Reckless Kelly - Reckless Kelly Was Here

Listen to the disc(s). Watch the DVD. It's the same experience, doubled! The live performance which was filmed was also recorded, so if you aren't at home with your DVD player, you can slip the CD in and enjoy the same show without the visuals. Plus, there's a few extra studio tracks thrown on disc 2. Bonus! It's a triple score for the Reckless ones, a group that's matured and grown over the years and yet managed to stick pretty close to their original sound, a gutsy blend of roots rock and honky-tonk of the sort that exists solely to confuse the hell out of music store sorters (I first found Reckless Kelly stored in 'rock,' but the first album I listened to, Acoustic - Live at Stubbs, was pure, hardcore honky-tonk). Of course that lands them square as "Americana" artists, and, as often happens with Americana, it's just plain good music. They rip onto the stage with "Sixgun" and don't let up from there. Powered by Willy Braun's lead vocals (helped here and there by brother Cody and serious guitarist David Abeyta), this concert lays out everything RK is - whether rock or country or both - and puts it right on the table. No punches pulled. From the blues to the "Wicked Twisted Road," this is serious music.

The Brauns and Abeyta know how to write a great song. The eighteen tracks of the double CD are mostly originals, with a few covers sprinkled here and there (such as Freddy Fender's humorous innuendo-filled "Guacamole" and the CD-only version of the Beatles' "Revolution," featuring some amazing guitar licks from Abeyta), a cross-cut selection from their catalog, including many songs from 2005's Wicked Twisted Road and 2003's Under the Table and Above the Sun. There's also a few new songs, all of them showing the sharp lyrical skill that's typified them right from the start. I get a big kick out of the lyrics to "Wiggles and Ritalin," which is both funny and kickin', with lines like "let's put on some Scooby Doo and roll a couple dooby doos," it's a chipper salute to getting high through the decades. There's a studio version of "Wiggles and Ritalin" on the CD, along with a studio cut of "Break My Heart Tonight." The real question is, is it worthwhile to have the same show on both CD and DVD? Oh, hell yeah. It's more fun than, well, Wiggles and Ritalin.