Music Austin

Reckless Kelly
Wicked Twisted Road (2005)
I'll be brief.

What's not to like? Great singers, great musicians, great songs with irresistible rocking beats. This band has proven itself many times and Wicked Twisted Road is true Reckless Kelly quality coming at you one more time.

I don't know if it is the men of Reckless Kelly or some marketing genius at Sugar Hill Records, but Reckless Kelly albums always seem to come with some nice extra touches. This time there is a board game and a tiny die (as in roll the dice) in the jewel case, as well as a bonus video showing the band up to its usual comedic mayhem. They don't need to go to the extra bother to produce a good record, however, since their musical chops tell all the story that needs to be told.

So get it, you'll be glad you did.

From Freight Train Boogie (4.5 out of 5)

RECKLESS KELLY
Wicked Twisted Road… (Sugar Hill)

There seems to be a trend lately where albums start off slow with a somber ballad rather then the usual upbeat tune. I consider Austin's Reckless Kelly to be a fairly young and rowdy band, but they start this new CD with no less than 3 rather “mellow” songs. I was wondering who neutered these guys. But by the fifth tune, they really get rockin', letting the testosterone roar a little, even pushing it too far into ZZ Top land. Neither extreme really grabs me like the 3 or 4 mid-tempo roots rocker gems that really make their fourth CD a keeper. The band still centers on the brother team Willy (guitar and lead vocals), and Cody Braun (fiddle, mando and harmonies) Willy's voice is very similar to Steve Earle's and on these few songs he even reaches his level of brilliant melodic song craft. This CD'll sneak up on you and won't let go ‘til you fall in love with it.

www.freighttrainboogie...url][/url]

Record Review: Reckless Kelly, 'Wicked Twisted Road'
San Antonio Express-News
(Sugar Hill)

Road songs, a staple of roots music, can get tedious but quick. Reckless Kelly, "hick rock" purveyors from Austin by way of Idaho, built album No. 5 around a road song.

But it behooves listeners to pay attention. RK front men, brothers Cody and Willy Braun, literally grew up on the tour road working in their dad's band.

Eschewing the "beer, Texas, tequila, Mexico, yee haa" party country/rock of many of its peers, RK has crafted a masterful collection of songs that talk about the road (the title track, "Seven Nights in Erie"), pay tribute to influences ("Motel Cowboy Show"), deal with lost love ("These Tears," "Nobody Haunts Me Like You") and throw a new twist on love and armed robbery ("Sixgun"). The lyrics are cool, clever and catchy.

Remaining true to their hick-rock ethos, RK goes from twang to full-out rock 'n' roll to combinations thereof and do so with the kind of art and craftsmanship that makes songs stick. And the CD package also is a game. Yee haa.

***3/4

Title:Reckless Kelly - Wicked Twisted Road
Description:
Maturing like a fine, barrel aged ale, brothers Cody and Willy Braun continue driving their "hick rock" down a new, Wicked Twisted Road. And while you may mistake Reckless Kelly for the Drive-By Truckers on the raspy, razor sharp country rocker "Nobody Haunts Me Like You," most of these tunes present a feast of slow-burning guitars and harmonica. Fiddles and mandolin set "Seven Nights In Eire" aglow, while "A Lot To Ask" is smothered with the brothers' standout harmonies, relating sagas of love lost and found. Their fourth album finds Reckless Kelly reunited with producer Ray Kennedy (Steve Earle), whose ear for organic, rough-around-the-edges sensibilities suits the band perfectly. (Sugar Hill)
~MilesofMusic.com

“If Rascal Flatts is country music's clean cut, commercially palatable Beatles, then Reckless Kelly is the genre's Rolling Stones; grittier, more authentically influenced, rawer at the core even when their output is every bit as polished.” –Country Standard Time

Review: Reckless Kelly channels Pinto Bennett
By CHRIS TALBOTT, Associated Press Writer

Tuesday, February 9, 2010
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(02-09) 12:57 PST , (AP) --

"Somewhere In Time," Reckless Kelly (Yep Roc)

The great thing about the roots music movement in America is the little-known and regional voices exposed to wider audiences.

Reckless Kelly does us all a favor with its latest, "Somewhere In Time." The album is made up completely of songs written by Pinto Bennett, an overlooked country songwriter from Boise, Idaho, whose adroit music deserves a closer look.

Two of the band's members, Willy and Cody Braun, grew up in Idaho and were exposed to Bennett's music long ago. Bennett was a hit in Europe, but never really caught on in the U.S., and that's a shame.

The music as channeled by the Austin, Texas-based band is fun, poignant, authentic and completely deserving of this tribute, which comes on the heels of Reckless Kelly's most commercially successful album, 2008's "Bulletproof."

The album opens with the heavy rocker "Little Blossom," the story of a life spinning out of control, bounces along with "Bird on a Wire," and gets all deep with "Some People's Kids." Bennett's at his best, though, when his wry humor comes to the forefront on songs like "I've Done Everything I Could Do Wrong" and "I Hold The Bottle, You Hold The Wheel."

Here's hoping "Somewhere In Time" brings a little more attention to Bennett.

Country Weekly

Reckless Kelly
Somewhere in Time
Somewhere in Time by Reckless Kelly

It’s easy for a band to break new creative ground with its own songs—it’s harder to do when playing an album’s worth of cover tunes. Indeed, the Texas roots-rockers manage to pay an admirable musical tribute to the songs of Idaho cult favorite Pinto Bennett and his Famous Motel Cowboys, while infusing them with fresh touches of Texas twang and Western swing. Willy Braun’s vocals resemble a smokier Toby Keith, and are especially evocative on the fiddle-laced Bakersfield shuffle of “I Hold the Bottle, You Hold the Wheel” and the dramatic “Pure Quill.” Pinto Bennett himself joins in on “Thelma,” backed only by an acoustic guitar.

I'm ambivalent about Willy B. being compared to TK in any way.....I'm sure they mean it as a compliment since it's Country Weekly, but......

amalia wrote:

I'm ambivalent about Willy B. being compared to TK in any way.....I'm sure they mean it as a compliment since it's Country Weekly, but......

The one before that was more offensive. Rascall Flatts is to the Beatles what RK is to the Rolling Stones. That person should be fired on both accounts.

VinnyTheShark wrote:

The one before that was more offensive. Rascall Flatts is to the Beatles what RK is to the Rolling Stones. That person should be fired on both accounts.

I thought the same thing.

Yeah I was certainly confused about that. I'm still waiting to see a review that says that RK did a good job writing these songs!!

allmusic.com

The fact that Reckless Kelly's raw, rootsy brand of country music has to be labeled "alternative country-rock" may say something about the sad state of things in that musical neighborhood; not that long ago, it seems like it would have just been called country music, or maybe "outlaw country" à la Waylon Jennings or Billy Joe Shaver -- or Pinto Bennett, the legendary Idaho singer/songwriter in whose honor Reckless Kelly put together this collection of songs. Bennett gave the group counsel and support in its early days, and the band returns the favor with this stellar album dedicated to his compositions. There are really no weak tracks here: the honky tonk lament "I've Done Everything I Could Do Wrong," the flat-out rocking "Ballad of Elano DeLeon," and the Mavericks-sounding "Bird on a Wire" would all be the highlight tracks on any other band's album, and even the slightly seasick waltz "Somewhere in Time" manages to rock powerfully. Willy Braun's chesty lead vocals are a big part of Reckless Kelly's winning sound: he stays just close enough to the country mainstream with his resonant baritone and moderate twang, but ventures at will into rockier vocal terrain as well. Lead guitarist David Abeyta treads a similarly fuzzy boundary between forward-thinking rockism and the country verities, and good for both of them. The result is a country-rock album that's as satisfying as a 12-ounce steak with a big pile of mashed potatoes.