On August 4, Ramseur Records will release 'Nothing Gold Can Stay" by The
Duke & The King, an album recorded in the the coldest Catskill winter, that
shimmers with the light of memory and hope. 'Nothing Gold Can Stay'
features ten new songs, all co-written by The Duke (Simone Felice of The
Felice Brothers) and The King (Robert Chicken Burke), and was recorded on a
two-inch tape machine in Burke's one-room, woodstove-heated cabin -
affectionately known as The Chapel - in Woodstock, NY.
The Duke & The King grew out of Simone Felice's decision to take an extended
break from The Felice Brothers at the end of 2008, after three years of
non-stop touring. He set to work on his third book, and began writing and
recording with his longtime friend Burke, himself on leave from recent
stints with George Clinton, Sweet Honey in the Rock, and film scoring work
for acclaimed french director Cedric Klapisch.
The two holed up in splendid isolation at The Chapel with a cache of vintage
instruments, and emerged with an album of inspired contradictions. Made in
the depths of winter, 'Gold' feels sun-faded and warm. It emits a bucolic
calm, yet was mixed and mastered in Brooklyn by hip hop legend Bassy Bob
Brockmann (Notorious B.I.G.). Fusing unlikely elements of blue-eyed soul,
Topanga Canyon cool, and Marc Bolan-esque acoustic reverie, The Duke & The
King sing of a time and place they can never return to, but will never
forget.
