The Dowry

"Brotherly love would be the best way to describe The Dowry. The band consists of two sets of brothers who, along with love for each other, share the same love in music. Sean DiLeonardi and Phil Damery, members of The Dowry, met as roommates in college and both played music with their brothers. Since then, The Dowry has been together for three years. The band's shared passion for music and combined unique styles make them very difficult to categorize by genre. The Dowry claim that what makes this band of brothers so unique is that they do not force their music. By combining the two different styles of both sets of the DiLeonardis and the Damerys, they create almost a hybrid genre." - Chris Gajda of DEN News

"Peel back for one moment and go deep. See that soul within you, that little blue ball surrounded by spiking white lightning? How do you sooth that? The Dowry are a quick fix for all inner turmoil. The Circus & the Sea puts any small bumps into perspective with a tale of redemption through wrong doing. Theme albums automatically garner credit from myself, but a story album is a lofty precipice few have attempted.

"The Circus & the Sea is a David Lynchian tale divided into 3 pieces corkscrewed together by The Dowry's interesting mix of folk and haunting extras. The label of folk can corner a band into a lot of solo artists with acoustic six-strings, but thankfully not here. Trumpets, piano, mandolins, a melodica, concertina, scattered drums and percussion lift this folk to apparitious highs. A melding that is ghost-folk.

"Let's return to that little blue ball you carry on your back everyday. Can you feel the white lightning dissipating? The ache in your chest floating out through your throat when you connect with The Dowry's The Circus & The Sea. The floating heights it goes through it aural instrumentation is marvelously bittersweet. Really easy to understand and right now a personal favorite. This dowry you'll actually get more than you pay for. - Jim Jacka of Impose Magazine (August 2007)

"This is a really cool idea. I know that other bands have done the concept, storybook album before, but The Dowry actually have this set up as a story, full of lyrical prose that goes along with the music. The story is a decent one, but the music far outshines it (I could also be much too tired to interpret anything from the story).

" The Dowry lay things back with soft but emotional indie folk country rock, led by the powerful and mesmerizing vocals of Sean DiLeonardi. The music sometimes goes through the bare minimum, which only helps its cause, as the minimal approach works incredibly well for these guys. I really love how DiLeonardi just takes control of all these songs and gets this story across, adding so much more audible enjoyment to the story at hand.

" I really appreciate bands who think outside the box, and The Dowry are pretty far from where most bands are right now. The music backs up the idea, and The Dowry are well on their way to popular musical aspirations." - The Playlist Dot Net

“'Have another glass of wine, I’ve got a story and I’m sure you’ve got the time', Sean DiLeonardi sings on 'Cigarette', the first song of The Dowry’s debut album The Circus & The Sea. His fragile voice goes on to sing about 'love and loss and life and crime' with an acoustic guitar strumming in the background. A concept album is a quite ambitious for a debut, but the story-in-three-parts that the Bloomington, IL band tackles here holds up beautifully due to strong sense of songwriting and style. The songs paint a picture for you of a dusty old western bar and themes of depravity and redemption flow through it’s entirety.

"My favorite stretch of the album begins with 'Pleasure Island' an upbeat song about a town where they 'do what they please and they say what they mean' that ends with an accidental killing after shooting rounds into air. The rolling piano and the twangy guitar serves as a backdrop for this tune, that also features a very catchy chorus and some seemingly Johnny Cash-inspired lyrics. If you’re a fan of Murder By Death, then you’ll probably recognize this dusty western road style sung with deep, burrowing vocals, but I’d also recommend The Dowry to those who favor the passion and emotional investment in the story that Okkervil River portrays." - Music For People Who Can't Read Good
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"One of the state's most recent contributions to traditional music is from The Dowry, in their debut release The Circus & the Sea (Thinker Thought). A concept album, the disc tells the story of a restless search for beauty and meaning, eventually exposing the illusion of two metaphors for escape. The song "3 Graves for Evelyn" is a nice take on the folk-style child-death ballad." - Michael Meade of Skyscraper Magazine

"I've had the music of the band The Dowry ruminating and stewing in my head for the last month or so, but was unsure if I'd ever get up the gumption to do a post. But the band's in town this weekend to support their new release The Circus and the Sea and are playing Heartland Cafe, so that's a perfect opportunity to link to a song and encourage you to check out their music.
The Dowry are from downstate Illinois and record for a decent little label called Thinker Thought Records. The nearest contemporary band that shares their love of pirate sea shanties and gothic Americana is probably Murder by Death but at times you'll be able to hear a bit of the gypsy punk of Gogol Bordello (especially the song 'Pleasure Island')." - Transmission: Gapers Block
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"This shit plain out rocks . . . has quickly become one of my most listened to bands of 2005."
- AMP Magazine (March/February 2005) - AMP Magazine