Felice Brothers Will Ring Out The Old, Ring In The New At Club Helsinki Hudson

Hudson Valley-based roots-rockers the Felice Brothers will entertain for a rollicking, roots-rocking New Year's Eve at Club Helsinki Hudson on Tuesday, December 31, at 9pm, with their Woodstock-bred fusion of rock, country, folk, soul and gospel, that is often compared to their Catskills-based predecessors, the Band.

Longtime Helsinki favorites, the Felice Brothers are a close-knit band of two brothers and three longtime friends. The group has garnered a loyal, dedicated following in these parts, as they continue to tour nationally and appear on festival bills including Bonnaroo, All Points, Outside and Newport.

The group's new album, "Undress," was cut live to tape with very little overdubbing in the late summer of 2018 just down the road in Tivoli, N.Y. Band members Ian Felice, James Felice, Will Lawrence (drums) and Jesske Hume (bass) teamed up with producer Jeremy Backofen to record their most personal and reflective album to date.

"Many of the songs on the new album are motivated by a shift from private to public concerns," says songwriter Ian Felice. "It isn't hard to find worthwhile things to write about these days, there are a lot of storms blooming on the horizon and a lot of chaos that permeates our lives. The hard part is finding simple and direct ways to address them."

Undress follows the band's 2016 album "Life in the Dark," and finds the group in a very different place three years later. Between personnel changes, families growing, and the political landscape, the result is a tighter, more-pared down release. "Every song is a story," said James Felice. "On this album everything was a bit more thoughtful, including the arrangements, the sonic quality and the harmonies."

Ian and James Felice grew up in the Hudson Valley of upstate New York. Self-taught musicians, inspired as much by Hart Crane and Walt Whitman as by Woody Guthrie and Chuck Berry. In 2006, they began by playing subway platforms and sidewalks in New York City and have gone on to release nine albums of original songs and to tour extensively throughout the world. Following the release of "Life in the Dark," the Felice Brothers served as the backing band for Conor Oberst's 2017 release "Salutations" and the subsequent tour.

Reviewing a recent concert of theirs at Helsinki Hudson, local music critic Seth Rogovoy praised the group as "full of energy, dynamism, group interplay and the built-in drama they invest in their own folk-rock compositions," going on to write, "While I'm never sure just what it is they're singing about, it always sounds to me like someone is in trouble, something is at stake, there's a crisis brewing or breaking out. That's a tribute to their songwriting skills, arrangements, and their urgent, earnest delivery."
For reservations in The Restaurant or in the club call 518.828.4800. For the most up-to-date concert information, visit www.helsinkihudson.com.