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Diamonds and Televisions

Mike Felten

Label: Landfill Records
Released: 2017
Duration: 00:41:25
Views: 664

Tracks

It All Ends Here; Bohunk's Daughter; Seven Days A Week; Emma's House; Gas Station Coffee; Old Dogs and Fools; Pa Kettle's Bastard Son; Get Lost; Statue of Liberty; Mike's Last Will and Testament.

Personnel

Album Description

Somewhere tonight, Chicago singer-songwriter Mike Felten is stepping up on another stage. He has been doing this for fifty years. The Illinois Entertainer proclaims him, “the real deal.” He exclaims that the weathered Martin guitar in his hand is his shovel and that the old Harmony Sovereign waiting for the slide is his plow. He is a workingman; a Johnny Lunchbucket. According to Midwest Record Magazine, what he does is, “Unreconstructed freak folk.” A bit of blues, a hint of rock and a pile of billowy soul. All the influences forged in the tempest like a late night omelet at some ancient diner. The stories overflow like a third cup of joe. Some names you recognize. Muddy Waters and Buddy Guy. Nelson Algren and Gene Autry. Maybe even a Paddy Bauler or a Hillary Rodham. Open mics when a John Prine got up and did three. Pete Seeger and Utah Phillips listened. Diamonds and Televisions pushes the stylistic envelope for the veteran singer-songwriter, who wrote every song on the set (“Seven Days A Week” is a collaboration with Bob Frank). This is the first time he’s utilized a full band in the studio, adding multiple new dimensions to his approach—which he admits can be a tad difficult to succinctly define. The title of this latest album unexpectedly presented itself during one of his frequent road trips. “We were down in Shawnee, Oklahoma, and there was a pawnshop across the street from this place we went into called Hamburger King. This abandoned pawnshop advertised ‘diamonds and televisions, cameras and stereos.’” Echoes of Bo Diddley’s primal shave-and-a-haircut rhythm careen through the opening “It All Ends Here.” while “Statue Of Liberty” makes a very belated debut on record. “That song’s probably about 50 years old,” Mike notes. Rest assured he has quaffed a lot of “Gas Station Coffee” while driving from one distant gig to the next. “Bohunk’s Daughter” was inspired by the the lives of his Bohemian grandparents, “Get Lost” flat-out rocks, and a jaunty reading of “Mike’s Last Will And Testament” is actually cause for rejoicing. “Pa Kettle’s Bastard Son” pays tribute to one of Felten’s favorite long-ago movie characters.

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