Shotguns and Chevrolets: The Felice Brothers’ Americana revival

[Jahfin]

From Encore.com:

http://encorepub.com/?cat=8

By John Pollock

Hailing from the Catskill Mountains of New York state, The Felice Brothers create music with a spirit that could have come right out of an old Western saloon or a New Orleans honky-tonk. Brothers indeed, Ian, Simone, and James Felice grew up playing music for friends and family simply because there wasn’t much else to do.

All multi-talented musicians, the brothers seemingly made good use of their time. Ian, the lead vocalist, also plays piano and guitar on a few songs. Simone holds down the rhythm on drums while adding back-up vocals and occasionally guitar. The John Paul Jones of the group is James, adding everything from fiddle and organ to accordion. Christmas, a long-time friend of the brothers and allegedly retired dice player, holds down the bass.

When questioned about the mysterious origin of their last addition to the band, James replied, “I don’t know where his name came from. And bein’ a dice-thrower, hmm, I don’t know about that either.” His tone sounds as if he were talking to a cop about the whereabouts of a troubled-but-dear friend, and perhaps this is where The Felice Brothers get so much of their charm. Their songs are narrative accounts of petty crimes, lost love and gun violence, set to a soundtrack of cheerful bar-room sing-a-longs. The result is an infectious brand of music that is pleasant in its familiarity, yet juicy and fun like a graphic novel.

The group began playing in the subways of New York City while living in a limited space also known as a Brooklyn apartment. Sometimes traveling and sleeping in a short bus, The Felice Brothers lived the kind of life that probably lent itself to their raggedy rhythms and defiantly dysfunctional lyrics. In the last refrain of “Love Me Tenderly,” a song off their upcoming self-titled release, Ian wails, “A sunny day, a shotgun and a Chevrolet/wouldn’t you like that?” The verse typifies the white trash-gentleman scholar duality ever present in their music.

After being discovered in Brooklyn by free-lance music journalist Gabe Soria, The Felice Brothers went on to tour the U.S. and the world with the likes of David Gray, Bright Eyes and Drive-By Truckers, with whom they are just about to wrap up a nationwide jaunt. This spring they are looking forward to performing at the Langerado Music Festival (R.E.M., Beastie Boys, 311 and others) March 6-9th, as well as making their first appearance at Bonnaroo (Alison Krauss and Robert Plant, Pearl Jam, Metallica and more) the second week in June.

Although frequently compared to Bob Dylan and The Band, it would be foolish to put a generic label on the brothers. Their sound is obviously inspired by the great artists of the Americana-folk tradition, but it is in no way a carbon copy of previous musical blueprints. The brothers mix in pieces of their hard-living past, colorful family history, and personal musical journeys to create music that is seamlessly studied yet all their own.

[TRB]

Methinks I'll peruse, perhaps.

[danelectro]

Great band, they are amazing live. They do sound like a lot of people though, at times it's not hard to find something in their sound you've heard before but its with great results. I just saw them open for DBT and I honestly thought the Felice Bros bested the DBT that night. Not that there was competition between the bands or that I think music should be a competition just that TFB were that amazing.

[Jahfin]

Great band, they are amazing live. They do sound like a lot of people though, at times it's not hard to find something in their sound you've heard before but its with great results. I just saw them open for DBT and I honestly thought the Felice Bros bested the DBT that night. Not that there was competition between the bands or that I think music should be a competition just that TFB were that amazing.

Thanks for the heads up. I know the DBTs crowd has really been talking them up. They were just in Wilmington, NC this week but I missed 'em. Looks like they'll be back through here soon with Justin Townes Earle though. I may have to catch them then.

[danelectro]

Thanks for the heads up. I know the DBTs crowd has really been talking them up. They were just in Wilmington, NC this week but I missed 'em. Looks like they'll be back through here soon with Justin Townes Earle though. I may have to catch them then.

Yeah don't miss it, these guys blew me away both times I saw them. I still haven't ordered any CD's though, even the indie stores here don't usually have their stuff and I was wasted when I walked out of the DBT show so I forgot to stop by the TFB merch table. In a way they are a lot like the DBT in that they have several strong songwriters in the band, they also jump around on instruments, which is probably where some of the Band comparisons come from. The drummer (Simone) is a wicked guitarist. They had a 5th member with them the second time I saw them, he played fiddle and banjo.