Review: Good Luck & True Love - Reckless Kelly

Every once in a while I get the opportunity to listen to something that I wouldn't normally be exposed to. It isn’t often that I would head into a record store and pick up a country album, but Austin-based band Reckless Kelly just might make me change my tune. After listening to this exciting, heart-warming Texan soul, my eyes are well and truly open to the country world.

Good Luck & True Love has enough pop in it to not scare away new prospectors, but still has the country backbeat that the genre is known for. The new single (titled after the album) “Good Luck & True Love” is the perfect example of what Reckless Kelly has been doing for 15 years, and that is producing excellent country records. The storytelling lyrics about true love, the call and response pre-chorus with the band, even to the lovely, laid-back guitar solo, everything nails the country sound on the head that these gentlemen have made their own.

While most of the tracks fall into this parameter of what Reckless Kelly does really well, the few songs that really caught my ears were the ones where they tried something a little different. “I Never Liked St.Valentine” is an interesting song about never having a valentine (something I can relate all to well too) that has a mix of spoken-word verses to make it a little less informal. Also being a sucker for any fiddle or violin, “Weatherbeaten Soul” was given this real sad undertone thanks to some excellent violin work. There is also a classic ballad (also making use of the violin) in “I Stayed Up All Night Again”, while on the flip side “She Likes Money, He Likes Love” is this rocky driven, up-tempo tune that is quite different to the rest of the album. Still the genius thing about all these little differences is that Reckless Kelly don’t forget their country roots that still blossom throughout the entire album.

Overall Reckless Kelly’s new album Good Luck & True Love is a great country album with a few little sprinkles of other genres here and there. It has enough pop to give everyone something to listen to, but country fans will fall head over heels for this next installment in the glittered career of Reckless Kelly.

Good Luck & True Love is available online for digital download.