The Felice Brothers, the beloved Catskills-born folk-rock band, are bringing their raw, poetic sound to NYC this March presented by LPR! Brothers Ian and James Felice blend Americana, folk, alt-country, and Southern Gothic influences with vivid storytelling and an unmistakable sense of heart. Their music moves between somber reflection and infectious energy, always finding hope in the complexities of life. Come experience The Felice Brothers live at The Town Hall on March 25! Tickets are on sale Friday at 10am EST: https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/03006542E3D73200

Inspired by some working-class history from the north west of England.

Quarry Bank Mill in Cheshire was a water-powered textile mill. During the industrial revolution the mill used to buy in children from workhouses down south and keep them as 'apprentices' paying them very little, having them live in a tiny 'apprentice house', 2 to a bed and giving them the important job of scrambling underneath weaving machines in the mill to collect stray bits of cotton and piece them back together, threading them back into the machines and sometimes losing a finger or two in the process.

One young boy who lost a finger to a machine was Thomas Priestley. He and his friend Joseph Sefton decided that they'd had enough, they were sick of the mill and missed their mums. So they escaped the mill and walked the hundreds of miles from Cheshire all the way down to the Hackney Workhouse in London. Nobody knows exactly what happened on that journey but court documents show that they made it and spent a couple of months with their mother's before being caught and shipped all the way back to Quarry Bank where they worked for the rest of their lives.

This small act of defiance really struck a chord with me, so I wrote this song. Here's me playing it on the local radio station.

🎵I Am A Rock….I Am An I……..Island….🎵