Celebration, Florida

Palenville, NY’s most famous alt-country band are stretching their reach with Celebration, Florida. The group members have always carefully aligned themselves with their Woodstock neighbors the Band and their graceful sense of Americana, while cautiously steering their own sound towards a vague contemporary feel more in line with their relative youth. While the album title pays tribute to Disney’s development near Disneyworld, a song such as “Cus’s Catskill Gym” sends them back to the Catskill, NY of their youth, where Cus D’Amato once coached Mike Tyson. “Fire at the Pageant” throws in a vague hip-hop rhythm next to the band’s celebratory offering. “Back In the Dancehalls” is a sparse work that sounds like a meeting of old-time country, hip-hop beats and ambient synths. “Oliver Stone” is the sound of Bob Dylan’s 1960’s ghost finding its home in a nearly broken ballad. “River Jordan” is the epic you expect from these secular Pentecostals.