Lumineers, Bright Eyes Sing on Felice Brothers Tribute
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- Sony Records will release 'Felice County Fair: A Celebration of the Felice Brothers' on Oct. 16 — a tribute album with more than two dozen songs featuring contributions from Lumineers, Bright Eyes, Old Crow Medicine Show, Nathaniel Rateliff, Dawes, Brandon Flowers, Bebe Stockwell, and Deer Tick.
- The Lumineers cover the 2017 song 'The Kid' as the album's first offering — Wesley Schultz first heard it at the Felice Brothers' annual New Year shows in Kingston, New York, and called the group 'this underground secret' whose songs work 'like a small dagger' that 'gets past your ribs and into your heart.'
- Bright Eyes interpret 'Wonderful Life,' a standout ballad from the Felice Brothers' classic 2008 self-titled record; Conor Oberst has already released the Felice Brothers' 2024 album 'Valley of Abandoned Songs' on his own label and recruited them as his own backing band.
- Old Crow Medicine Show covers 'Penn Station' and Dawes tackles 'Jazz on the Autobahn,' with the full list of more than two dozen contributors still to be revealed.
- The Felice Brothers were founded by brothers James, Ian, and Simone in the mid-Aughts in upstate New York; Simone left long ago, and the band has been anchored by bassist Jesske Hume and drummer Will Lawrence for the past eight years.
Why it matters: The Felice Brothers have shaped a generation of roots-music peers and younger musicians over 20 years without mainstream commercial payoff — a Sony-backed tribute featuring their biggest champions gives the group its widest commercial platform yet, with Lumineers and Bright Eyes' fanbases serving as the entry point for an act Oberst called 'perfect music' that 'transformed my life.'
