Reckless Kelly: American Jackpot/American Girls
Following up on their 2016 release, Sunset Motel, Reckless Kelly went to Arlyn Studios in Austin, TX to record a new album. At least that was the plan, but after recording the songs they planned on recording for the new album, they realized that they had almost enough songs for a second album. That was the impetus for the American Jackpot/American Girls project. The first album would celebrate all that is exceptional and unique about America: the country, the land, the people, rock and roll, baseball and even mules. The next album, to quote Jack Ingram from the TV show The Texas Music Scene, American Jackpot/American Girls “explores relationships, love and human connections.”
Disc 1: American Jackpot
The first track of the first album American Jackpot and its title track, “North American Jackpot” is a pro-American, patriotic anthem. Willy Braun does this without being jingoistic. The song itself is up tempo with a bluesy-rock vibe that is highlighted by great guitar and organ work in the background.
The first verse focuses on how we got to where we are today from our first settlers. Beginning with the pilgrims coming over on the Mayflower to modern times with the line, “Watching satellites and airplane lights weave through these western stars.”
The second verse, which I think is the stronger of the two, deals with the issues we find ourselves facing today. It starts with Willy paraphrasing the poem of the “New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus and yet, in the same breath, he also refers to the, oft stated of late, fading of America’s dominance in the world with the line, “As we watch the fading lamplight that once lit the golden door.” His lyrics here are striking and cause one to pause and think. The song then goes on to mention another hot button issue, immigration, and some of the other contentious changes that our nation is going through.
“And as I walk these city streets, I feel a stranger in my town / I don't mind so much the people as the landmarks coming down”
The verse concludes with him reiterating his position that we are still far better off than most others in the world, even in these trying times.
“Yet still we sleep in comfort with our shelter, bread and wine / Knowing that we're better off than any other place or time”
Overall, the theme is that Americans are, in general, good and welcoming people, who, like everyone else, have flaws. Yet despite those flaws, the world is still beating a path to our door. And the song’s general feel reflects that sentiment.
Did you have that good friend that either due to distance, circumstances or diverging life paths that you just haven’t seen in a long time? And then you hear the sad news that your friend had passed away and it hit you harder than you expected it would? Sadly, as you get older, the more familiar this experience is. This is the subject of the next song, “Tom Was A Friend of Mine,” which is Willy’s homage to the late Tom Petty. He recounts many of Tom’s finer attributes, in simple yet elegant terms, the way you would when experiencing such a loss. This is what makes this song even more relatable. I found it especially poignant on the way he phrases how it initially hits you when you realize that your friend is really gone.
“Then silence filled the air like there would never be another sound again / Tears came to my eyes, I felt like I had lost my dearest friend”
Even the chorus, in its simplicity, sounds like something you’d say to someone at his wake in describing your relationship, all the while trying to hold yourself together.
“Tom was a friend of mine / We'd known each other most of our lives / We used to hang out all the time / Tom was a friend of mine”
From a songwriting standpoint, the lyrics are especially strong and meaningful. The song starts out, from a musical perspective, in a way that it could go one of many ways, in a minor key, with some faster acoustic guitar. But after the first few lines, the song’s tone develops the gravity a song like this should have.
“Mona” is a fast and fun track. Both musically and lyrically, and it could be implied that he was singing about a woman and not a mule with lyrics like, “17 hands and the legs to match” and “Mona, you’re a bad, bad girl.” However, I was able to confirm that “Mona” is, actually, a mule. The song has a classic rock sound and a driving beat. One thing that I truly enjoy about the song was that there is no deeper meaning to it. It’s a musical escape from the big issues that seem to permeate our lives these days. In my opinion, the band should cut it as their next single. We all could use the escape.
“Another New Year’s Day” is just that, another day. Written from the perspective of someone who wants to do better in their life and is having problems breaking the cycle that has been their life up to that point. And who hasn’t felt that way? Who hasn’t fallen short of that lofty goal? This song reminds me of the bible scripture Matthew 26:41 “…the spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak.” But this isn’t to say that the song is a depressing one. In some way, it's hopeful. After all, even if today was a failure, as long as you are on this side of the dirt, there is always tomorrow to get it right. Musically, the song starts off full band with guitar and harmonica playing melody. This gives the intro a country sound, but quickly turns into a song with more of a rock feel to it.
“Grandpa Was A Jack of All Trades" has a relaxed country-bluesy feel to it. It’s a waltz that has some great fiddle and pedal steel work in it. Willy speaks of his grandpa in terms that seem to mirror the way our perception of how we see the important people in our lives as we mature. We see these people, when we are young, as being almost god-like. Then as we age, we see them in more human and relatable ways.
“Grandpa was a Jack of all Trades / He was a master of none / He got it done right the first time / Sometimes the second time”
Overall, Grandpa was a man one can admire due to his perseverance. Willy goes on to mention Grandpa’s finer points: never met a stranger, always helped the neighbors, was frugal, was a good cook and handy around the house. If/when (mostly if) I grow up, I want to be just like him.
Disc 2: American Girls
This disc starts with the released single, “I Only See You with My Eyes Closed,” which was written with Jeff Crosby. Musically, it starts quietly, slowly pulling the listener along as if you were fading into sleep and starting to dream. It then develops into a higher energy, full band piece about lost love and regret that has some complex guitar work that fades in and out, as if in a dream. The lyrics to this song also reflect the theme of being in a dream in that one verse does not tie into the next in a concrete fashion, like floating through a dream with loosely related thoughts, yet they have one thing to tie them back together, lost love.
“This city's filled with bad connections / Lost translations, wrong directions / Whenever you were searching / I was hiding in shadows, hiding in prose / Now I only see you with my eyes closed”
“All Over Again (Break up Blues)” and “Lonesome on My Own” are similar in their nature and yet explore different facets of post breakup feelings and being alone again.
“All Over Again (Break up Blues)” explores a situation where the singer is lonely and knows that, if they wanted, they could get back together with the other person. But they are exploring the moral question of doing so when they know that the other person wants something more permanent and would take them back. But the singer just wants someone (anyone) to keep from feeling alone. Willy raises a good question with this thought and the chorus of the song really relays the important considerations that one should contemplate when thinking about returning to an old relationship. And in the end, I believe, that he thinks better of it.
“'Cause I don't wanna lift you up / Just to bring you down /And you deserve better than for me to keep leavin' and coming right back around / And you know my reckless soul / Can be blown by any wind / And I don't wanna break your heart all over again”
The song has a faster beat and includes some great accordion work that gives the song a sense of both pining and melancholy.
“Lonesome on My Own” is, in my opinion, the best song off both albums. It is a relatable feeling and situation that many know all too well. You end a relationship, not because you don’t love the other person, you still do. But you end it because the two of you together are just no good together. Maybe you bring out the worst in each other. But, again, you still deeply care for the other person. From time to time you check back in on them - maybe look at their social media pages or inquire about them through mutual friends. You see that they are doing well and that they have moved on. You are happy that they have, yet you still feel that loss. The first couple of lines of the song really paints this picture well.
“I hate to say it but / She looks happier now in her posts and her photographs / Maybe she's better without / Hangin' from my love like a marionette”
The song starts with an acoustic guitar doing a simple chord arpeggio, but then it quickly adds Geoff Queen on a crying pedal steel giving the song a rich yearning impression. This song is easily danceable which strongly reinforces that “what might have been” feeling.
The next track “Anyplace That’s Wild” has, what Willy Braun has called, “a Marty Robbins-meets-Sergio Leone” feel to it. This song is a duet with the amazingly talented Suzy Boggus. Again, the song has a western feel, as if from some John Wayne or Clint Eastwood movie. With guitar and harmonica being initially the main/lead instruments in it. Later in the piece, fiddle takes a more prominent place than it had at the beginning. It is a post-relationship song, as everything is started in the past tense. Kind of like two former lovers wistfully reliving the plans that they had when they were together. Like in many of the pieces that the band writes, the chorus to the song perfectly states the main idea of the song.
“And I never rode my pony across the dusty plains of Texas / I never wore a six gun at my side / But I always thought that one day we would ride off in the sunset / To somewhere far away or, baby, any place that's wild / Go somewhere far away or, baby, any place that's wild”
“My Home is Where Your Heart Is,” the last track on the American Girls album, is a straightforward love song. It’s a slower, hopeful piece about being together and the lyrics are pure poetry.
“No matter where we roam / We'll build ourselves a home / With a roof of stars and walls of firelight / As long as we're together / As long as there's forever / My home is where your heart is tonight”
Musically, I believe, the best way to describe it is dreamlike. Arpeggiating acoustic guitar with electric lead guitar using heavy reverb fading in and out with light drum usage for emphasis. For the bass line on this, I honestly can’t tell if they used stringed instruments like bass or cello, or if they used an accordion, or if all of this was done with a keyboard. But the bass line has, at times, a harmonic depth that isn’t usual.
Overall, both albums could have been, on their own, excellent stand-alone releases. Together they reinforce each other well and achieve the original goal that the band set forth, which was to create an America themed album that, as Willy Braun said, “one batch of songs (that) centers on slice-of-life storytelling and the other explores the complexities of human connection.” Even if you’re not a fan of Reckless Kelly, you’d be remiss to deprive yourself of this release and these stories.
