Rediscovering / Discovering what slipped by me earlier

In 2009, while driving I don’t know where, I heard a song on NPR, that would play frequently over the next few weeks.  The song was called, “Run, chicken, run” by The Felice Brothers.  Run, Chicken, Run

I Loved this song!  I loved it immediately, I loved it each time it played.  I posted about this song, here on this blog back in 2009, I finally caught it! July 1, 2009

For the life of me I can’t figure out why I didn’t listen to more of their songs then, or buy some of their music.  I must not have been ready for it yet.  I believe things “speak to us” when we need them.   Well fast forward to 2019, wow, ten years later, I get an e-mail announcement from Ani DeFranco’s Babeville here in Buffalo.  It’s a small music venue in an old church.  I saw The Felice Brothers were going to be performing.  Even with the passage of ten years, I remembered immediately that these were the guys who did the chicken song.  I had to go see them.

I went with a couple from work and went in hopes they would play the chicken song. I really wanted to hear it live and dance to it, and I’m not a dancer. 🤣 Well, they never played that song, but they did play more recent songs of theirs, plus a number of songs from their newest CD, “Undress.” I was blown away! I was moved nearly to tears. Something about their music, their lyrics, moved me to the core of my creative soul. Something woke up in me that I had forgotten existed. I felt so alive for the first time in years. Their music touched something in me. I suddenly remembered what it felt like to have that energy running through me.I felt like the weight of years had been lifted from me.

Then, lead singer, Ian Felice, played some songs from his latest solo cd project. I felt like I was in the presence of musical genius. The lyrics were like abstract art that fades in and out of childhood memories and hard lessons learned. I later read musical reviews of the band, Ian, and his new album, In the Kingdom of Dreams.

The album is introspective, quiet, peaceful, and thought provoking. I have taken to playing this album while I hike because it brings such peace to me, I can’t really put it into words to do it justice. In Memorium is another great song on his cd.

These brothers, initially Simone, Ian, and James, but now Simone is off doing other projects, form a really tight musical partnership. I was moved watching James play his accordion. I definitely like a little accordion in a folk-rock band to give it a little something extra. You have to see these guys live, if only to see James play the accordion. When he plays fast, he dances, he smiles, he’s really into it, and when he plays slow, he closes his eyes and smiles as if all that is holy in this world has just delivered him to his zen spot. My admiration stooped to envy in the face of this young man’s joy and passion for what he does. I want to do something that brings that look to my face. I’ve now purchased a couple CDs of theirs, and downloaded even more of their music to my iPod. They are in constant rotation. Here are some of my favorite songs they perform: Radio Song is an uptempo sweet song. Nail it on the First Try Is a good song to see James Felice playing his accordion. And finally, Frankie’s Gun I haven’t loved a band this much in years.