The Duke and the King

There's a startling beauty in the music of The Duke And The King; they write and perform songs that have the warm clarity of a lake in summer and the slow melancholy of the moon shining through early morning fog.

I suppose I should have expected this, to a certain extent: this band, after all, includes Simone Felice, a member of The Felice Brothers (who I wrote about in September), and The Duke and the King's sound is reminiscent of some of the more contemplative moments in The Felice Brothers' canon.

Is there a point at which I'm required to acknowledge that, yes, I get the reference in the group's name? As the band's Myspace points out, "Named after the traveling Shakespeare hustlers in 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' these curious blood-brothers (and sweet sister) have found a home together, a traveling Church of Harmony and Sin where its OK to french kiss your cousin and all strays are welcome to come out of the cold and sing along to these songs of love, loss, pathos, and hope." Love, loss, pathos, and hope. Who could ask for more than that?

Anyways... here are a couple of tracks from the group's debut album, Nothing Gold Can Stay, (and, yes, I get that reference, too) which came out just a couple of months ago.

The Duke and the King - If You Ever Get Famous


The Duke and the King - One More American Song


Hope y'all have a terrific (and safe) Halloween!

The Felice Brothers: No Weathermen Needed, Thanks

Do you remember the first time you heard Bob Dylan singing? The nasal drawl, the guitar, the lyrics that, at their best, hovered just on the edge of intelligibility?

Take a listen to The Felice Brothers, and you'll remember that feeling. I'm not saying that they're the second coming of the honorable Mr. Zimmerman, but the similarities are unmistakable - especially in the voice of lead singer Ian Felice and the general folk/blues veritas that the group enjoys.

The brothers performed on the New York subway system before they began touring - something they have in common with the next artist I'll talk about (teaser! you'll have to wait until Sunday to read about him... but if you went to Stetson in 2005, you know him very well). Lately, they've been touring across the southern United States; pretty soon, they'll be heading over to Europe.

I've been listening to these guys pretty consistently for the last couple of months, as anyone who worked with me this summer at Stetson can attest; it's just really solid music.

I've uploaded a song from each of The Felice Brothers' two mainstream albums:

First, from their eponymous debut album, "Frankie's Gun"


Second, from their sophomore album "Yonder is the Clock" (which came out in April of this year), "Chicken Wire"