Perhaps what defines a city is its culture, and perhaps Austin has been defining a culture for decades with its immense concerts and festivals. In any other city, it is a rare sight to have a homeless man escort you to the next bus stop, all for a cigarette. In fact Austin takes care of its homeless so well, other cities in Texas are sending their homeless here. Suddenly, Austin has become become the promised land for hipsters and thrill seekers who still believe in the American Dream.
We were able to obtain press credentials. This is an incredibly hard maneuver unless you have connections in the Jewish Mafia. So on a Friday morning, bright and pink along the horizon, we set out for The Austin City Limits Music Festival. No other weekend in Capital City is the weatherman’s forecast so important.
I had an interview with Reckless Kelly at 4:00, which turned into 4:15, which turned into 4:19. Anxiety set in. Which questions to scratch? Which ones to let loose and hope for the true outlaw to emerge. When to keep quiet, when to ask that one question that might get me the answer we are all looking for: Contentment. I was waiting my turn, digesting the libations that came from the Sweet Leaf Tea Company, a concoction of Tito’s Vodka and Mint and Honey Ice Tea when Heidi, the band’s manager approached me.
I had listened to Reckless Kelly numerous times, and have recently downloaded their 2008’s Bulletproof, which some say is their best work yet, I concur, these guys can’t or don’t fit into any genre. They are Not a country band, nor a rock band, but a band filled with blood, sweat, piss, and tears. They are a political meek rambunctious rowdy and raucous groups of outlaws that won best country band of the year at the Austin Music Awards and nominated as the Americana Music Association’s Duo or Group of the year. But there’s a soft side to these gritty motor-heads that most people living outside of Central Texas wouldn’t know.
Willy and the boys opened with “Bulletproof,” the song about your place in this crazy world, and the armor we must wear. We have to be bulletproof because we are all shot figuratively numerous times in life, the only difference is the caliber, or intensity of the hit and where it leaves its mark. These are usually things we can’t control that penetrate us throughout life. Some are .22’s, some are .38’s, some might even be .44’s, but you are shot mostly by those you intimidate or shock, or scare, and if they don’t understand you, they will hate you. So wear your vest at all times!
With songs like “Crazy Eddie’s Last Hurrah,” I felt like an outlaw driving drunk on a hilly farmland road, ingesting massive amounts of cocaine. You can’t fit Reckless Kelly into any genre. Their mixture of rock, roots country, and jam-band qualities take you on an emotional ride through broken hearts, broken relationships, and broken dreams, but ho-ho, this sibling-lead band empowers women with “Nobody’s Baby,” and even though a girl grows up without a father, doesn’t mean she searching for one to fill the void. She’s just an outlaw, unapproachable and unpredictable. Perhaps that’s why I was almost moved to tears when “Vancouver” came through the Marshall Stacks. A song that makes us reminisce of past lovers and being separated in this vast wasteland. The kind of memories that heal, but leave scars and still hurt.
That’s when RK had us right where they wanted us. The message was clear with “Love in Her Eyes,” that when the “good one” comes along, grab her and don’t let her go, no matter what and when you give and give, and give some more, its still not enough to keep her happy. When a woman loves, she loves hard. To misunderstand that or to ignore it, is a mistake and you will lose in the end and die miserable and alone.
With RK’s time slot ending its reign at ACL, they gave us another ballad and then finished with a cover of Joe Ely’s “Cool Rockin Loretta,” an excellent bluesy west coast swing about love that prevails against poverty and the luxuries of life. It was deep and intense with Cody’s smooth fiddling, and Jay’s relentless abuse of percussion genius while Willy lead us into a psychedelic trace. It was like reading a well-written essay by Gary Soto that moves the reader from fear to pity, to shame leaving the reader with clarity and detachment.
Perhaps why Bulletproof is their best work is because Reckless Kelly are writing what they know, which is what they have experienced. Every Writer knows this. You must write about what you know, and you must choose an audience. This rule extends far beyond Nashville, and being UnNashville isn’t enough anymore. There is only one Willy Nelson and he will run for president after Obama. This Willy and his brother have done something many people hope for and all bands wish for, a crowd that understands them in the The Lone Star State. What next? Res ipsa loquitur.
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