Country mice steeped in city vice
Although it may not garner as much attention as the island of Manhattan, there’s an entire state surrounding New York City. Catskill-country natives The Felice Brothers—Simone, Ian and James, plus bandmates/honorary bros Christmas Clapton and Greg Farley—successfully straddle this rural/urban divide, honing their energetic, rustic tunes in both upstate chicken coops and NYC subways. Yonder Is The Clock, with a title cribbed from Mark Twain and a sound like a peppier, less introspective Bob Dylan, offers a simple premise: If you can’t make it to the barn storm, the Felice Brothers will gladly deliver it. All the necessary ingredients are here, from the jaunty accordion that fuels standout track “Run Chicken Run” to the revved-up crowd clapping in the background of “Penn Station” and the mournful banjo punctuating the traitorous tale of “Boy from Lawrence County.” It’s all danger and gangsters and loving the ladies when there’s a spare minute. Meanwhile, amidst the hootin’ and hollerin’, the soul will be sated, and saved.