Fans of The Felice Brothers are probably well aware that brother and drummer Simone has, for the time being, amicably left his brothers’ band to form his own. The new band is called The Duke and the King and has two primary members: Simone Felice and his friend, Robert “Chicken” Burke. Those familiar with American literature may recognize this band name as coming from two swindlers in Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. This is a fitting name for the band as the music on Nothing Gold Can Stay (another American literary reference for you Robert Frost fans) is purely American in both its music and spirit.
Although Nothing Gold Can Stay is the creative project of one of The Felice Brothers, don’t put this disc in the CD player expecting the same energy and vigor heard earlier this year on the lively Yonder is the Clock. Simone Felice is in full introspective mode here and these songs mostly drift by at a peaceful, leisurely pace. This is understandable considering the circumstances surrounding the writing of the album. Roughly half of the album was written while Felice’s wife was pregnant with their first child and the other half was written after they suffered a late-term miscarriage. The result is an album on which the joyful songs are tinged with sadness but the sad songs manage to foster small rays of hope.
Posted by Gavin Breeden 