This San Francisco based band was formed in 2012 around singer-songwriters/ guitarists Christa DiBiase (a native of Portland, Maine, born and raised in a very musical and large Italian family; until junior high school, she played the flute, and switched to drums when a girlfriend asked her to join her band; since moving to San Francisco, she played with Girlband and the celebrated drum/guitar duo Sassy; picked up the guitar a couple of ears ago, and found herself amazed at the Country feel in the songs she composed) and Amanda Guilbeaux (also from a musical family, originally from Louisiana, which moved to Colorado; played clarinet as a youngster; Rock and Metal albums of her older brother, plus the music of Neko Case inspired her to learn the piano and writing her own material; once arrived in San Francisco, she played with the eclectic/ experimental acts Blue Rabbit, Poor Sweet Creatures and The Comet Empire; in recent years, she too picked up the guitar, and found her song material to come out more melodic and structured around the lyrics), who got together being inspired by each other's life stories, the heartaches and uncanny similarities they share (a love for animals, the outdoors, Dolly Parton, and vodka martinis among the more important issues)!
Stylistically, the girls play a Country-based music which occasionally gets a more Rocking, and which also has an overall feel of Blues through the lyrical content. Somehow however, the girls' vocal harmony makes one forget that they're singing about their past and/ or current woes and worries. One reviewer described Sweet Felony as sweetening “...Byrd-esque Country & Western with Everly Brothers-style harmonies...”, and somehow that seems to fit in just right! On the album, the girls are backed lead guitarist Mike Ingram, bassist/ backing singer Carl Horne, and drummer Paul Horne. In live settings, the band has since expanded to include lap steel guitarist Hugh Caley in the line-up, and recently the drummer has been replaced by Jefferson Marshall (of Assemble Head In Sunburst Cloud – a psychedelic Rock act which I first came across during last year). For your aural introduction to the band, you'll find the complete album posted at Bandcamp (link can be found in the “Music” section of (www.) facebook.com/SweetFelony), and a video of the album's song “Love On” is posted on YouTube (link on the band's ReverbNation page).
Since the recording of the album, Sweet Felony have gone on to write the song “Run Zoe Run” for the film Zoe Goes Running (relating the adventures of one Zoe Romano, as she runs the route of the Tour De France). Find a short passage from that film on the homepage of the band's own (www.) sweetfelony.com!