Dancing On the Wing - The Felice Brothers

Dancing On the Wing - The Felice Brothers

4:28

Life In the Dark, 2016

Written by Greg Farley, Ian Felice, James Felice and Josh Rawson

The Band comparisons are inevitable.  With typically baffling, specific lyrics ("Probably call me in a year / Sobbing for a chandelier / Eating sherbet / In some sad suburbia / And dating a disturbing profiteer") and a shuffling, ramshackle Americana tune with scratchy guitar, fiddle, organ, and harmonies, it's as close to the Band as you get without going back in time.  Whether the song actually means anything is or just joyous nonsense, at least it's a merry hoedown.

Frankie's Gun! - The Felice Brothers

Frankie's Gun! - The Felice Brothers

4:06

The Felice Brothers, 2008

Written by Ian Felice, James Felice, Jeremy Backofen, Josh Rawson, and Simone Felice

This song evokes the Band in its ramshackle, careening, sloopy Americana.  This story-song concerns an small-time outlaw, picking up an unspecified cargo, along with his partner Frankie.  Somehow, the narrator gets shot.  "I could have swore the box said Hollywood blanks but / If you see my mama please tell her / I left a little rock in a box in the cellar / That's for her to wear till kingdom come."  With accordion, drunken "sha na na" choruses, and handclaps, the whole track sways around with lurching abandon, perfectly mirroring this tale of the unlucky palooka who only tried to make a little dough for his girl and his mom.