Two years ago in Woodstock’s Bearsville Park, a group of music industry allies urged James and Ian Felice to sign with Sony Music Nashville.
The group included Wesley Schultz of the Lumineers and his wife, Brandy Schultz, along with Boiceville record producer David Baron, and Nathan Thomas of Sony Nashville.
The meeting was part of an effort by Brandy Schultz and Baron to help the Felice Brothers reach a wider audience. Baron operates Sun Mountain Studio in Boiceville and co-produced the Lumineers’ last two albums.
Two years later, the Palenville-born Americana band has recorded a new album for Baron’s Sun Mountain Records, an imprint of Sony Music Nashville. A tribute record featuring more than two dozen interpretations of Felice Brothers songs is scheduled for release Oct. 16, and a documentary about the band is expected this fall.
The band is also scheduled to perform Saturday, July 25, at a Newport Folk Festival after-party in Newport, Rhode Island.
“Felice County Fair: A Celebration of the Felice Brothers” will be released on Sun Mountain Records. It will be the first release from Sun Mountain Records.
Brandy Schultz initiated the tribute album, and Baron pitched it to Sony Nashville.
Contributors include the Lumineers, Nathaniel Rateliff, Dawes, Bright Eyes, Bebe Stockwell, Old Crow Medicine Show, Brandon Flowers, and Deer Tick.
For the album, Baron said, he pitched Sony Nashville on “this concept of, ‘Your favorite band’s favorite band.’”
“My favorite thing to say about other artists is: ‘I wish I would’ve written that,’” Wesley Schultz said in a news release. “The envy is the only way I know someone wrote a good song. And that’s so true with many Felice Brothers songs.”
A documentary directed by Tiller Russell is scheduled to premiere this fall alongside the tribute album.
Baron said he later told his Sony Nashville colleagues that it would make sense to release a new Felice Brothers album after “Felice County Fair,” allowing the band to capitalize on the attention generated by the tribute.
The label agreed, leading to recording sessions at White Feather Farm in Saugerties in June.
Sony Nashville and the band have not publicly announced the new album. Chris Andersen, general administrator of White Feather Farm, said the musicians established a temporary recording studio at the farm and worked there for more than two weeks. Baron oversaw the sessions.
The album is “very much in its infancy,” said Devin Mauch of Homestead Artists, the band’s management firm. “So we don’t have a title or a release date to be shared.”
The relationship between the Lumineers and the Felice family predates the two recording projects. Simone Felice, a former member of the Felice Brothers, has produced or co-produced several Lumineers albums.
“A couple years ago, a friend and advocate of the band named Brandy Schultz called us with a vision to create a tribute record to our band and wanted to ask for our blessing,” Ian Felice wrote in an Instagram post. “Brandy is a uniquely powerful force of nature who usually has the ingredients to make margaritas in a cooler in her car.
“It’s two years later now and somehow, by her sheer will and the devotion of many wonderful musicians and producers, her vision has become a reality. The fact that so many artists have contributed to this project simply out of a love for our music fills us with both bewilderment and gratitude.”
John W. Barry is a reporter for The Overlook. Reach him at john@theoverlooknews.com.
