Under the Table and Above the Sun (CD - 2003)

Reckless Kelly: Willy Braun (vocals, 6- & 12-string acoustic & electric guitars, tenor guitar, harmonium, tambourine); David Abeyta (acoustic & electric guitars, sitar); Cody Braun (acoustic & electric mandolins, fiddle, bouzouki, tambourine, background vocals); Jimmy McFeely (bass, fretless double bass); Jay Nazz (drums, percussion).

Additional personnel: Kim Richey, Muzzie Braun (vocals); Steve Fishell (pedal steel guitar, dobro); Ray Kennedy (piano, Hammond B-3 organ, tambourine); Rosie Flores (percussion).

Recorded at Room and Board, Hermitage, Tennessee in December 2002 & January 2003.

This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files.

Personnel: Willy Braun (vocals, acoustic guitar, acoustic 12-string guitar, electric guitar, electric 12-string guitar, piano, harmonium, drums, shaker, tambourine, percussion); Muzzie Braun (vocals); David Abeyta (guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, electric 12-string guitar, lap steel guitar, gut-string guitar, wah-wah guitar, sitar); Steve Fishell (dobro); Cody Braun (banjo, bouzouki, mandolin, electric mandolin, fiddle, harmonica, tambourine, background vocals); Jimmy McFeeley (Moog synthesizer, double bass).

Liner Note Author: Robert Earl Keen, Jr.

Recording information: Roo And Board, Hermitage, TN (12/2002-01/2003).

Photographers: Kirk Wright; Glen Rose.

Call it whatever you want -- country-rock, alt-country, roots rock, whatever -- what Reckless Kelly makes is great, hooky pop music. It's got all the jangly guitars, two-step rhythms, and artificial diphthongs ("I saw the same old streets for far too lahwong") necessary to reassure country-music fans who might nervously suspect that they're enjoying rock & roll, but it makes no real concessions to the genre; when they want to rock out, they do ("Let's Just Fall," "I Saw It Coming"), and when they want to deliver a full-on Texas barroom weeper, complete with a vaguely Mexican acoustic guitar break and strategic smatterings of lap steel, well, they do that too. The brother team of Willy and Cody Braun manage to touch all of the standard, by-the-numbers lyrical themes without seeming to be saying the same things as everyone else. They're asking for mercy and to be set free, and they're broke down, and they're trying to make it to the borderline, and they're frustrated by the inaccessibility of the woman who wasn't around when the sun went down. But when they sing "Nobody's Girl" or "Set Me Free," those tired sentiments actually sound vital and fresh. It's also worth noting that the album includes two songs about skiing and one about the Beatles. Interestingly, there's no one song that really jumps out at you. Instead, the whole thing pulls you along happily, with a feeling very much like that of riding through rugged, beautiful countryside in a nice car. Highly recommended. ~ Rick Anderson minimize