A new record from the Catskill Mountains resident Simone Felice. Having been a member of the Felice Brothers Band, The Duke & The King and solo as well as playing live in all the above and with host of compatriots (for a long time Simi Stone and Matthew Boulter), the last live set up, Simone played with Matt Green on guitar and mandolin and Mountain John on bass.
The new record has been recorded with the help of the Felice Brothers, Leah Siegel (Firehorse) and Wesley Schultz and Jeremiah Fraites of the Lumineers as Simone adds to a catalogue of masterful songs already in his collection.
Still a young man (thirties), he is already a veteran of the music business and inexplicably, not as well known as perhaps he should be. The advantage of that is the he can still play his heart wrenching beautiful shows in quite intimate venues.
Ten new songs on Strangers and the first noticeable thing is a more grittier vocal style appearing on the start of the first song, a classic Simone Felice, sing-a-long ‘ Molly-O!’
The first ‘stop you in your tracks’ song is the third song in, Running Through my Head” it builds and builds from Simone’s gentle vocal and accompanied harmonies to a (headphones) head-filling climax.
By now, you are sitting down concentrating on the majesty of the record; ‘The Lady of the Gun’ has, war, bloodshed, religion and a how do we make sense of all the madness sentiment. No break, next, ’Bye Bye Palenvile’ with a church organ start, a piano drenched ballad, spoken and sung vocal in an emotional song around abandonment by those we hold most dear and not making that mistake yourself.
‘Gettysburg’ is back to the foot stompers of Felice territory. Beautiful trumpet on ‘The Best That Money can Buy”.
As the album reaches the final song ‘Gallows’, it’s one of those songs that far from the album petering out, it concludes with a song of such beauty and intrigue that it has you putting the record on to play again.
So in summary, at least half of these songs are spellbinding the other half are songs to dance or sway to. For the former, you can either buy into the intensity of Simone’s songs or not for the others you can just dance and sing-a-long.
The key to Simone’s music is the stories behind the songs and you will hear those stories at any of his live shows.
Pete
9/11
Strangers is Out 24 March
1. Molly-O!
2. If You Go to LA
3. Running Through My Head
4. Our Lady of the Gun
5. Bye Bye Palenville
6. Gettysburg
7. The Best That Money Can Buy
8. Heartland
9. Bastille Day
10. The Gallows