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FEATURED: The Felice Brothers tear up a barnyard dance with their amazingness

Posted 3/17/2008 3:08 PM by Cameron Cook

Tags: americana, folk, austin

Photo courtesy of Abbey Braden for Punk Photo

So it’s the Sunday after SXSW, we’re more exhausted than we’ve possibly ever been, and we’ve still managed to miss our new favorite band, the Felice Brothers, at every single one of their festival performances so far. Our last chance to see them in the balmy Texan weather is at some event called “the Barn Dance”, which we naively assume is some sort of secret, Todd P-style venue out on the residential outskirts of South Austin. Little did we know, one $20 cab ride later (we were driven to the premises by a charming gentleman named Charles E. Lusty, seriously this is writing itself), it turns out the Barn Dance is literally a barn, with people dancing in it, located in a back yard owned by what appears to be a million awesome hippies. We’d be straight-up lying if we said we didn’t stick out like sore thumbs, but after about four Keystone Ices, mi casa es tu casa, and we were more than excited to share some chips and queso with these amazing old dudes and watch the Felice Brothers take the stage.

In a way we’re kind of glad we missed all of the Felice Brothers' SXSW showcases because this intimate setting was obviously their element: all these local people line-dancing and going totally crazy, and no, they didn’t hear about Felice through MySpace or Pitchfork or Vice or whoever, they were just there to get considerably wasted and dance along to really good music by some young kids from upstate New York (did we mention we walked in on a weed deal between a guy with a white pony tail and his friend in a Pink Floyd T-Shirt?). The Brothers were grinning ear to ear the entire time, and as drummer/vocalist Simone stated before the first song, “All those fancy bastards are on planes out of here, so let’s have a party with some real Austin folk”. When the band ripped into “Whisky In My Whiskey”, we don’t think we’ve ever experienced a less convoluted and more real musical instant in our entire lives. These guys are the real deal, and no amount of stuffy industry showcases will ever change that.

In case you missed our run of Felice MP3s the other week, check them out below, and next time they randomly play a barn in the middle of nowhere, please, please, please go.

Download: The Felice Brothers - Frankie's Gun!

Download: The Felice Brothers - San Antonio's Burning

Download: The Felice Brothers - Tip Your Way

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