MP3 Roundup: The Felice Brothers, Grant Maxwell, and the Cave Singers

The MP3 Roundup format at this site is a short listening note on a cluster of tracks, typically from recent releases, chosen for editorial coherence rather than comprehensive coverage. The tracks are not hosted here. The format describes the music and places it.

The Felice Brothers are from the Catskill Mountains region of New York. Their music draws from the American folk and country tradition with a carnivalesque edge: accordion, lyrics that blend the surreal and the vernacular, an ensemble sound that references old-time music while remaining distinctly contemporary. Their 2011 record Celebration, Florida is the most expansive thing they had put out to that point.

Grant Maxwell is a less well-known figure in the roots-Americana world, a songwriter working in a more interior mode. The tracks that circulated around this period have the quality of someone working outside the promotional apparatus, writing for the music rather than for the market.

The Cave Singers are from Seattle. The band works in a mode that draws from folk and early rock, their recordings carrying an acoustic center even when the arrangements expand. The vocals are the primary instrument.

What connects them

These three acts work in the space where folk, country, and rock overlap without resolving into any single genre. The Felice Brothers are the most theatrically idiosyncratic. The Cave Singers are the most accessible. Grant Maxwell is the most removed from genre convention.

All three make music that rewards close listening. All three are working in a tradition rather than against one.

For more listening notes: Field Notes index and the Mixtapes index for longer essays on related artists.