Their 2006 self-released debut album Through These Reins and Gone[3] made Radio Woodstock WDST's top 25 albums of the year. They released 2007’s Tonight at the Arizona on Loose[2] then self-released Adventures of the Felice Brothers Vol. 1. James Felice said, "We put one record out on an English label [Loose], and we've released all the other stuff ourselves [on their label New York Pro].”[3] In 2007 the Felice Brothers played at Levon Helm's Midnight Ramble in Woodstock, New York and toured with Bright Eyes.[4]
In August, the band performed at the legendary Newport Folk Festival. Due to torrential rains, high winds, and lightning storms, power was cut to the entire Newport, Rhode Island area. As the stage the band was performing on had no generators, the band played unplugged. They performed for over an hour with such songs as "Frankie's Gun!" and a sing-a-long to "This Land Is Your Land".
2009
The Felice Brothers joined Old Crow Medicine Show, Justin Townes Earle and the Dave Rawlings Machine for a nine-city package tour called The Big Surprise Tour, after the lead track from the Yonder Is the Clock album. Kicking off on August 4, 2009 at the Casino Ballroom in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, the tour travelled around the eastern United States before wrapping up at the World's Fair Park in Knoxville, Tennessee, on August 14, 2009.[7]
2010
The Felice Brothers opened for the Dave Matthews Band at four concerts in Canada and the US, starting at the Molson Amphitheatre in Toronto on June 1, 2010. They also appeared at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco on October 3. In late September and early October the band reunited for four shows with Conor Oberst. All the shows were in California. They appeared at the End of the Road Festival, Larmer Tree Gardens, Dorset, England in September.
2011
The Felice Brothers released the single "Ponzi" on March 29. It was the first single from their newest album "Celebration, Florida" which released on May 10 on Fat Possum (USA) and May 23 on Loose in Europe.
2012
The Felice Brothers released a collection of songs on July 18 entitled "God Bless You, Amigo". It is a mixture of previously unreleased original songs and covers of classic folk songs. Shortly thereafter drummer Dave Turbeville was replaced by drummer David Estabrook.
2013
On December 30, 2013, Dell launched their commercial called "Beginnings". It was made by Y&R, New York advertising agency, and features a cover of The Drifters' hit "This Magic Moment" performed by The Felice Brothers.[8]
Personnel
The band has two main members, Ian and James Felice. Former members include their brother Simone Felice, their friend Josh "Christmas Clapton" Rawson, frequently described as a traveling dice player,[9]fiddle player Greg Farley, and drummer David Estabrook. At other times, they have featured a horn section in the band, composed of local Hudson Valley musicians. Ian is the main vocalist and plays the guitar and piano. James contributes vocals and plays the accordion, organ, and piano. Christmas plays the bass guitar. Dave Turbeville played the drums from 2009 to 2012, performing on Celebration, Florida, Poughkeepsie Princess, Mixtape, and God Bless You, Amigo. Simone Felice was the drummer as well as a vocalist and a guitarist. Simone is also an author, having released books entitled Goodbye Amelia, Hail Mary, Full of Holes and Black Jesus. Simone Felice left the Felice Brothers in 2009. He now leads his own band - The Duke & the King (named after the duo of con-artists in Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn) with Robert "Chicken" Burke. They released their debut album - Nothing Gold Can Stay on Loose / Ramseur Records August 4, 2009, followed by Long Live the Duke & King in 2010. Simone released a self-titled album in 2012, followed that up with an album titled Strangers in 2014, and then released his third album titled The Projector in 2018.
The end of the song "Frankie's Gun!" is featured in the British sitcomOutnumbered's 2009 Christmas Special, where all the family are seen singing along to it in the closing sequence.
The song "Whiskey In My Whiskey" is playing on the jukebox in Merlotte's bar in episode 7 of the first season of True Blood on HBO.[11]
The song "Penn Station" was featured in the weather section on the Welcome to Night Vale podcast in 2014
^Partridge, Kenneth (October 2008). "The Felice Brothers - backwoods bros go back to basics". The Deli Magazine. Retrieved April 11, 2011. They ultimately settled on Team Love, and earlier this year, the label issued the band's first domestic full-length. The self-titled collection features a handful of new songs, as well as material from hard-to-find early releases, such as "The Adventures of the Felice Brothers, Vol. 1." The album was released through Loose in Europe.
