Reckless Kelly
The five members of Reckless Kelly didn't undertake any grand act of musical reconciliation when they went into the studio to record their fifth album, Wicked Twisted Road. Listeners can feel free to parse the new album however they choose; talking about it, as is so often the case with the best music, doesn't really do it justice. It mostly bristles with the muscular, idiosyncratic energy and inventiveness that has led the band to become one of Texas' most dynamic and relentlessly entertaining live acts.
Of Reckless Kelly, a critic for Music Row magazine wrote, "Rootsy, jangly country-rock, with all its punch in place. In my perfect world, this is what country radio would sound like." The Reader's Poll, conducted annually by the Austin Chronicle, named the group Best Roots-Rock Band for five years running (and they captured the award once more last year). The Detroit News and Free Press inquired, "Who knew alt.country could be so much fun?" The (Nashville) Tennessean referred to their "passionate twang-rock with a striking blend of churlish guitar, acoustic instruments, bluesy rock and memorable melodies." And, Joe Ely, who should know, lauded them as "My kind of band: Hell-raising, hard playing, kick-ass songwriting, feet firmly in the present but with an amazing knowledge of where it has all come from. What," he asked reasonably enough, "else is there?"
Willy and Cody Braun were raised as heirs to a musical tradition. They grew up touring and playing with their father's band, Muzzie Braun and the Boys, across the Big Sky country of Idaho and Montana. They opened for the likes of Merle Haggard, played the Grand Ole Opry and even appeared twice on The Tonight Show in the Johnny Carson era. Family friends like singer-songwriter Chris Wall (who would later introduce them around Austin) and Pinto Bennett (whose band, the Motel Cowboys, would prove a huge RK influence) watched Willy and Cody learn about life from a rolling motor home, and saw their innate love of music begin to blossom.
The group released its first album, Millican, in 1997; it sold over 20,000 copies, a formidable sum for a debut album on an indie label by a fledgling band. Acoustic: Live At Stubb's followed in 2000, as did The Day the same year. All three albums found the band refining their sound; Millican was infused with country and folk influences, while The Day layered on cranked-up electric guitars (Acoustic, with its 16-minute version of "Whole Lotta Love," was more a souvenir for the fans, but fascinating in its own right).
Now, Wicked Twisted Road is a bid to take everything up to a new level. Although they frequently perform on the same stage as Robert Earl Keen, Kevin Fowler, Jack Ingram, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Pat Green and the rest of the A-list of Texas country-rock, the members of Reckless Kelly don't feel themselves unnecessarily confined by the "Texas Music" label. Their vision is coast-to-coast.
"We do more gigs out of Texas than we do in," said Willy Braun, citing Reckless Kelly hotbeds in Oregon and Washington, New York, Connecticut, Chicago and Florida.
Be that as it may, last summer the band got to go on the road with some true Lone Star icons, opening a series of shows for ZZ Top. The opportunity gave the band a glimpse of one possible future. “It is inspiring to see Billy Gibbons still going out there and kicking ass after doing it for 35 or 40 years," marveled Willy.
The Braun brothers, who were literally raised on the road, and the rest of Reckless Kelly, know that such careers are built one Saturday night at a time. Wicked Twisted Road documents a band that's ready to go the distance.