2008 Woodie Awards
Felice at their finest
Folk band's home-town style please crowd at Club Helsinki
Ian Nelson, Collegian Staff
Issue date: 9/9/08 Section: Arts & Living
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The Felice Brothers are a different story. They know how to bring their down-home brand of authenticity to the table.
The Felice Brothers performed at Club Helsinki in sleepy Great Barrington, MA on Sunday night, backed into a small, dark corner amid oriental lanterns and oddly appealing folk art. The Brothers were a perfect fit for the club's dim, cramped atmosphere, playing a full range of their abilities from gospels to full-on hoedowns.
Before they really got going, the quintet started things off with a love ballad.
"Uncle Jerry always said to seduce the crowd with a love song," Ian Felice (guitar) croaked as he plucked the first few notes of "Murder By Mistletoe" from their new, self-titled record.
Part of the beauty of the Felice Brothers is the description's preceding songs, which they choose to interject before nearly every number. These are brutally honest small-town survivors of drug abuse and poverty putting their experiences to song, never shying away from revealing exactly what inspires them: drink, death, love, and forgotten outlaw tales.
The Felice Brothers do not need any fancy bells or whistles to get their stories across. They perform with the bare-bones approach of a 5-piece drum kit, finger-picked guitar, bass, accordion, fiddle, washboard and the soulful yowl of their four-part harmonies.
The Brothers' second song was about the "Memphis Flu of 1929," a song the quarantined would presumably sing to each other to lift their spirits. This is the type of feeling the Felice Brothers create, music as an uplifting entity.
This extends to how they treat the audience, speaking to them as if they are one of the family. There was hardly a distinction between the stage and the dance floor as the small crowd gathered around, particularly when the bar began filling up. Newest "brother" Christmas Felice (fiddle, washboard) eventually pointed his microphone toward the audience to give them a turn to sing along.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
Darcie
posted 9/09/08 @ 10:55 AM EST
Club Helsinki always has good show and gets some good Indie bands. I am from The Berkshires and there is always good cultural stuff going on.
mal
posted 9/09/08 @ 2:53 PM EST
enjoyed your review and comments. keep an eye on FELICE BROTHERS, they are original and unique enough to make an impact
http://www.musicnewsnet.com/
Steve Davis
posted 9/11/08 @ 5:55 PM EST
Thanks for the review.
My girl and I have been fans of TFB for over a year now and we drove from Providence to Great Barrington for this show.
They never disappoint, to say the very least. (Continued…)
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