The Hobo Nephews

Sing! Review

Vail, CO, Colorado
February 11, 2008


The Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank
“Sing!” Consider It Correspondence

4 stars of 5

There is something enchanting about “Sing!,” the latest release from Minnesota’s Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank. There is simply no reason not to like the simple pleasure of these eleven tracks and the lazy, rainy summer images they provoke.

The Hobo Nephews are not a cheap imitation of folk-rock legends nor are they the messiahs of a musical revolution. They are of the same breed of songwriters that put folk on the map and I’ll be damned if they haven’t written some of the most beautiful and captivating songs I’ve heard in a long time.

From the romping, stomping opener “Uncle Frank’s Basement” to the melancholy, vibrato-laden guitar of “Rocking Chair,” “Sing!” is a solid country-folk album that can be enjoyed for many repeat listenings.

Watch them live at the Sandbar in West Vail on Feb. 19 when they open for Trampled By Turtles.

For: Fans of Bob Dylan, Alison Krauss and electric folk music.

— Charlie Owen, High Life writer



Hobo Nephews Article:

Stripped-down, folk rock music comes to Vail

The Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank perform With Trampled By Turtles in Vail Tuesday night

The Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank bring their “dirty folk ’n’ roll” to the Sandbar in West Vail on Tuesday night. The band is known for their stripped-down, raw sound.

Charlie Owen
Vail CO, Colorado
February 17, 2008

One brother likes rap, the other likes heavy metal, but together they write ... folk music. Huh?

They are Ian Thomas Alexy and Teague Alexy, brothers and founding members of The Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank, a Minnesota-based band that relies on a bare-bones, old-timey sound to separate itself from the pack. Drummer Paul Grill rounds out the line-up, adding a percusive depth to the music unattainable by the Alexy brother’s strings.

“We’re just trying to keep it simple and play simple really well,” said Teague Alexy, who sings and plays acoustic guitar and harmonica in the band.

The Hobo Nephews play Tuesday night at the Sandbar in Vail — one stop on a 22-stop tour — with another band from Minnesota, Trampled By Turtles.

Capturing the sound of a by-gone era that neither brother experienced firsthand isn’t as hard as it sounds because they limit the type and amount of instruments used, Alexy said. Their latest album, “Sing!,” is a testament to the band’s ability to write stripped-down folk-rock songs that actually sound like they were written during the depression, not by two young men who grew up in New Jersey in the technology age. “Sing!” sounds raw and unpolished while bringing together the typical elements of folk, bluegrass and country with instruments like the mandolin and fiddle.

“A lot of the songs we hand-picked people to come in to help us kind of capture that sound,” Alexy said.

This ability to pick and choose guest musicians, coupled with the total control they had in the production of “Sing!” is what makes it a great album, Alexy said.

Invaluable experiences
Even though The Hobo Nephew’s music is nowhere in the realm of hip-hop or heavy metal, Alexy acknowledges that without the brother’s prior influences and experiences, they wouldn’t be able to write a lot of their songs. He said that without his background in old-school hip-hop and reggae, many of the lyrics on their new album would never have come into existence.

It’s not just the brother’s musical history that shapes their sound, though. Over their lifetimes the brotheres have traveled much of the country and seen things that New Jersey would never be able to have shown them. It was through these travels that much of their music was born.

“Experience is invaluable to songwriting in general,” Alexy said.

Shaping those experiences into something that the rest of the world relates to is the hard part. Often, Alexy said, it’s hard for people to relate to the constant road life of a musician. Finding that common ground is part of the songwriter’s job.

“If you’re just kind of following where the music takes you and where the road is laid out before you it seems that all the experiences happen along with it. And the places where the music takes you and the people that you meet because of that, you know, that can be really strong for your songwriting,” Alexy said.

Feeling lucky
In the short two-and-a-half years since the Hobo Nephews came together as a band, they have come a long way. For starters, they have been able to avoid the sibling struggles so common in most family bands. They are accumulating a fan-following, especially in Minnesota, and they have already released two albums with an EP titled “One For The Time Capsule” on the way. But it hasn’t been easy. Because the two brothers come from different musical backgrounds, they’ve had to overcome some differences in style and ego to get this far.

“I think it’s going good ... I feel lucky jus - Vail Daily

With Roots, Not Quite Homeless
By: Brigid Marshall
The Daily Iowan
Posted: 2/21/08


Duluth-based The Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank has traveled far and wide, from the tundra of Minnesota to Montana, Colorado, Wisconsin, Kansas, and Iowa promoting its latest 2007 venture *Sing!*.

The Americana folk trio plans to stop and rock for its first time at the Iowa City Yacht Club, 13 S. Linn St., today at 9 p.m.

"I feel great about playing in Iowa City," said vocalist Teague Alexy. "I could be way off here, but I get the feeling that Iowa City is similar to Duluth because of how the people support local music so much."

The booming independent music scene in the Twin Cities partially drew Alexy from his New Jersey homeland and later brought younger brother Ian Alexy.

"Teague and I created the Hobos, and I moved out to Minnesota in 2004 after going to college on the East Coast," said 30-year-old Ian Alexy. "We tried to find a place where we had common ground in music, and that ended up being roots music in Minnesota."

While the two originally looked at their duet as more of a side project, they quickly realized that family was much easier to count on and so titled themselves The Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank, after their uncle and their then-current financial state.

"It's definitely a goofy name that I get tired of explaining," Ian Alexy said. "Teague thought of it, and I thought it was hilarious - some people really like it, but it's kind of a curse, too."

Although it might be an odd band name, "at least it's original and doesn't sound like one of those old band names from the '40s like something about a junction," he said.
Having dropped a self-titled début album in 2005, recently releasing a sophomore effort in 2007, and now touring, the trio continually remembers to support each other.

"We figured out that we could only rely on each other more than anyone else," Ian Alexy said. "Our family's always been artistic and supportive - ours aren't the kind of parents who said you need to get this job and make this much money."

In the last year, the duo added drummer Paul Grill to the lineup after extensive unofficial auditions.

"He's very much a third brother," Teague Alexy said. "We're a very tightly knit group, so it makes traveling easier and really efficient."

The brothers agree that Grill's presence, as the third Hobo Nephew, has been a pleasure.

"We figure that the two of us were covering a lot of bases," Teague Alexy said. "We wanted a third player who could cover a lot of ground - be sort of a person-and-a-half, and Paul is perfect in every sense."

The band's signature sound takes form in what the members call "dirty folk 'n' roll" or rather, a mix of acoustic ballads with dirty-blues stomps.

"With our live setup, we play with two guitars and a drummer now," Ian Alexy said. "Teague tunes his guitar down, and mine is up with a capo, so we've got this really different sort of sound. The limitations that we have make it unique."

Ian Alexy studied jazz during college at both Berklie School of Music and Goddard College in Vermont, so most of his skills from can't be translated into The Hobo Nephews.

"It's weird; it's like in college, things get so academic, and you forget where your heart is," Ian Alexy said. The singer/songwriter has dabbled with jazz since then, but between him and his brother, they plan to stick to their roots music.

"Our band's sort of evolved organically," he said, hesitating. "Until we made that first album, we didn't have much direction, but now we do."

E-mail DI reporter Brigid Marshall at:
brigid-marshall@uiowa.edu © Copyright 2008 Daily Iowan
- Daily Iowan

By Todd Beemis

The Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank's self-titled record features some of what you might expect from artists who bill their music as "Minnesota Roots." There's talk of cold, corn, iron, and Chevys, bookended by recordings of actual freight trains, no doubt hauling ore and coal from mines located just over that next low hill.

What you might not expect, however, is the fact that the record is loosely built around the concept of lead singer Teague Alexy's arrival at his brother's house in Holyoke, MN. There are answering machine message samples and lyrics that allude to this.

As a Midwesterner myself, I was pleasantly reminded of the relentless optimism that so many of my regional kinfolk espouse. Lyrics like "Gonna take a chevy up there, gonna drive a cadillac down" from "Gold in the Hills" is a perfect example of that. Similarly, the hard life of pit mine laborers described in "Relic of the Past" -- iron mines closing, winter coming, debts mounting, "Steel and whiskey in my veins" -- it's the kind of lament that only the upper Midwest can give birth to.

There is clearly a Grateful Dead influence here, whether it's the stoney lilt in Teague Alexy's vocals, the cacaphonous waltzes, or the mandolins and electric guitars dancing around the maypole together. This is most evident in "Northern Train" but continues throughout in bits and pieces.

By far the most shocking moment on the record comes at its end, in the form of "Down the Trail". With voicemail samples of beat poet stalwart -- and Minnesota native -- Diamond Dave Whitaker, you might expect it to be experimental. But this is like John Cage meets Grandpa Jones. There's a full two minutes of nothing but a recorded freight train passing by, immediately reminiscent of O. Winston Link's classic train recordings. But Link never included African beats, strange percussions and other bits and bobs of instrumentation. It might drive some people to zing the CD into the neighbor's yard, but I loved the audacious, primitive experimentation of it all and wished for more.

As a whole, this debut record shows a band that has the basics down cold (no pun intended on Minnesota) and who seems ready to push the envelope with that basic vocabulary to create new and interesting soundscapes. That's a noble goal and I hope they continue to build on "Down the Trail's" strange but delightful promise.

Style: Roots Folk

Quote: "There is clearly a Grateful Dead influence here, whether it's the stoney lilt in Teague Alexy's vocals, the cacaphonous waltzes, or the mandolins and electric guitars dancing around the maypole together." - Indie-Music.com

Matthew R. Perrine Budgeteer News
Published Friday, November 02, 2007

Teague Alexy is on one “heck” of a roll. Less than a year after the shining hour that was “The New Folklore” — which he recorded with St. Paul’s the Feelin — the Duluth singer/songwriter has come back swinging with “Sing!”

But Teague’s only half of the winning equation this time around. “Sing!” is actually a product of the Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank, the moniker given to his expectations-defying songwriting partnership with Ian, his equally talented brother.

And the brothers Alexy waste no time on this, their second record together. Straight from the get-go, “Uncle Frank’s Basement,” it’s obvious that “Sing!” is a record for the ages.

It’s cliché to compare any musicians operating in and around the Northland to Duluth’s most famous native son, but I put it out there because any fan of Mr. Bobby Dylan will undoubtedly adore the Hobo Nephews.

They possess a jangly, freewheelin’ authenticity that hasn’t been heard since his early years … and, hey, those stockings won’t stuff themselves come December!

Crass commercialism aside, “Sing!” is a refreshing step in the right direction for a genre that’s become all too predictable.

That’s not to say that all the elements of today’s best folksy and/or rootsy Americana records aren’t present, but the Hobo Nephews deploy all the old tricks with a vigor that demands your attention.

Though there are many standouts, “2010” is especially rewarding. First of all, it’s an all-star collaboration, featuring the talents of both Minneapolis vocalist Molly Maher and the album’s engineer, Erik Koskinen, a phenomenal jack-of-all-trades (and celebrated singer/songwriter in his own right). I know, I know; it’s starting to sound like a Nelly single, but the track’s “busyness” never implodes on itself. The results are pure gold; a groovy — almost danceable — genre-buster of epic proportions.

Elsewhere, the results are equally as engaging. The country-tinged “Drifting Away,” which features impeccable contributions from the Floorbirds (as does “Heaven Tries”), is as bittersweet as they come.

Together with “Love Don’t Kill,” a Sunday drive anthem if I ever did hear one, an undeniable fact emerges: The Hobo Nephews are the new kings of Highway 61.

“Sing!” is out now. For a free download of “2010,” visit www.teaguealexy.com.
- Duluth Budgeteer News

Family RIFF

After years apart musically, two brothers found harmony in their acoustic folk/blues duo the Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank.

By Chris Riemenschneider, Star Tribune

For most brothers who start a band, the advantage of growing up in the same house is usually also growing up on the same musical path -- same records, same instruments, same posters on the wall.

Teague and Ian Alexy, however, might as well have grown up in different countries.

"I'd be in one room with my friends trying to make rap music," Teague recalled of their teen years, "and he'd be in the other room with loud, out-of-tune guitars playing metal and later grunge."

Even now that they've outgrown the flavors of their youth, the Alexys still aren't on exactly the same musical page. But they're close enough to have created something special.

Their duo is called the Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank (more on the name later), and it has nothing to do with either rap or hard rock. It's an all-acoustic act that bounces around in rootsy folk and blues territory, with a heavy dose of Dylan and "American Beauty"-fied Dead.

As evidenced by the brothers' rousing sophomore album "Sing!" the floppy-hatted, hemp-jewelry-wearing Teague is more the bluesman in the group, while the cleaner-cut Ian delivers most of the folkier, twangier stuff. Somehow, they strike a perfect balance on the new CD, which they're promoting tonight at the 400 Bar.

"Teague wanted the record to be more like the music he's been listening to lately, like Sonny Boy Williamson and old Muddy Waters," Ian recalled, "but I'd been playing a lot of Gram Parsons and Willie Nelson and country-ballad kind of records. So we each sort of did our own thing."

Said Teague, "I needed his guitar playing for what I wanted to do -- he's one of the best guitarists I know -- and he needed me to sing harmony. It's a good tradeoff."

Mostly by coincidence, the Alexy brothers took a trajectory opposite to Dylan's, moving from the East Coast to the North Shore. They grew up in a tourist town near Atlantic City, N.J., called Somer's Point (where, to add to the Dylan linkage, the Band was playing when Bob picked them to be his backing band in 1966).

Ian, 31, left to study music at Goddard College in Vermont and (for just one year) Berklee College of Music. Teague, 35, bounced around the country a bit before settling down with his wife, Michelle, and their two daughters in the town of Holyoke, Minn., 30 minutes southeast of Duluth.

After trying his hand at playing jazz with "all the other overly academic musicians" around Vermont, Ian said, he moved to Duluth to be nearer to Teague -- and to the kind of town that would foster Charlie Parr, he said. Teague was already making a name for himself playing with Teague Alexy & the Feeling Band, but he jumped at the chance to form the Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank with Ian three years ago.

The name was a joke that stuck, for better or worse. The hobo part isn't really true. ("We're both traveling musicians," Teague said with a laugh, "but we travel by car, not freight train.") But there really is an Uncle Frank, who, for one, gets a kick out of the band moniker.

"When we were kids, he'd sleep on our couch if he needed a place to stay," Ian recalled. "When Teague and I got older, there were different times when either of us needed a little help and stayed at Frank's place, almost like repaying the favor."

Not only does Frank get a nod in the band name, he's also the subject of the CD's foot-tapping, harp-blown opening tune, "Uncle Frank's Basement." Teague brings to life the ol' down-but-not-out lifestyle, singing, "So I slept in a crooked bed/ And I woke with a crooked grin/ To one familiar face saying, 'Baby, how you been?'"

Teague's rollicking grit gives way to Ian's lonesome harmonies in the second song, "Go on Back Home," and the two continue to trade off like that throughout the 11-track collection. Ian's shining moment is the Dylanesque downer "Love Don't Kill." Teague lights up a great duet with Molly Maher in the equally Dylanesque (but in a different way), future-fearing track "2010," which also features guitar work by ace picker and co-producer Erik Koskinen.

Despite their continued differences, the Alexys are content they've found common ground.

"I think if we were trying to play more modern music, like a pop-rock thing or whatever, we'd probably butt heads more," Teague said, "but at least we share the common goal of playing rootsy, acoustic, simpler songs."

Said Ian, "It's probably easy for us because we've always been tight in a personal sense and gotten along well."

That's more than a lot of brothers in bands can say.


chrisr@startribune.com • 612-673-4658

© 2007 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.
- Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)

Sibling harmony from the hobos
October 11, 2007
Meet these Hobo Nephews: He's a little bit country, and he's little bit blues.
By Chris Riemenschneider
Handout photo
For most brothers who start a band, the advantage is usually growing up on the same musical path: same records, same instruments, same posters. Teague and Ian Alexy, however, might as well have grown up in different countries.

"I'd be in one room with my friends trying to make rap music," Teague recalled of their teen years, "and he'd be in the other room with loud, out-of-tune guitars playing metal and later grunge."

Even now, the Alexys still aren't on exactly the same musical page. But they're close enough to have created something special. Their duo, the Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank, has nothing to do with either rap or hard rock. It's an all-acoustic act that bounces around in rootsy folk and blues, with a heavy dose of Dylan and Dead.

The band plays at the 400 Bar Saturday.

Teague is more the bluesman in the group, while Ian delivers most of the folkier, twangier stuff. Somehow, they strike a perfect balance on their new CD, "Sing!"Teague wanted the record to be more like the music he's been listening to lately, like Sonny Boy Williamson and old Muddy Waters," Ian recalled, "but I'd been playing a lot of Gram Parsons and Willie Nelson and country-ballad kind of records. So we each sort of did our own thing."

Said Teague, "I needed his guitar playing for what I wanted to do -- he's one of the best guitarists I know -- and he needed me to sing harmony. It's a good tradeoff."

The brothers took a trajectory opposite to that of Dylan, moving from the East Coast to northern Minnesota. They grew up in a tourist town near Atlantic City, N.J. Ian, 31, left to study music in Vermont. Teague, 35, bounced around the country before settling down with his wife and two daughters in Holyoke, Minn., not far from Duluth.

Ian moved to Duluth to be nearer to Teague -- and to the kind of town that would foster Charlie Parr, he said. Teague was making a name for himself playing with Teague Alexy & the Feeling Band, but he jumped at the chance to form the Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank with Ian.

The name was a joke that stuck. The hobo part isn't really true. But there really is an Uncle Frank, who, for one, gets a kick out of the band moniker.

"When we were kids, he'd sleep on our couch if he needed a place to stay," Ian recalled. "When Teague and I got older, there were different times when either of us needed a little help and stayed at Frank's place, almost like repaying the favor."

Frank is also the subject of the CD's foot-tapping, harp-blown opening tune, "Uncle Frank's Basement." Teague's rollicking grit gives way to Ian's lonesome harmonies in the second song, "Go on Back Home," and the two continue to trade off like that throughout the 11-track collection.

"I think if we were trying to play more modern music, like a pop-rock thing or whatever, we'd probably butt heads more," Teague said, "but at least we share the common goal of playing rootsy, acoustic, simpler songs."

Said Ian, "It's probably easy for us because we've always been tight in a personal sense and gotten along well."

That's more than a lot of brothers in bands can say.
- Vita.MN

The Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank SING!

Andrew Olson
Reader Weekly

This Friday night at Pizza Luce The Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank are releasing their second album titled Sing!

Released through Consider It Correspondence Records, this CD has an array of music styles complemented by a fundamental core of folk. It is easy listening, yet makes you tap your feet to the steady beats.

“Like all the CDs we release, we can only hope it will latch on with American culture, sell millions, and then be found immoral in some way by a conservative group somewhere,” Teague Alexy of the Hobos said. “And have piles of our CDs burned ceremoniously.”

The album begins with a honky-tonk twang of a tune titled, “Uncle Frank’s Basement.” When Alexy sings the lyrics, “I got a bunk in Uncle Frank’s basement back in Jersey,” you feel like he is reminiscing about his hometown.

His bunk in that Jersey “Basement” has a danceable beat and a Dylan feel from the harmonica and Alexy’s voice. Talking with him about the Dylan connection, he explained that his brother and fellow band mate Ian was the first to be introduced to that type of music.

“The first time I remember hearing Bob Dylan was when our dad gave Ian the Highway 61 record,” Alexy explained. “Ian loved it and was excited for me to hear it, I was such a hip-hop kid that I didn’t bother to listen to much else, but he was convinced I would like Dylan. So one morning when knew I was home he cranked it up, the problem was that I had been out drinking the night before and that voice coming through the walls just killed me…it wasn’t until a couple years later when I bought the same album for my birthday that I could believe how good it was.”

As for the song “Uncle Frank’s Basement” Alexy said, “I rewrote it that song twice, and usually when I start rewriting the song it ends up getting shelved. At first it was real literal about growing up in Jersey and it name-called some of out friends there, but I ended up trashing most of that for more wordplay and symbolism to put the song where it needed to be. A lot of my time there was confusing and without direction. It’s therapeutic to be able to meditate on it and put it into song. And to think of Uncle Frank throwing back a few Budweisers and telling people about the song puts a smile on my face a mile wide.”

The next song on the album, “Go On Back Home” is written and sung by Ian Alexy. This song rides the rails of a catchy train beat, and has a fiddle riding that steals the show from the caboose. That fiddle is played excellently by Ryan Young, who some may know from Trampled By Turtles or Pert Near Sandstone.

The train beat was no accident. When speaking with Alexy, he talked about how an artist in influenced by their surroundings.


“There is this cargo train line about 50 yards in front of my house and a train will roll by every hour or so,” Alexy said. “if you are an artist, your surroundings will always come through in your work, whether you mean them to or not. I have always adored train songs and I am glad that I did not write any before I lived near the tracks.”

Another song that stood out on the album was “Love Don’t Kill,” and Ian Alexy’s lyrics, “Love hurts but I guess it doesn’t kill.” It is a moody song and slower paced.

“Babydoll Blues” had a smooth electric guitar in the background accompanied by steady acoustic and maracas keeping the beat.

“Drifting Away” took the album into classic country and a Loretta Lynn when she did her album with Jack White feel. The lyrics slide with the guitar, “It’s your last cigarette, got a son you’ve never met, drifting away from your home.”

Alexy talked about how his brother Ian had listened to the album Van Lear Rose and some of the Hobo’s other influences. “When we are doing the Hobo Nephews we try and focus on people like Woody Guthrie, Sonny Boy Williamson, Hank Williams, Willie Nelson and also more contemporary people like Greg Brown.”

The album veers in a catchy direction with the Celtic feeling of “Lamous Fast” and it’s Dylan drinking song feel. Alexy explained the difference from their other influences on songs like “Lamous Fast.”

“The song “Lamous Fast” is kind of an Irish song that goes back to our Grandmom singing around the house and I don’t know if “Lamous Fast” or “Uncle Frank’s Basement” would have come out how they did if I didn’t rap for years. There is also a part of “Brakeman” where during Ian’s guitar solo he plays something that sounds like Thelonious Monk that he never would have pulled off if he hadn’t studied jazz. So we are trying to make blues and roots music, but are not afraid to let ourselves through in subtle ways…we did not grow up on a ranch in Texas or a cotton field in Mississippi and to try to make the music sound like we did would make it soulless.”

On the song “2010” Molly Maher provides a raspy voice that blends well with Teague Alexy’s. Maher’s voice had this snarl in it that gave even the maraca - Reader Weekly (Duluth, MN)