The Wicked Twisted Humor of Reckless Kelly
Texas-Based Roots-Rockers Release New Album

By: Craig Shelburne

The five guys in Reckless Kelly have one main goal: "We want to get a bus," says lead singer and principal songwriter Willy Braun. "That's been the main goal of the band since we've started."

There's some elbow nudging among the other four guys until Braun adds one more thing: "Well, eventual world domination is the ultimate goal."

Talking to Reckless Kelly - one of Texas' most popular exports on the national roots-rock club scene -- is a lot like this. First you get a straight answer and then you get a funny answer. Or maybe it's the other way around.

Asked to describe a typical day in the life of the band, Braun says, "We wake up, hit the gym, put in some community service at the church or the local shelter. Giving back, basically. And then we hit church."

Everybody cracks up, but then he gives the real story. "Lately, we've been getting up driving somewhere, doing some radio interviews, go to a soundcheck, grab a bite to eat. Have a few cocktails, do the show and do it all over again."

The band currently travels in a 15-passenger Ford Econoline diesel van with a trailer. Braun and bassist Jimmy McFeeley are excused from driving responsibilities following some scrapes, which leaves guitarist David Abeyta, drummer Jay Nazz or utility player Cody Braun (another of the four Braun brothers; two others are in the up-and-coming Austin-based band Mickey & the Motorcars) behind the wheel.

Last year, Reckless Kelly -- named for an Australian outlaw -- played around 200 shows and expect to duplicate that effort in 2005, especially with a new album, Wicked Twisted Road. They'll be opening shows for Dwight Yoakam later this year and hope to schedule a European tour.

"I just leave the suitcase open. I do the laundry and put it back in," Abeyta says.

"I stay on the same schedule when I get home," Cody says, "even though we aren't working until 3 o'clock in the morning. If you stay on that schedule, it's not so hard when you get back on the road. If you go to bed at 9 and start getting 12 hours of sleep for three or four days, when you get back on the road, it kills you."

Wicked Twisted Road picks up where their previous effort, 2003's Under the Table and Above the Sun left off -- gruff vocals, fluid playing and skillful production that captures the energy of the live show, courtesy of Ray Kennedy. The band didn't play many of the songs in concert before recording them and mostly arranged them as they went along.

"We actually had to go back in and relearn the songs after we'd recorded them, to do them live," Willy says. "Go hit the rehearsal room for a couple of hours, and it all comes back pretty easy. Then we run 'em at soundcheck and work 'em in one at a time. You can't really throw in a whole bunch of new songs in one show anyway because you have to give the record a little time to breathe."

While Under the Table had a skeptical view of love, this album's first single, "Stick Around," is actually romantic. (They're shooting a video in Austin, Texas, next month.) The title track is Willy's metaphorical look at his life until now: Childhood in a family band, growing up in Idaho, his first hangover, seeing a girlfriend for the last time in the pouring rain. On a lighter note, they also pay tribute to the ultimate hippie fans in "Motel Cowboy Show," borrowing the name of one of their favorite bands.

Don't worry. These guys aren't getting sappy. Nazz is working on a video exposé about scandals in Austin, but he doesn't want to reveal any further details. "People's jobs are going to be on the line," he says, causing another round of laughter. They're also stocking their Web site with original mini-movies -- "for people who want to see how stupid we really are," Cody says. They're also learning film editing, so they can launch their own show called Close Enough Construction.

"Basically all we do is turn everything into bars," Willy says.

"We almost guarantee everything that we do," Abeyta adds.

Willy takes it from there. "Our motto is: 'Another job almost completed by Close Enough Construction.'"

"You may have us over for a roofing project, but we're going to build a bar," Abeyta says.

In a bonus feature, the enhanced CD of Wicked Twisted Road includes a hilarious "documentary" at making (or perhaps not making) the new album. Plus, the CD booklet folds out into a board game with a tiny, red die packaged into the jewel case.

"We were just trying to think of something to get people to want to buy the record and have it in their hand, as opposed to stealing it or burning it or downloading it," Willy says. "You've got to give them a little something extra these days. We're going to get some drinking rules up on the Web site. We didn't want to put them on the CD for legal reasons, but we'll throw some on the Web site. Some people can do the drinking version, and the kids can do the Kool Aid version."

Killer!!!

Reckless Kelly : Cody Braun Interview

Reckless Kelly : Cody Braun : ACountry exclusive interview
February 8, 2005
by Jarrod Vrazel

Wicked Twisted Road, the new album from Reckless Kelly, hits the stores today (February 8, 2005). ACountry spoke with fiddle/mandolin extraordinaire Cody Braun this morning to discuss the new album and upcoming tour.



ACountry : How has the response been for the new songs at your live shows?

Cody: It's been really good. It's tough when you first start playing the songs - people aren't familiar with them yet, so it takes them a while to get the words and get into the tunes. It’s always better after the fans get the record and have it a week or two. Then you really see a lot more response to the songs. But, it’s been pretty good so far.

ACountry : I checked out the video that’s included on the CD. It looks like you had a great time recording it.

Cody: Yeah, we had a great time. It was fun. We’ve been making lots of little movies lately.

ACountry : Who’s idea was it to include the board game on the CD?

Cody: I think Willy and I came up with that. We were sitting around trying to think up ideas of how to get people to go out to the store and buy the record. With the internet and everything these days, it’s kind of hard to get people to go out and do that. We thought it would be fun to have something in there that they wouldn’t be able to get on the internet. We made it a collector’s item-type thing. It was a fun idea, and it came out really good.

ACountry: It definitely caught my attention when I opened it up and saw the little red die and read about the game pieces.

Cody: We sat down and played a game the other day and it works. We’re gonna make it a drinking game and post the rules on our website.

ACountry : They also included the rules on the CD. I’m sure you’ll have a lot of fans playing the CD while they play the game. It’s very unique.

Cody: It’s a lot of fun.

ACountry : How is preparing for the tour been different then recording?

Cody: Well, we recorded the record in June, so it’s been quite a while since we did that. We’ve just in the last few weeks been rehearsing in the studio, practicing, and getting the songs worked up. We didn’t work up a whole lot of them before recently. We knew the record wouldn’t be coming out until February, so we decided to hold off and wait, so the songs would be fresh to us and the fans.

ACountry : What will be the first single off Wicked Twisted Road?

Cody: I believe it’s, “Baby’s Got A Whole Lot More.”

ACountry : Is there a story behind including the reprise of the title track at the end of the CD?

Cody: It just kind of ties the room together. The “Wicked Twisted Road” song starts the record off and it’s about getting out and going on the road. The reprise is kinda like “it’s not so bad and we’re gonna keep on trucking.”

ACountry : That’s exactly the impression I had when I first heard it.

Cody: On the reprise, we added the rest of the band, and put some drums and other instruments in there.

ACountry: When I first heard the opening notes of the reprise, and realized what it was, the first thing that came to mind was Robert Earl Keen’s “The Road Goes on Forever.” It’s definitely a nice book end for the album.

Cody: Thanks. We had a hard time talking the record company into letting us arrange the songs that way. Normally you don’t start a record out with two slow songs. But, we stuck to it and kinda insisted on it.

ACountry : You seem to have some Eagles and 38 Special influences. Who are some of the bands who may have influenced the direction this album took?

Cody: For this record, I’d say a lot of our older influences. There are several songs on this record that we wrote about the same time we were doing Millican, our first record. So there are some older songs that Willy wrote back then, when we were listening to a lot of Steve Earle and Billy Joe Shaver and more on the alternative country edge. With the way the band has progressed, we’ve gotten a little more “rock n rolly” as the years have gone by. It’s all kinda old tunes with a new-improved band.

ACountry : The sound seems to be really fresh and very well put together. Congratulations on a fine product.

Cody: Thanks, Jarrod, I appreciate it.

ACountry : What can the fans expect from the live shows? More of what they’ve seen before, or are there any surprises in store?

Cody: We’re trying to get the live show hammered out with the new songs and get some lighting and other things to help add to the show. We’ve never really put on too many frills as far as the show goes. We’ve always gone out there, turned the amps on, and go. It’s gonna be more of the same at that, but we’re trying to make it more of a show as much as we can. It’s gonna be flat out rocking and rolling Reckless Kelly shows.

ACountry : This afternoon you’ll be over at Waterloo Records in Austin to kick things off.

Cody: Yes, it will be fun. We’re doing an in-store with the great folks over there. We’ve been doing that for a long time. It’s always fun to get free beer.

ACountry : Free beer and good music is hard to beat.

Cody: Free beer and free music!

ACountry : I’ll be seeing you next week in Houston, and I’m looking forward to hearing the new songs live. I hope the tour and the summer goes great for you. Best wishes on another great project.

Cody: Thanks a lot, Jarrod.

Reckless Kelly has many irons in musical fire
Corpus Christi Caller-Times (TX)
March 11, 2005
Author: CASSANDRA HINOJOSA, Caller-Times

The here and now is shining bright for the Austin-based hick rock, alt country band Reckless Kelly.

They're scheduled to perform a show with recent Grammy-winners Los Lonely Boys in Nashville and Las Vegas shows with Dwight Yoakam this year. But today, Reckless Kelly will take center stage at Executive Surf Club.

Their song "Wretched Again" off fifth album "Wicked Twisted Road" was used as lead-in music for CMT's "Wide Open Country."

On top of that, Reckless Kelly is launching a page on their Web site (www.recklesskelly.com) in upcoming weeks called RK TV to feature short comedy movies.

"We have a fishing show and a carpentry show," said the band's 28-year-old Cody Braun who plays fiddle, harmonica and acoustic and electric mandolins. "Willy's working on a cooking show."

Last month wasn't bad either for the band consisting of brothers Cody and Willy Braun (Willy is lead vocals who plays guitar, piano and mellotron), drummer and percussionist Jay Nazz, guitarist (electric, acoustic, slide and 12-string) David Abeyta and bassist Jimmy Jam McFeeley.

At their CD release party Feb. 13 at Antones in Austin, Blues Traveler's John Popper joined on the group on stage.

Reckless Kelly's first DVD, "8 More Miles" came out last summer, but gives fans a taste of the band's good times while on tour.

"It's just a bunch of live footage on the road and a bunch of us goofing off," Cody said. "It's more of a comedy than a serious concert DVD. ... You hear bands complaining how the road is so hard and so tough. It is, but for the most part, it's a lot of fun."

For more than a month, the band has toured Texas, but they have plans to play more shows in Europe.

"We went over there last year and played in France, England and Holland and had a really, really good time," Cody said. (Reckless Kelly has a track titled "Seven Nights in Eire" on their latest album).

Their varied music, from bluegrass to rock 'n' roll, gives them flexibility to play different venues.

Producer Ray Kennedy played a part in influencing "Wicked Twisted Road" with his old amplifiers and microphones rather than using computers, Cody Braun said.

For nine years, Cody and Willy grew up playing western music in their father's band Muzzie Braun and the Boys in Idaho and Montana. After forming the band Prairie Mutts in Oregon in 1996 and not having much success, the group reformed in Austin in 1997 and was taken under the wing of Robert Earl Keen.

"It's a great place to be doing our kind of music. ... Not just Austin being the live music capital of the world. You can make a living going to all the Texas cities and towns and all the dance halls," Cody said.

Younger brothers Micky and Gary Braun are in the Austin band Micky and the Motorcars, which open for Reckless Kelly. All play together with Micky's bass player Mark McCoy under the name The Rock Farmers.

You have to admit, there's a quirky side of Reckless Kelly.

"We have a bar at every single one of our houses," Cody admits. "Jimmy has the tiki bar, Willy's got the shed. Mine is just a portable bar, unfortunately. Dave has ... a '50s room where he has his little studio, a total martini bar type vibe. ... I don't think that's in any of our bios."

article from new york

www.villagevoice.com/m...57,22.html

Small Talk: Reckless Kelly

Reckless Kelly
From: Austin
New album: Wicked Twisted Road

A high-energy rural rock band, Reckless Kelly is hip to the secret that bluegrass instruments like the fiddle and mandolin aren't lacking energy. So they rock, they roll, and from time to time they slow things down for some intricate picking. With five albums and hours logged onstage, the group is drumhead tight but unafraid to let some rock raggedness into the mix.

Why gamble $15 on your album?
(Singer/guitarist Willy Braun via e-mail) Gamble??? didn't you hear the first four? What's to gamble? it's only fifteen bucks.

We don't sound like John Denver because . . .

We're not from Colorado.

Song that made you wanna make songs

My Old Friend the Blues by Steve Earle.

We love/hate the '80s because . . .

Love the '80s 'cause of 1986 when Rodney Crowell, Steve Earle, Rosanne Cash and Dwight Yoakam released their masterpieces. Hate the '80's 'cause of 1986 when the Red Sox lost the World Series to the stinking Mets . . . but I'm over that now.

Guiltiest musical pleasure

I love Cyndi Lauper's She's So Unusual record. I mean I love it.

Favorite Bee Gee

Barry, of course.

Ever handle a live fish?

Who don't?

Favorite cheese

Fromunda.

Most Overlooked: Reckless Kelly, Wicked Twisted Road (Sugar Hill). Road alternates between honky-tonk romps and high-lonesome tearjerkers, making it an ideal soundtrack for those nights when beer-fueled rowdiness yields to wistful reminiscences about wrecked romances. — Andrew Miller


Go here: music.riverfronttimes....music.html for the rest of the article