For fifteen years Reckless Kelly has been doing things their way, bucking the mainstream system and playing by their own rules, straddling the fence between country and rock as if they built it themselves. Throughout the years their old school approach to recording has always adhered to one main objective: make each record better than the last. Their latest effort, Good Luck & True Love is no exception to this rule.
Recorded in an old farmhouse-turned studio in Austin Texas, and released on the bands new independent label No Big Deal Records, Good Luck & True Love is pure, driving, uncut Reckless Kelly. The songs are all written or co-written by front man Willy Braun and range in subject matter from road songs, (Weatherbeaten Soul, Hit The Ground Running) to songs about music, (New Moon Over Nashville, I Stayed Up All Night Again) and songs about good old-fashioned heartbreak (Guarded Heart, She Likes Money, He Likes Love, and I Never Liked St. Valentine). The album is the 9th in RK's ever-growing catalogue and is the 3rd they have produced by themselves.
The Reckless boys also made it a point to track almost all of it live. Just 5 guys sitting in a room playing music, with minimal overdubs and aside from a harmony vocal from Dani Flowers, the band plays each and every instrument and part. We wanted to make a record that sounded like we sound live, without any extra parts thrown in. We wanted it to sound like a band, said fiddle/mandolin player Cody Braun. Keeping it all in the same space and making sure it was an album rather than just a collection of songs was the main goal, and I think we came pretty close to what we set out to do...there's a lot of continuity within this project. The result is an album that encompasses the last 15 years of Reckless Kelly. Ten new songs that capture the essence of a road worn and battle scarred band of brothers that aren't afraid to take risks and tell it like it is. That's country rock. Thats old school. That's Reckless Kelly
Raised in the foothills of the Appalachians, Gabriel Kelley grew up in a rustic space out of time, steeped in the music of his forefathers. In his world, contra dances, pickin' parties and neighborly bluegrass were no anachronism. So when he began writing and creating his own sounds, Americana wasn't a chosen genre or format. It was, simply, music.
Kelley's horizons, however, extended beyond his north Georgia upbringing, fueled by his teenage decision to devote his life to writing and performing. At all of 16 he undertook a yearlong sojourn at the music conservatory in Gothenburg, Sweden. Charity work in Guatemala helped Kelly add a third language of fluency, as Spanish joined Swedish and English.
Returning to the states in 2001, Kelley fervently pursued his craft, playing in bands in and around the Athens, Georgia music scene. A semester at the University of Georgia studying classical guitar fueled his passion for music, and in the summer of 2003, Kelley decided to forgo enrollment in favor of a life on the road.
Selling most of his possessions, Kelley spent 18 months traveling the East Coast, living out of his van and devoting all his energy to performing. The education this period provided surpassed anything he could have gained at university. At the same time, the freedom of being on the road gave Kelley ample opportunity to refine his approach to writing. The only variable missing from the equation was a band.
In the spring of 2005, Jason Cheek and Will Harrison, both friends from Athens, began performing alongside Kelley throughout the southeast, eventually garnerning the attention of Scott Siman, manager of Tim McGraw. Siman showed tremendous enthusiasm for Kelley as a songwriter, and a publishing deal with Stylesonic, McGraw’s personal publishing company, ensued shortly thereafter.
Siman contacted Tim McFadden, who was formerly vice president of Siman’s company and currently manager to several high profile Alternative and Americana acts. McFadden joined Kelley's team as manager. The 24-year-old Kelley currently resides in Nashville performing in Gabriel Kelley and the Reins, an Americana/alternative country group. Their new EP Light at the Bottom has just been released.
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