(Team Love) www.team-love.com

When music fans talk about bar bands, they usually point to groups with ringing power chords like the Hold Steady or R&B horn sections like Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes. But not every bar is in the urban Midwest or on the shore. The Felice Brothers are the perfect band for that other kind of bar – the one that’s on a dirt road in a small town where everybody knows each other. Their third album is full of acoustic guitars, ragtime horns, accordions and sing-along choruses, the rootsy music looking back to Dylan and The Band’s Basement Tapes and Muswell Hillbillies-era Kinks. And for the most part, they nail it. The ballads are tender and the upbeat stuff is a blast.  So grab a glass – or even better, a flask – and join the party.

Standout Tracks: “Frankie’s Gun,” “Whiskey In My Whiskey” HAL BIENSTOCK