2008 Woodie Awards
Felice Brothers Bring Experimental Folk to IHEG
Arts Collegian
Issue date: 9/4/08 Section: News
In a Guardian interview, the fraternal Felice Brothers' drummer Simone Felice said "we like to suck a little bit." He adds, "we're like a disgusting jazz band."
While The Felice Brothers neither suck nor are a jazz band, Simone seems to have summed up the band's philosophy rather tightly. The brothers Felice (plus two unrelated friends) have entered into a brand of dirty, shambling folk, bringing their act from front porches of their small upstate New York hometown, to New York City subways, and now to the rest of the country on their U.S. fall tour.
Their tour will bring them to the Iron Horse Music Hall on Friday, Club Passim in Cambridge on Saturday, and Club Helsinki in Great Barrington on Sunday.
The Brothers hail from the town of Palenville, NY 20 minutes outside Woodstock. The fraternal three, Ian (guitar, piano, vocals), James (accordion, Hammond organ, piano, vocals), and the aforementioned Simone (drums, vocals), are joined by their friends Christmas (bass) and Farley (fiddle, washboard).
The Brothers' sound, which takes cues from fairly obvious heroes Dylan and The Band (they are rabid Levon Helm fans), makes for their largely "outlaw" appeal. Their songs tell somber tales of murder ("Frankie's Gun," "Hey Hey Revolver"), women ("Ballad of Lou the Welterweight," "Ruby Mae"), and, most importantly, drinking ("Whiskey in My Whiskey," "Where'd You Get the Liquor").
While some may feign hard childhood times, The Felice Brothers' rise to relevance has persevered through the lowest of low incomes. After singing on their father's front porch during family barbeques, the band migrated 100 miles south to rent out a flat in Brooklyn, seemingly for the sole purpose of waking up early to play in the subway. On good days, they would apparently make $200, which went immediately back into playing music.
Their first record, 2006's "Through These Reigns and Gone," brought the Brothers their first glimpse of achievement beyond whatever busking got them. The album was selected by a Woodstock radio station, WDST, as one of their top 25 albums of 2006. This self-recorded album got enough praise to warrant British label Loose Music to release their 2007 album, "Tonight at the Arizona." The album features healthy doses of country twang, sorrowful accordion, and Ian Felice's weathered vocal, which The Guardian's Amy Fleming describes as "hoarse to the point of death."
While The Felice Brothers neither suck nor are a jazz band, Simone seems to have summed up the band's philosophy rather tightly. The brothers Felice (plus two unrelated friends) have entered into a brand of dirty, shambling folk, bringing their act from front porches of their small upstate New York hometown, to New York City subways, and now to the rest of the country on their U.S. fall tour.
Their tour will bring them to the Iron Horse Music Hall on Friday, Club Passim in Cambridge on Saturday, and Club Helsinki in Great Barrington on Sunday.
The Brothers hail from the town of Palenville, NY 20 minutes outside Woodstock. The fraternal three, Ian (guitar, piano, vocals), James (accordion, Hammond organ, piano, vocals), and the aforementioned Simone (drums, vocals), are joined by their friends Christmas (bass) and Farley (fiddle, washboard).
The Brothers' sound, which takes cues from fairly obvious heroes Dylan and The Band (they are rabid Levon Helm fans), makes for their largely "outlaw" appeal. Their songs tell somber tales of murder ("Frankie's Gun," "Hey Hey Revolver"), women ("Ballad of Lou the Welterweight," "Ruby Mae"), and, most importantly, drinking ("Whiskey in My Whiskey," "Where'd You Get the Liquor").
While some may feign hard childhood times, The Felice Brothers' rise to relevance has persevered through the lowest of low incomes. After singing on their father's front porch during family barbeques, the band migrated 100 miles south to rent out a flat in Brooklyn, seemingly for the sole purpose of waking up early to play in the subway. On good days, they would apparently make $200, which went immediately back into playing music.
Their first record, 2006's "Through These Reigns and Gone," brought the Brothers their first glimpse of achievement beyond whatever busking got them. The album was selected by a Woodstock radio station, WDST, as one of their top 25 albums of 2006. This self-recorded album got enough praise to warrant British label Loose Music to release their 2007 album, "Tonight at the Arizona." The album features healthy doses of country twang, sorrowful accordion, and Ian Felice's weathered vocal, which The Guardian's Amy Fleming describes as "hoarse to the point of death."
Be the first to comment on this story