Disponible en CD.

The Duke & The King’s debut album ‘Nothing Gold Can Stay’ was one
of 2009’s most acclaimed albums, with its heady mix of rootsy folk-rock
and vintage soul earning comparisons with artists ranging from Crosby,
Stills, Nash & Young to Sly & The Family Stone. Little over a
year later, the band – lead by Simone Felice and Bobbie Bird Burke –
prepare for the September 27th release of their second album, the
extraordinary ‘Long Live The Duke & The King’ on Loose Music /
Silva Oak.

Entirely self-produced, ‘Long Live The Duke & The King’ was
recorded in the band’s own studio/shack deep in their home woods of
Bearsville, New York, just across the creek from the grave of Bob
Dylan’s notorious manager Albert Grossman. As Felice has said “We want
to make a harmony band, vocal harmony as well as harmony between us,
something we can extend to the people who get touched by our songs”,
judging  by the way this album sounds Felice and Burke have fully
realized such a vision. Exalting in their ongoing love affair with
rock, folk, soul and psychedelia, The Duke & The King have
officially knighted two irreplaceable members to the cast, Nowell "The
Deacon" Haskins (of Parliament-Funkadelic liniage), and The Sensational
Simi Stone, both of whom contribute golden vocals throughout this
stunning collection of songs. To crystallise the vision, the band
turned to the legendary mastering engineer Bob Ludwig, renowned for his
work with iconic artists such as Led Zeppelin, Bruce Springsteen, Jimi
Hendrix and The Band. A   huge fan of the D&K, Ludwig compares
‘Don’t Take That Plane Tonight’, the album’s bizarre climactic final
track to his work with Frank Zappa, and their song 'Hudson River' to
his work with soul legend Sam Cooke.                      

Yet, behind the album’s inherent mood of hope, love, and home-grown
mystic soul lies the great tribulation the band faced as the album
edged towards completion. In the last days of mixing Simone Felice
discovered he must undergo emergency heart surgery to correct the slow
degeneration of his aorta brought on by a mystery childhood illness.
Unbeknown to Felice, the problem had meant that his body had been
fuelled by just an eighth of the blood and oxygen supply needed to
survive. Having opted for an examination on little more than a hunch
that something was wrong, Felice was told that without immediate
treatment it was unlikely he’d have survived another year. Indeed, at
the very moment Felice was undergoing surgery, Bird was in Maine
mastering the album with Ludwig. As Felice recalls, “He wanted to stay
with me at the hospital until I came to, but I told him to get to Maine
and make sure this music gets out no matter what happened to me.”
Happily, Felice is now on the road to recovery; his creativity freshly
inspired by his improving health.

The band’s many unforgettable shows included a headline appearance at
London’s Union Chapel and an attention-grabbing performance of album
favourite ‘The Morning That I Get To Hell’ on Later with Jools Holland.
The Duke & The King are set to return to Europe in
October/November.
Long Live The Duke & The King!