We were eager beavers to talk to James Felice of the Felice Brothers, but we were also nervous nellies. You know what they say about meeting your heroes. But it turns out that James is harmless as a bumble bee and humble as a tumbleweed. 

 

“I don’t think anywhere we’ve ever recorded has had an actual proper bathroom,” he says about the self-made, bare bones journey of the brother band. We talked to one half of the Felice Brothers, James, as his brother Ian is a self proclaimed “avoider of eye contact.” The Americana band from the Catskills in New York has been together for 15 years and still, there’s a beaming smile on James Felice each time he swings his accordion belting, “I put some whiskey into my whiskey,” to a buncha dancin’ drunkards. The Felice Brothers, Ian Felice, James Felice, Jesske Hume, and William Lawrence just wrapped their tour for their latest release, From Dreams To Dust. 

Of those earlier days, James says, “our reach exceeded our grasp, musically. We abandoned certain musical ideas that I wish we had pursued, but just because we didn’t know what we were doing.” Since the band was self-taught, he goes on to say, “The way I play the accordion is wrong. Incorrect. It’s too violent, too much movement… I had accordions that you really had to rip on to make it sound good, just cause they were old and more airtight. And I would break accordions all the time, I would tear accordions apart. If you listen to me play and then you listen to a real accordion player it’s a totally different experience.”

But what makes a musician “real”?

“I took to the streets I learned from busking  

My technique is worse than disgusting 

You can teach yourself anything

I’m the living proof” 

-“Blow Him Apart” written and sung by James Felice

As time goes on and bands enter new phases, some begin to outsource responsibilities, letting go of tasks that aren’t solely making and playing the music. But after all these years, the Felice Brothers are as much, if not more, in control of every aspect of their music. They are learning more and taking on more — and it pays off, not only financially, as James explains: “In order to survive as musicians we need to squeeze every last possible dollar out of the things that we do,” but also artistically — because who knows their music better than they do?

James continues, “We do everything, basically. We’ve always had a DIY feeling about it. We’ve had other people work on stuff for us before, and often, we’re picky and we’re not great at constructive criticism. I’ve realized, we don’t know how to explain sometimes. So it’s better for us to do it ourselves. We have taken control more and more over music.” It comes back to working hard and making the best music. And in that case, when push comes to shove, “If something sucks, then blame yourself and try to get better.” 

They’ve come a long way from where they started, busking on the street and busting up instruments. “We’re getting closer to actually being able to make [the music] sound the way it should sound,” James tells us.

As listeners, we have always been drawn to the Felice Brothers’ lyrical characters, specifically their names: Eleanors, Odettas, Helen Frys. We asked James about another Helen cameo on From Dreams to Dust, “Is it the same as Helen Fry?” and he laughed, “​​I love the idea of tying songs together across time, thematically or even serialized stories. And maybe there’s a little of that happening, and maybe Helen Fry is the same Helen from ‘Jazz on the Autobahn.’ But I don’t know, Ian is a very mysterious songwriter and if I ask him that question he’ll just look at me like I’m crazy.” 

For a band known for their lyrics, there’s only so much (so little, really) insight that James can give to his brother’s words. The mystery allows us to believe that our old friend Helen Fry who “seems to think / That the devil’s dressed in pink” (“Helen Fry”) is also “in the passenger seat eating melon and spitting out the seeds.” (“Jazz on the Autobahn”)

If you see the Felice Brothers live, you’ll notice that James and Ian appear in opposition on stage: Ian like a stick figure and occasional gymnast, taking back-bending guitar solos, and James like a bird in flight, spreading his accordion wings wide. After a show, Ian sneaks out back in a hoodie and James hugs strangers at the merch table.

Saying that James is the most extroverted of the two would be an understatement. So when we asked if he cared about who gets recognition for their work, especially considering that James takes on roles behind the scenes like engineering and tour managing, he says, “I get to do the interviews and talk to people and I feel so appreciated and so, I don’t know, seen. I want to put out the best things we can. He [Ian] does incredible work. I’m constantly blown away and inspired by him. So I contribute what I can and I think I do a pretty good job at a lot of it. But I know what talent is.” 

 

James Felice is equally self aware and self deprecating. The song “Blow Him Apart,” bares his humility, 

“I got laughed at by future stars

They get their masters from Juilliard

I learned to sing

In a chicken coop”

James explains the state he was in and the inspiration for the song, “I broke my wrist last summer on my bike and I was on painkillers and I could barely play the piano. I was in a vulnerable place when I wrote that… I was feeling scared; I couldn’t work, I couldn’t pay my rent. I felt kind of pathetic honestly.” 

Despite his beaming confidence and joy on stage, the uncertainty of forging his own path, and the expectations of where society tells us we’re supposed to be at a certain age still affect James, like most of us. His commitment to the band may feel, at times, like it has been limiting to his individual progress, “I’m 36. If I’m going to make my own music, I should probably start soon.” James is aware of his and Ian’s strengths, “In any other band I’d likely be the best songwriter, but not in my band.” In our eyes, the Felice Brothers is a brother band. James and Ian have remained in the band through all of its chapters and configurations. But James surprisingly says that “Ian is the bandleader.”

James’ wrist healed, he got back to writing and back on stage. He’s now thinking about going away to write and create, “I’m always like, ‘No, I should be working or doing something for the band or something with my family. Not running away.” In trying to grant himself more ease and artistic exploration he admits, “I’m excited because I never treated myself seriously enough to do something like that for myself.” 

The world of the Felice Brothers is anchored in the grit of hard work and the fantasies they weave of everyday people, whether in the Dust Bowl or the local dive bar. You don’t need pretty things and fancy tools to make good art. Fully realized dreams, like this album, can be blown from dust, a lack of plumbing, shirts from Goodwill. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, the Felice Brothers have done it again — From Dreams to Dust, and, really, from dust to dreams.

Before departing, we can include one perspective from Ian Felice that we know is true: 

“JAMES FELICE A Real talent…. Alright Jimmy that’s enough let’s wrap it up”

Stream From Dreams to Dust on Bandcamp