| "The Felice Brothers" ist der Nachfolger des Debüts "Tonight At The Arizona", das im letzten Jahr erschien. Die Band ging 2007 quer durch Amerika auf Tour und spielte einige Gigs mit Bright Eyes an der Ostküste, mit dem Höhepunkt einer Show in der altehrwürdigen NYC Radio City Music Hall.
Das fantastische Jahr endete mit einer triumphalen Show in Woodstock mit Levon Helm. Conor Oberst aka Bright Eyes outete sich bereits als Riesenfan der Felice Bros und signte die Band auf seinem Label Team Love in den USA. Das britische Label Loose Music konnte sich für Europa auch die Rechte des zweiten Albums sichern. Die Felice Brothers haben sich rasend schnell von den Straßen New Yorks zu den Bühnen Europas hochgespielt. Ihr einzigartiges Songwriting und unverwechselbarer Sound hat ihnen schon oft Vergleiche mit Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, The Pogues,The Band oder dem jungen Springsteen eingebracht. Die Felice Brothers fusionieren Rock, Folk und Country auf klassische Art und Weise und klingen trotzdem so frisch, dass sie bereits in den Staaten & Kanada zu den Favoriten des noch jungen Jahres zählen. Zu ihren Fans zählen Bright Eyes, The White Stripes und auch Bruce Springsteen. Klares Highlight! |
| To fully understand that the Felice Brothers are the real deal — that they're a pack of earth-stained country boys from the wilds of the Catskill Mountains, not Ivy Leaguers who thought ransacking their parents '60s records would a better career move than grad school — it helps to see them live, where they channel the Woodstock spirit with authenticity and reverence. It doesn't hurt that Ian Felice sounds like Bob Dylan after a handful of singing lessons, his vocals weathered and weary but skilled enough to bring these Appalachian melodies to life. It doesn't hurt that he knows when to speak, when to croon, and when to hand over the microphone to one of his brothers, several of whom helm their own songs. Most of all, it doesn't hurt that the Felice Brothers are the perfect group to helm this sort of whiskey-soaked, Beat Generation nostalgia, as they inhabit their songs to the fullest extent possible. Theirs is a world of moons and moonshine, mountains and cabins, a place where men get drunk on Jack Daniels and stalk off, guns in hand, to confront their cuckolding wives. The Tennessee-bred Kings of Leon sang about a similar world on Youth & Young Manhood and Aha Shake Heartbreak, but while those siblings were blessed with fashion sense and rugged good looks, the Felices are ragged, scruffy, and dirty-faced. So even when this self-titled LP gets bogged down by a string of melancholic ballads — even when the band's devotion to Depression-era imagery gets a bit too depressing — the Felice Brothers remain thoroughly convincing and skate by on the strength of the atmosphere they've created. Accordions, Hammond organs, guitars, and group vocals are all here, conjuring up memories of vagabonds wandering the train tracks and drunks falling off their barstools. One can't help but wish the 15-track set list included more numbers like "Frankie's Gun," which features some of Ian's wittiest lyrics and the brothers' spot-on imitation of the Band, but it's hard to find fault in this collection of earthy ballads and barroom jams.
(Andrew Leahey, allmusic.com)
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#16 in Jahresliste 
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