Song of the Day 8/17: The Felice Brothers, “Jazz on the Autobahn”

WXPN has had this tune in heavy rotation since it dropped two months ago, but I didn’t hear it until this weekend. The Felice Brothers, who began with a trio of upstate brothers who moved to Brooklyn to busk in the subways, made their national mark with their first album in 2008. Their sound got them lumped in with other then-new Americana acts like Mumford and Sons and the Avett Brothers, but where those bands cashed in when they got the opportunity, the Felices made an electronica-influenced LP and nearly broke up.

The band’s now down to two brothers and a couple of guys, and their songwriting, mostly by Ian Felice, still shows why they were compared to Dylan. When they employ a horn section, as on this tune, they use a bunch of local Hudson Valley players.