Our chain of americana has featured brothers’ bands on the last two occasions, so third time lucky as they say. Actually, who can form a tighter band than two (or more brothers)? Until the full brotherly love goes a bit sour and one or (more brothers) leave. By that reasoning, it is easy to come to The Felice Brothers. Since their first album back in 2006 which was seeped in their inspiration from The Band, the brothers have been evolving and have been coming up with some incredible Americana along the way.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a brothers band if at least one brother didn’t leave. Many thought that The Felice Brothers would at least lose their lyrical edge when Simon Felice decided to go, but the remaining brothers Ian and James, as well as the rest of the band, didn’t seem to. The proof is in the pudding as the saying goes, and their latest album ‘From Dreams To Dust’ is certainly one of the strongest. The album starts with ‘Jazz On The Autobahn,’ an absolute cracker both musically and lyrically, as the band stretch the boundaries of Americana with some cracking shuffle, backing vocals, a sax riff and lyrics to boot:
“The sheriff disappeared
He drove in a doomed Corvette
Helen was in the passenger seat eating melon and spitting out the seeds
Feeling happy to be alone but still turning a saxophone as cold as stone kinda like
She said this is what the apocalypse will look like
A tornado with human eyes
Poisoned birdbaths and torrents of chemical rain
Like the heads of state hyperventilating in clouds of methane
Sundown on the human heart”
