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Posted in music | pictures on August 6, 2009
The Duke & The King - Mercury Lounge pics, 2009 tour dates
words & photos by Jacob Blickenstaff
The Duke & The King had their record release show at NYC's Mercury Lounge on Tuesday night for their new album "Nothing Gold Can Stay" on Ramseur Records. The band is centered around the duo of Robert "Chicken" Burke and Simone Felice (of the Felice Brothers) and was filled out with simple instrumentation of violin, bass and a sometimes drummer/singer in a Wu-Tang T-Shirt (The Deacon). Simone and the Chicken traded off leading songs on guitar, harmonizing and playing the drums at an informal pace, feeling out which song would be played next in an intuitive, democratic manner. Simone Felice had the most presence as a leader with a confident, steady voice and the body language of both a bird stretching its wings and a snake coiling up on itself. There was a genuine appreciation among the musicians for each other, Simone and the Deacon hugged a couple times on stage, and when the violinist played a pretty intro Simone remarked, "That was beautiful, play that again!" The music was refreshingly pure; like the people who bring down the organic apples to the Union Square Farmer's Market, it was a reminder that current music can be made by simple means with out all the ego and unnecessary modern distractions.
The Duke & The King are now on tour and will be back in NYC to play a show at City Winery with Cory Chisel on August 25th. All dates and more pictures from the Mercury Lounge show below...
The Duke & The King - 2009 Tour Dates
Aug 6 - LOCAL 506 Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Aug 7 - EDDIE'S ATTIC Atlanta, Georgia
Aug 8 - BOTTLETREE Birmingham, Alabama
Aug 10 - THE BASEMENT Nashville, Tennessee
Aug 11 - SOUTHGATE HOUSE (PARLOUR) Newport, Kentucky
Aug 13 - LOCALS ONLY ART & MUSIC PUB Indianapolis, Indiana
Aug 14 - SCHUBAS Chicago, Illinois
Aug 15 - CLUB CAFE Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Aug 16 - IOTA CLUB & CAFE Arlington, Virginia
Aug 25 - City Winery New York, NY w/ Cory Chisel
Sep 11 - SALISBURY - End Of The Road Festival Southwest
Sep 12 - SWANSEA - THE CHATTERY Wales
Sep 13 - GLASGOW - KING TUTS Scotland
Sep 15 - LEICESTER - THE MUSICIAN Midlands
Sep 16 - LEEDS - THE BRUDENELL Northwest
Sep 17 - NEWCASTLE - THE CLUNY Northeast
Sep 18 - LONDON - THE GARAGE (Club Uncut) London and South East
Sep 19 - NOTTINGHAM - THE MAZE Midlands
Sep 20 - BIRMINGHAM - THE GLEE CLUB Midlands
Sep 22 - BEDFORD - THE CIVIC East
Sep 23 - BARCELONA - BAM FESTIVAL Barcelona
Sep 27 - BELFAST - Open House Festival Northern Ireland
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Posted on August 6, 2009 1:16 PM
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Comments (4)
this guy always seemed like a mess when he played with the felice bros. doesn't really surprise me he's not with them any more.
Posted by Anonymous | August 6, 2009 2:40 PM
whatever, the record's great, he's got a lot of great tunes, and the show was so, so good. i love the felices - and they played together within the last week, as they will surely do in the future - but it's a mistake to underestimate simone.
Posted by tom | August 7, 2009 12:53 AM
Love the band. No indie artist is more into their fans than Simone Felice. I am sure this project will be wildly successful based on talent and shear power of personality. The Felice Brothers hook was, they took garage band rock and dragged into an abandoned chicken coop and it bore a refreshing mix of country, rock, jazz and folk. It was ramshackle, it was delivered with enthusiasm if not always technical brilliance. The Duke and the King harken back to older vocal groups like CSN, Seals and Crofts, Jim Croce. The Deacon is the secret weapon and really helps differentiate them from other singer songwriter acts, well, that and Simone's ability to emote the human experience about as well as any frontman in rock music.
Posted by Digger | August 7, 2009 8:28 AM
great sound. great lyrics. great band. ive never met a more inviting and genuine group of people in my life. the duke and king are as real as it gets. i see great things down the river.
Posted by kieran | August 10, 2009 3:04 AM