Emerging from the ashes of his first stint in The Black Crowes, Marc Ford teamed up with singer/songwriter Luther Russell to form the powerhouse known as Federale. The pair wrote and recorded several songs together and performed some stellar shows to captivated crowds. Interscope Records came knocking in early 1999 and it seemed that Federale was poised for greatness.
The stars were not aligned for Federale, however. After recording demos together (included here as “The Ventura Sessions”), inner turmoil at Interscope Records lead to interest in the band being abandoned. Ford and Luther went their separate ways and Federale was no more. Ford would incorporate some of the songs he wrote for Federale into his solo release over the following years, but sadly the band would never drift back together.
For links to show downloads and setlist information, please click here.
State of Amorica Archive 
This is awesome! I had these files before but I think they were lost when my hard drive crashed. I think this band had loads of potential, way beyond what these demos reveal. The live show recordings are sensational. I have one from Bogarts in Cincinnati…I think it was the first night they opened for Gov’t Mule. Not the best sound but it has a few other great songs on it.
I actually made a live compilation CD around 1999 called “Have you listened to Ford lately”. I made around 30 free copies for various traders and I know it was traded around for a little while. There were 4 or 5 Federale songs on it.
Also noticed that Luther Russell released a double CD recently that has what appear to be Federale recordings of Smoke Signals and Anymore, Anyway. I’ll be buying it….but until it arrives it’s on Spotify. Luther said in a blog that he has “a whole other CD’s worth of stuff” from those sessions.
Would be great to see these guys get back together and do something. Marc is busy with Magpie Salute right now, but maybe something will materialize in the future. I always thought it was such a travesty to have this album worth of timeless material, played by a band with great chemistry just sitting on a shelf.
Hey man! Thanks for checking out the site! So sorry for the super delayed reply, but I did not see your comment until just now. The Federale stuff is absolutely wonderful. I did not know Luther Russell had released some of that material officially. I’ll have to seek that out. Thanks for the heads up! If you’re a fan of Luther Russell, please pay close attention to the State of Amorica podcast in the near future as I think you will be pleasantly surprised!
Is the song “Bajar” really a Federale recording?? (just heard it on your YouTube channel) Is that checked? I’m asking this because it turns out to be a cover of an early 70s song of argentinian genius Luis Alberto Spinetta (actually called “Bajan”) realeased as his band “Pescado Rabioso” third album (though they had disbanded before the recordings).
I am a big Marc fan, but never heard of this one, and as a big Pescado Rabioso fan, I hope it’s real.
Hey there! As far as I know, this is an original Federale recording. Thanks for checking out the site!