Fresh Cuts: Two Celebrations of Bros (Felice and Punch) and Lined-out Singing with Lambchop
Fresh Cuts Friday! Here we are. Cindy’s picks. Cindy hosts. We have the ED of FA, Sarah LaDuke, writing about some of the songs for the Fresh Cuts blog post. Where is that? You’re reading it right now.
Cindy’s weekly Fresh Cuts radio hour airs every Friday at 2pm ET / 11am PT on Folk Alley’s 24/7 stream — available on our website, mobile app, or your smart speaker. You can always hear the best new folk music around on our Fresh Cuts stream.
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Bright Eyes – “Wonderful Life”
This is exciting. My friends and yours, The Felice Brothers, are being celebrated in a compilation of tribute recordings called “Felice County Fair” (Sony 10/16/26). We’ll get covers from Bebe Stockwell, Brandon Flowers, Dawes, Deer Tick, Nathaniel Rateliff, Old Crow Medicine Show, and more – and we already have songs from Bright Eyes and The Lumineers. The album was a passion project organized by Brandy Schultz and made with the band’s blessing.
Ian Felice wrote about it as only Ian Felice would:
It’s high summer now and love is in season and I’m writing to share some news. I’m sitting on Hermit Island and I can smell coffee boiling on a campfire but that’s not the news. The news is that there’s a new record coming out called Felice County Fair, a Celebration of the Felice Brothers. [Read the full prose here.]
Ian Felice being on Hermit Island, if literal, is the only thing that makes sense in the world right now. Well, that – and a bevy of brilliant musicians coming together for these bros.
Henry Carrigan celebrates some more bros in his review of ‘The Unsung Adventures of Punch Brothers’ — the album is out today.
Lambchop – “The New World Wave”
Lambchop is new to me since starting at Folk Alley. I’m always going to admit that because I’m staunchly support the idea that it’s impossible to know everything: but keep trying. Cindy featured “Stella” from the upcoming “Punching the Clown” on Fresh Cuts a month ago. So, now I get to know Lambchop, the lush Nashville chamber country outfit, and not just Lampbchop — the heavy-lashed sock lamb on TV with effigies in my dog’s maw.
Since I found this song hauntingly gorgeous *and* had virtually no idea who was affecting me so, a-googling I went. In the last several minutes I have learned some about Lambchop and about another missed-by-me item: lined-out singing. The Appalachian (via Scotland) tradition of call and response vocal singing that pre-dates literacy. It’s not that I’ve never heard it – of course I have – but now I know what I’m hearing and that I really dig it.
It’s employed with levitating impact on “The New World Wave” and I can’t wait to hear the rest of the upcoming album. After listening to the song on a loop 7-10 times, I ran my browser over to Bandcamp and pre-orderd the vinyl.
Cindy’s Fresh Cuts list also includes songs from two albums reviewed by Henry Carrigan for FA this week: Maya de Vitry’s ‘All My Faith’ and the aforementioned The Unsung Adventures of Punch Brothers; Jess Williamson’s Didion inspired adieu to LA; and a selection from Hen House House Studio’s “Sounds of Malawi Vol.1.” – last week we featured Waliko Makhala’s “Moto Wayaka” – this week, Boniface Ndamera and The Lucky Stars’ “Chinafuna Mbale” really had us bopping. The group unites the rhythm and dance traditions of both Southern and Central Malawi around the compositions of bandleader and blind guitarist Ndamera.
FreshCuts – Full List
The Suitcase Junket – “One More Mile
Maya de Vitry – “Nobody Else”
Lambchop – “The New World Wave”
Mama’s Broke – “Built It Up”
Bright Eyes – “Wonderful Life”
Boniface Ndamera and The Lucky Stars – “Chinafuna Mbale”
Leon Bridges – “Tears of Joy”
Jess Williamson – “Goodbye to All That”
Jake Xerxes Fussell – “Rock Island Line”
Punch Brothers – “New Bike”
Hayden Stern – “Boston Harbor Welcome”
Bronwyn – “Johnny Ray”
Will Carlisle – “Mason Jar at the Center of the World”
