Chapel Hill North Carolina

the duke & the king @ local 506, originally uploaded by minervacat.

Simone Felice asked me last night if shep. and I worked for Rolling Stone. No, baby, I don’t, but if you know somebody I’ll take an intro.

He was polite, funny, and charming; he played everything off the new album I wanted to hear plus “Radio Song” and “Don’t Wake The Scarecrow”; he hugged us good-bye. And that set — that might have been the best set I’ll see all year. Holy fucking shit, that was amazing.

Frankies Gun from Beacon Theater

From Sean at dontwakethescarecrow.com

a little gift from Woodstock

Ephman.com: Big Surprise review from The Beacon Theater

http://www.ephman.com/

This show was being billed basically as an Old Crow Medicine Show show. But wow it was just so much more, way much more. And yah it lived up to the real title for the event. It was The Big Surprise. Actually the biggest surprise came from the newly renovated Beacon Theatre security. THEY WERE ALL OVER. This classic New York City concert venue used to be so chill... but no more. People were getting hasselled by the man all over. Even for dancing in the aisle during the encore. Beacon you now so totally suck!

Anyways Ephman was only able to scam one really good video. And actually it's with everybody pretty much from the show on stange. So enjoy it might just be a rare one.

If you don't know who Justin Townes Earle is, his lastname should be a hint. His dad is Steve. But Justin is in a world of his own. He came out and started singing songs off his new album Midnight At The Movies. He just sort of reminds Ephman of one of those 1930's Grand Ole Opry singers. He looks so awkward standing there with his body slanted to the audience, but that's the charm. You really must get a chance to see him live one day. Great stuff, and totally not living in his dad's shawdow.

Local NYC boys The Felice Brothers hit the stage next. Oh it should be mentioned that this concert was more like a review type of show. With bands all intermixing and everything. It was like a country orgy. In any event they cats came dressed in NY Yankee shirts and hats. And came ready to "rock out". They moved all over the place. The Felice Brothers in a weird way can be kind of summed up as the Beastie Boys, meet The Band, meet Bob Dylan, meet cajun. They really do jam well, and were super tight. Totally awesome to have the washboard pulled out and smashed against the cymbals. Nice.

Ephman's personal fav of the evening was Dave Rawlings Machine with Gillian Welch. That combo was just so angelic for the evening. He's never seen either play. And was so totally blown away by both Dave's guitar picking, his voice, and the selection of songs they played. Let's just say it was so special that Bob Dylan's Queen Jane Approximately not only stole the show, but could be one of the best covers Ephman has ever seen performed live. That's a big thing. Ephman's been to hundreds and hundreds of concerts. The crowd responded by simultaneously jumping up for a standing ovation. Oh can't forget the only women on the stage for the night. Gillian, you have the sweetest voice. Enough said on that, you just needed to be there.

Finally the bid draw of the evening Old Crow Medicine Show. They hit that stage already warmed up from playing with all the other acts during the evening and they were on fire. They have to one of the hottest bluegrass bands around today. Ephman has seen some really amazing bluegrass. Remember Del McCoury Band playing an all accoustic show at Carnegie Hall WITHOUT AMPLIFICATION!!! But Old Crow Medicine Show is a different beast. From the double banjo, to the crazy mouth organ playing, these guys must be totally exhausted now. This band runs all around the stage. Super energetic. The only downside to their set was the crowd. Shame on you crowd. They have a great sound to get up and dance to. The crowd was on their butts for most of the set (from where Ephman was sitting). If you're not familiar with this band, and Ephman expects the vast majority of you don't. See them. They are way better live then on disc.

Kitty's Report from Boston

Hey all - - Jumpin' Bean and I went up to the NH and and the Boston show. HUGE improvement between the two nights!! Close to a full four hours. 20 of the voodoo screenprint poster signed by everyone available at each show for $50. In Boston, they were also running a silent auction of a signed FB drumhead.... don't know much about that. And since Bean isn't around to spill the beans.... yes, there is a CD (she got 13/100). Called Mix Tape. Maybe up to 12 songs. Trying to recall from memory and since I am fairly new to FB, you will have to forgive I can't recall them all....White Limo was on there.... Marlboro Man, and she was super excited about Marie.

Over on the Old Crow forum, there are a lot of links to blogs and such, and in general the reception to the FB hasn't been great. That is too bad... they bring a lot of energy to the show and it was really great to see Ian and Farley learning from Dave and Ketch on stage in Boston. I mean - they are different from the other acts with their dissonant chords, the electric instruments, and drums - but they are a great addition to the line-up and all the folks around us in Boston were like WOW - Who was that again?!??!! Oh well, different strokes for different folks... I personally didn't enjoy the Dave Rawlings Machine until other folks joined in a livened it up a bit. Slight downer after FB set left the crowd so high. Also, everyone did switch up their sets from the previous night in NH.... except Dave and Gillian. They had a lot of fans in the crowd though - - -

The new drummer Dave played more in NH.... he played like one song with FB in Boston and then sorta disappeared for the rest of the evening. Here goes my attempt at the set list and side notes for the whole show (spoiler alert for anyone who really wants it to be a surprise!!) ....

Big Surprise (FB lead, everyone on stage)
JTE and Cory:
Ordinary Fool (w/ Ketch on fiddle, Morgan on Bass, and Gill on pedal steel.. oh so nice!)
Bye Bye Baby (new fave)
I think I missed a song here.....
Gospel Tune of some sort with OCMS and FB in the 'choir'

Felice Brothers:
Marlboro Man
White Limo (w/ new drummer Dave)
Frankie's Gun (Ketch joins on tambourine, Willie on electric ~ 1/2 through, back to Searcher on drums)
Whiskey (Willie on Guitar, Gill on tam and sang a verse of his own)
New song about a race car driver
Run Chicken Run (Willie on electric)
Farley's Song
Penn Station
Take This Bread (everyone)

SET BREAK

David Rawlings Machine: (Thanks to our new Winnipeg friends that helped me with these!!)
I Hear Them All -> This Land is Your Land (3 verses) -> I Hear Them All
Sweet Tooth
Thank You Friend (?)
Cortez the Killer
Ruby (Benmont, Willie, Ketch, Kevin & Morgan)
It's Too Easy (same as above, David switches to banjo)
Bells of Harlan (Benmont and Morgan)
Monkey and the Engineer (above with Willie and Ketch on harmonica and taking the low notes in harmony)
Queen Jane (big crowd hit)
---stage clears for maybe two minutes

OCMS:
Rubens Train (did Willie take lead vocals on this?)
Humdinger
Hard to Love
AHT (Benmont joins on keys, Searcher on drums)
Crazy Eyes (Ketch sings lead and Willie thanks him, Benmont stays on stage through the end)
Caroline (Ketch on banjo, James on accordion)
Minglewood (David joins on electric, Cory on mando... hotter and wilder than the night before!!)
Down Home Girl (same as above with James on keys)
Mary's Kitchen (everyone on stage till the end - - Willie breaks string, David on electric, Farley on washboard, Jame and Benmont on organ)
Helen Fry (FB song, Gill on pedal steel)
Miss Ohio (Gillian lead - on electric maybe?... Gill on pedal steel, searcher on drums.. another crowd fave)
Can't Hardly Wait (JTE lead, Cory mando, Gill still on pedal steel, David on harmonica)
Wagon Wheel (everyone still on stage, Gillian singing great harmonies, David on electric... ketch breaks string and hardly gets out the last bars of the song)

ENCORE
Long Way to the Top (David on lead, Cory on drums, Morgan on electric bass, Gillian on electric, Ketch on tam and harmonica, Searcher on drums, both organs going, guitars everywhere!)
Tell It To Me (Willie breaks another string and switches to electric, Cory back on mando)

a Boisterous Hoedown: Boston Globe review

The big noise in Boston Wednesday night may have been coming from the confines of Fenway Park where Sir Paul McCartney was holding court, but across the street at the House of Blues, the musical friends who comprise the “Big Surprise Tour’’ were making some noise of their own.
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BIG SURPRISE TOUR

With Old Crow Medicine Show, the David Rawlings Machine, the Felice Brothers, Justin Townes Earle

At: House of Blues, Wednesday

They served notice that this was going to be no ordinary, self-contained “headliner and supporting acts’’ performance right from the get-go, when everyone involved - Old Crow Medicine Show (the putative top-billed act), Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, the Felice Brothers, and Justin Townes Earle - assembled to open the show with a booming version of the Felice Brothers song that has given the tour its name.

What followed was a gigantic collaboration loosely organized into individual sets, all of the performers swapping in and out, lending vocal and instrumental colors, covering one another’s songs, and in general appearing to have a raucous good time along with a delirious capacity crowd.

Earle began with a trio of songs that, with the assistance of the straight steel of Old Crow’s Gill Landry, were eerie in their evocation of the great Hank Williams. He ended with a gospel number on which the Felice Brothers joined him to provide chorus and claps.

Then the Brothers, calling on spirits from the Band to Bruce Springsteen to the Pogues (and, later, in the evening’s closing stretch, even a hint of Pink Floyd), brought some rootsy, unkempt, careening rock that reached a fever pitch with the as-yet unrecorded “White Limousine.’’

Welch and Rawlings brought a surprise of their own: playing as the David Rawlings Machine, he’s stepping forward vocally for the first time. Along with their precise, substantial songs and notable covers, and Rawlings’s always-phenomenal picking, the results were as mesmerizing as usual. Midway through their performance, there was another big surprise: Benmont Tench, of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers fame, walked onstage and lent his talents for the rest of the evening. When he added his best Al Kooper-esque rolling organ licks to the pair’s extended version of Bob Dylan’s “Queen Jane Approximately,’’ it was the most incendiary moment of the night.

Old Crow followed with a mix of its new-old-time ballads (a beautiful “Caroline’’) and stompers (“Alabama High-Test’’), before being joined again by their compadres to roar through their hit “Wagon Wheel.’’ And after 3 1/2 hours, with an encore that featured AC/DC’s “It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Want to Rock and Roll’’), this glorious, sprawling, ramshackle affair staggered to a close

Long Way to the Top (ACDC Cover) from Boston and setlist

* Big Surprise with everyone
* Marlboro Man
* White Limo
* Frankie's Gun (Ian totally got lost and ended up singing the second verse twice instead of the third verse)
* Whiskey
* slow down little john
* Run Chicken Run
* Farley song (the one for his grandfather)
* Penn Station
* Take this Bread
* Helen Fry

Encore:
Its a Long way To the Top (If You Want to Rock and Roll)

taken from the blog
Divine Comedy of Errors
a blog about nothing
Concert Review: The Big Surprise Tour

Last night, I went to the House of Blues to check out The Big Surprise Tour, a bluegrass-themed show with four acts: Justin Townes Earle, The Felice Brothers, the Dave Rawlings Machine featuring Gillian Welch, and Old Crow Medicine Show. Each act played their own set and were eventually joined on stage by the rest of the performers, so a lot of the show was essentially Gillian Welch and Thirteen Dudes. I hadn't been to the House of Blues before, and basically, it's a roomier verison of Avalon. I was kind of surprised that they tour down the Avalon and Axis and spent a year to build something that looks... just live Avalon.

The show opened up with Justin Townes Earle (the son of Steve Earle), who played a fun, high energy bluegrass set. His act had a timeless quality- the tall, lanky Earle, dressed in a suit and performing traditional Americana music would seem just at home on a Kentucky stage in the 1950s as he was in Boston in 2009. He clearly relishes being on stage, in a good way- he chats with the crowd and brings other musicians into the fold with ease.

The Felice Brothers came on next, and although I like some of their songs, they didn't meld well into the lineup- their music was by far the most indie of the night, and the slower songs zapped the energy from the crowd. It didn't help that there was a long break after their set. They did have an cool accordian player and an entertaingly spazzy violist/washboardist.

Next up was Dave Rawlings with Gillian Welch, and they were great! The king and queen of modern bluegrass, Rawlings totally rips on guitar and his voice blends perfectly with Gillian's. I had never seen either one live before and was very impressed. They played a relatively short set, but did come back on stage at the end.

Old Crow Medicine Show were last to perform, although all of their members had appeared with the previous acts. Led by fiddler and vocalist Keith Sector (in absurdly tight jeans), they played a set filled with their trademark old-time string band music. And oh yes, the crowd went nuts for their final song, Wagon Wheel. I'll never get tired of that song. At the end of the night, all of the musicians returned to the stage for the encore, which included Gillian finally getting in the spotlight with "Look at Miss Ohio" and an fantastic group cover of ACDC's "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock N Roll)." Overall, it was a great night of bluegrass music and a chance to see a multitude of talented performers.

The Big Surprise : tour debut Hampton Beach

The Big Surprise (all bands)
Marlboro Man
White limo
Tenderly
Goddamn you jim
Greatest show
Ahab
Lawrence County ( with keith from ocms)
Farley Song
Run Chicken
Stephens End
Take this bread
With all bands:
Like a hurricane
Helen Fry
I'll fly away
Wagon wheel
Tell it to me

Searcher played on everyones songs and switched with dave on the felice set.

.
Great show. More later. All acts were great. Venue was average.

All out at first for Big Surprise

Then Townes Earle played. Friggin awesome. Highlights were Mamas Eyes and What do You Do When you're Lonesome. Played about thirty minutes, Searcher on drums.

Felice Brothers next. Dave on drums, searcher dancing and harmonies. Tenderly was great. Take This Bread with all Bands , left crowd buzzing. Ian has never been better. You can see the future of the band with Ian freed up to display great Showmanship.(fingers crossed horn section)

Crowd was predominately ocms fans.. Musta been couple thousand people there.

Dave Rawlings and Gillian Welch next. Very good. Lots of fans up there. Searcher again playing some drums
Highlights were I Hear Them All and Novocaine.

Ocms were next. Played a great set, highlights were Poor man and Caroline. Then all came out on stage for next bunch of songs until Searcher joined Dave R and Gillian and Ocms for a replacements cover to close the show.

The Duke and the king at the Chapel in Philly

Two of the best shows I've seen in 2009 have been by The Duke & the King, the Huck Finn-inspired duo of Simone Felice (The Duke, walking down the aisle on the right) and Robert "Chicken" Burke (The King on the left). Back in June they played in Teenage Kicks blogger Trip McClatchy's back yard in Havertown, and last night the upstate New York tandem came back to town for a sold-out show at Frank Furness' tiny jewel box Chapel at the First Unitarian Church, of which Felice said "there couldn't be a more beautiful place in the country to play." The duo's Ramseur Records debut album, Nothing Good Can Stay - my review is here - comes out today, and it's full of fragile, beautiful, tough-minded songs, stripped of any excessive ornamentation. At the Chapel, Felice talked about how listening to Run-DMC in third grade taught him about Harriet Tubman, and said he was "sweating like a whore in Church," as he made his way through spiritual inquiries like "Union Street," which takes place "in the part of town Jesus forgot." With significant assistance from the Deacon - Nowell Haskins - they opened the show with a haunted version of "The Devil Is Real," which started in the kitchen before it made it to the altar.

-Philadelphia Inquirer Blog

The Duke and the King at Club Passim 8/2/09 "Special Night"

If you ever get famous
Scarecrow
Summer mornin rain
Simone talking about a 11 hour van ride last week
Morning I get to hell
Suzanne (after a bit of maneater by Hall and Oates)
Mercy
Devil is real
Waterspider
Union st
I've been bad
American song
Radio song

Great night, acoustic show with friend Simmie providing electric Violin. The Deacon wins MVP with a sterling performance under great duress. vocals were damaged in previous nights debauchery on stage at the Colony Cafe.

The Duke and the King Nominated for Uncut Award

Happy Friday night folks, very happy to report that “Nothing Gold Can Stay” by The Duke and The King has been included in the longlist for this year’s Uncut Music Award.

There are 25 albums chosen by Uncut journalists that appear on the longlist that will be put forward to an esteemed panel for judging, it will be announced in the November issue of Uncut on sale 30th September. The panelists are yet to be announced but many of the panelists from last year will be returning. The 2008 panel included; Peter Hook, Tony Wadsworth and Mark Radcliffe. Also last years winner Fleet Foxes will be invited to join the judging panel this year.

So congratulations Duke, King, Deacon and all involved.


-Loose Music

The Sun: Simone Felice interview

Feature: The Sun met The Duke & The King
29th July, 2009

in The Duke & The King

Simone Felice grew up with brothers Ian and James in the shadow of the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York. Their surroundings were rugged, uncompromising and beautiful. Music ran in the three boy’s veins. They formed a band called, not surprisingly, The Felice Brothers, a kind of hillbilly Kings Of Leon.

The music could be both fast and loose or slow and tender, their songs imbued with the spirit of The Band and Neil Young. Simone played the drums, guitar and occasionally sang lead vocals. They began busking in the subway stations of New York and success came along as sure as the D train. A string of albums, intoxicating mixes of rabble-rousing hoe-downs and heart-wrenching ballads, cemented their reputation as modern keepers of the Americana flame.

But sometimes life takes a terrible fateful turn. Last winter, Simone and his partner lost their first child and he decided it was time for a life-changing rethink. He left the band of brothers and threw all his energy into a new project, The Duke & The King, which took its name from characters in Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. With musical soulmate Robert “Chicken” Burke, Simone has crafted Nothing Gold Can Stay, one of the year’s most heartfelt releases, with third member Nowell Haskins completing the mix. The sound is more polished than The Felice Brothers, like an eerily convincing throwback to the west Coast sounds of Joni Mitchell or James Taylor. The lyrics are poetic, confessional, autobiographical and sharply observed with wistful opener If You Ever Get Famous setting the tone.

Here, Simone Tells his story

Was it tough leaving The Felice Brothers to start this project?
Yes, but after my baby died a lot of things came clear to me, the course of my life and the poetry I needed to make.

Were the others upset by your move?
Me and the boys love each other very much, it’s the kind of live I imagine Navy men share in a U-Boat, and one of out codes is to support each other’s ideas and visions. It’s a lucky thing to have.

Do you imagine rejoining them sometime ?
I’m sure we’ll come together again one fine day, it’s a long road ahead.

How did you get to know Robert?
We met over ten years ago and became fast friends. He helped my brothers and I with our first recordings. Bob and I would sit around a fire and write songs nobody would ever hear and laugh and watch birds (a particular hawk) by the water and dream up one-act plays and all sorts of weird ideas. We made each other feel like kids.

How come a hip-hop guy got to mix and master the album?
Bassy Bob (Brockmann) is a genius, a man who went from making $20,000-a-song and living in the posh Manhattan music biz world in the Nineties with Puff Daddy and Biggie, to living in a basement in the roughest part of Brooklyn and barely being able to keep his electric on, all because he denounced the big-money major label illusion and got back to his roots. We spent a month with him in his basement mixing this album. He’s got very special ears. He grew up in New Orleans where his father was a pianist in bars.

Do you feel a lot more responsibility now you’re the main singer in a band?
I had a punk band I used to front when I was a kid. We’d skip school and get high and go and play a week nights at the CBGB club around the time Nirvana had just come out and Fugazi was god.

Then for eight or nine years before my brother sand I started our band, I was a traveling poet, a bit of a gipsy loser reading every night on a different microphone by myself, nervous and awkward at first. But time and trial and error helped me get rid of the shakes. So it’s been a pretty natural to make this change.

Why did you name yourselves after the characters from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?
Mark Twain is one of my heroes. He was a rebel. We love rebels, art that comes from a real and raw place, not afraid to tell the truth. This book was a revolution to America when it was printed, a young Southern white boy making best friends with a runaway slave. Who ever heard of such a thing?!

Who’s the Duke and who’s the King?
I’m the Duke and Bob’s the King and Nowell Haskins is Black Jim. Or the Deacon. That’s the nucleus of the band. (PS: All of these titles would not hold up under royal scrutiny. Off with out heads!)

Did recording in the wood in New Yorks’ Bearsville affect the songs?
It was deep Catskill winter so there was two feet of snow outside. It was cold and beautiful. It was very silent and I’ve found silence to be the finest environment for writing.

Could you cope with being really famous?
I was born at home in a creek in the mountains. I heat my home with a wood stove, grow a garden, hunt deer, read a lot of books. I grew up that way, simple, and that’s how I’d like it to stay, however the dice lands.

And how is your past like reflected in music?
The Album does a lot of looking back, trying to make sense of where all the time has gone, the dreams. So growing up in my poor little mountain town, north up the river from the city, features heavily in the themes. That’s where I first fell in love, first heard Led Zeppelin on the radio, first got high on music (and other things), first learned about violence and magic.

What’s YOUR American dream?
That someday we’ll learn to trade the handshake for the fist, the fiddle for the drum.

Duke and the king at the Colony Cafe (Mercy Review)

Colony Cafe
Woodstock NY
August 1, 2009

New band member Simmie played three songs before the band came out, first on electric violin, next two on acoustic guitar.

The Morning I Get to Hell
The Devil is Real
If You Ever Get Famous
Don't Wake the Scarecrow
Suzanne
I've Been Bad
Union Street
Your Belly in My Arms
Angels in Heaven
Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me) [cover of the Temptations song]
Mercy
Radio Song
----
Long May You Run (Simone said that it was written for a car, but he was singing it for his brothers, with Ian, James, and Claire Felice, Christmas, & Farley joining him on stage!, written by Neil Young)
Two Hands (with Ian on guitar, and Christmas on bass)
Radio Song (again) (with Pete on Sax, sung by Ian, James, the Deacon, and, last verse only, Simone)
Still Remember Love
One More American Song

Simmie played electric violin on Scarecrow, Suzanne (intense jam with Chicken at end), Mercy, Long May You Run, possibly others.

Simone was surprised to see the Felice Brothers band in the audience -- he was not expecting them.

thanks to Mercy again for on the spot account of a local show.

The Big Surprise

By Christopher Hislop
July 30, 2009 6:00 AM

Musicians talk about doing things all the time, but it's usually hard to make it happen," said Justin Townes Earle in a recent phone conversation about the upcoming "Big Surprise Tour," happening at the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom on Aug. 4.

"You think, 'that would be great,' you voice, 'yeah, right...;' and then you move on to the next thing. But this time, it worked out. I got a phone call from my management and told 'em, 'I'll be there.'"
WHAT The Big Surprise Tour featuring Old Crow Medicine Show, Dave Rawlings Machine with Gillian Welch, The Felice Brothers and Justin Townes Earle

WHEN Tuesday, Aug. 4, 8 p.m.

WHERE Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom, Ocean Boulevard, Hampton Beach

COST $30

CONTACT 929-4100, www.casinoballroom.com

All of the acts on "the Big Surprise tour" — Headliners Old Crow Medicine Show, Dave Rawlings Machine (featuring Gillian Welch), Earle, and the Felice Brothers are connected in some mutual way and are reveling in the fact that they'll be able to take the stage together in somewhat of an impromptu performance of artists and friends, where collaboration and the celebration of roots music will be the name of the game. Said artists will play a smattering of their own original material, as well as covers of each other's tunes, and beyond.

"We wanted to start a big rocking band with a bunch of good friends, and play all summer long," said Ketch Secor of Old Crow. "A lot of summer packages (concert bills) are way over the top and range widely and wildly stylistically, so we wanted to keep it somewhat simple, in that we could all climb on stage as one ...; all 15 (or whatever it is) of us, and in a fury of spontaneity, get the place rollicking! I can tell you one thing, we'll all be grinning. It's going to be a blast."

Secor and his bandmates are the "linchpin" behind all of the connections on the tour. They've played many a night at dive bars with Earle, traveling around with him a few years back on what they dubbed "the Dirt-bag tour." Which, according to Earle was "a long, long raucous tour that lasted nine straight weeks. Was a great time...;"

Old Crow have also spent some time with the Felice Brothers on tour, partying into the wee hours of the new day, throwing dice and gambling their money away in a game that the Brothers adopted called "3's."

"Heck, I think I'm doing it more for the dice throwing than anything," joked James Felice of the Felice Brothers. "It's gonna be a real fun time (musically), and I got to build on the $50 I pulled away from the guys in Old Crow the last time we got together."

Earle met Dave Rawlings and Gillian Welch while on tour with his Dad (Steve Earle) in the Northeast years ago. While Secor (who has about a four-year window in his life where he was a part of our own Seacoast, N.H. community and played a gig or two at the Friendly Toast ...; Claims he learned how to play banjo here as well) states that he first met Rawlings and Welch when they played the "Town Hall" in Portsmouth.

"Heck I can't even remember who they were opening for, they were so good," Secor said. (He would later admit that they were opening for David Grisman).

Earle and the fellas in Old Crow became friends when the band moved "down to Nashville about 10 years ago," said Earle, who was residing in Nashville at the time.

The music that all of these bands are creating in their young careers is steeped in the American roots tradition.

"We all share a fascination with older music," said Earle. "And we're all the best practitioners out there right now."

Old Crow Medicine Show have been on the scene since 1998 and have released five full-length albums, as well as a handful of EPs and live recordings, achieving critical acclaim and mass appeal with their self-titled effort, released in 2004. "Wagon Wheel," is the big hit on that record, which most of us have heard covered countless times by bluegrass and folk acts throughout the land. Secor heard a 38-second clip of Bob Dylan singing the opening verse on an old bootleg he had picked up. He took it, and finished it (he owns co-authorship with Dylan on the tune) during his time in New Hampshire. When prompted Secor replies, "I've never met Bob Dylan, and the fortune teller told me I never would ...; so I've stopped trying." Old Crow are touring in support of their current album "Tennessee Pusher," and the upcoming DVD "Live at the Orange Peel and Tennessee Theatre," due out Aug. 18.

Dave Rawlings Machine has yet to release their debut album, but both Rawlings and Gillian Welch are very well revered in the scene, and have been around for quite some time. Welch earned a Grammy nomination for her debut album "Time (The Revelator)," which Rawlings produced, back in 2003.

The Felice Brothers have three brilliant full-length releases to their credit. Although they have not quite reached the mass appeal they deserve, it seems they'll achieve it very soon. Their current release "Yonder is the Clock," happens to be where the name of the tour comes from as the first track on the album is titled "The Big Surprise." "Yonder," was recorded in an "updated" chicken coop where the Brothers have built their studio from the money they made after the release of their self-titled album.

"The roof was rotting and the rain was dripping on our gear," said Felice. "There were tarps everywhere, so we took all our money, and renovated the place, complete with a new roof."

Earle has two records to his credit including the release he's currently touring behind "Midnight at the Movies." Earle's song writing cuts deep. The song-craft he's developed aids in helping his introspective lyrics stick with you long after you listen to them for the first time.

"This is not my music," Earle said when asked how he'd describe his work. "I'm a student of southern American roots music — anything south of the Mason Dixon, and east of the Mississippi."

All of these acts have poured their heart and souls into the music they create and all of them will undoubtedly leave you astonished and most likely winded from all the dancing you're bound to do when you catch the show at the Casino Ballroom.

For the bands, it's the tour of a lifetime. They can't wait to get together and "make the magic happen." The Hampton Beach gig is the first show of the tour, so they'll be fresh and anxious to get things cookin' quickly.

James Felice claims he doesn't know what's going to happen for sure —"hopefully the music we present will lean more towards 'harmonious,' than 'a cacophony,' he jokes.

For him, it's all about the dice, and he invites anyone who's willing to come and throw down after all is said and done.

"You gotta have a lot of one dollar bills to hang with the Felice Brothers, man," warns Secor with a laugh.

At the end of our conversation, Secor exclaims, "Hey, whatever happened to Fly Spinach Fly?" So he has been here before ...; And he'll be back with friends in tow on Aug. 4. Seriously, don't miss it. It's the event of the summer.