Reckless Kelly @ Joe's

This was a show i have been waiting for, i have been a fan for a few years but this was the first time i have seen these guys live. Everyone else i have met has told me about how great their live show is and since they recently won the award for "Best live act" at the Austin music awards there are plenty of fans and critics who agree. I got to talk with lead singer and guitarist Willy Braun who co founded the band with his brother Cody before and after the show, we talked about photographers like Carl Dunn and Todd Purifoy and The next time i will see Reckless Kelly in a few days at Country fever in Pryor Oklahoma. The band consists of Willy on vocals and guitar and Cody Braun on mandolin (sometimes a 12 string Rickenbacher electric) and fiddle, David Abeyta on lead guitar, bassist Chris Schelske (who was the original bass player and then came back replacing Jimmy McFeely) and drummer Jay Nazz. The Braun brothers are from Idaho and spent time in Oregon before calling Austin Texas home. Willy and Cody have a brother Micky who formed the band Micky & the Motorcars and their father Muzzie braun is also a talented musician who still lives in Idaho where every year the "Braun Brothers reunion" takes place. Because of Chicago law, bar patrons must go outside to smoke and so because of my bad habits i was able to talk with Cody Braun a few times too because he also was outside, and while he could have gone out to the bus he chose to instead come out and smoke with everyone else. So we talked about Sarah's great band and how his band has been working on new material for a new album. I think Cody said they had two songs finished already. They played mostly material from their latest release "Bulletproof" starting out with the first song off of it called "Ragged as the Road" which to me maybe is how they feel after touring as much as they do but it sure did not show during their set. They also played my favorite song "Wicked Twisted Road" and plenty of older songs from their years on Sugar Hill records. The band was nominated today for an Americana Music Award for best duo or group, this is their first nomination ever. Click on the title to this post for more photos. The main photo is of Willy and David and the small one is Cody Braun.