Reckless Kelly – “Ragged As The Road”
Songwriter: Willy Braun
Despite being perennial favorites in the Texas scene, Reckless Kelly only recently scored their first number one on the Texas Music Chart with , “Ragged As The Road,” a song inspired by the travels of Woody Guthrie as recounted in his autobiography, Bound For Glory.
“Ragged As The Road” consists of a series of vivid metaphors that could have easily become a self-pity song about the wear and tear of life’s tolls, but in Reckless Kelly’s hands, it’s a braggadocious celebration of life and the pitfalls encountered along the way.
As was established in Jim Malec’s review of Bulletproof, the band leans towards rock or as leadman Braun likes to describe it, they’re “more like a rock band with a fiddle.” You won’t find a fiddle on “Ragged As The Road,” but rather a guitar solo and an infectious, driving beat that carries the song forward, with Braun’s weather-worn vocals serving almost as an afterthought. The production nearly drowns Braun, but isn’t quite to the point of becoming detrimental and actually complements his vocal well.
While not totally country, it’s considerably more interesting than anything produced by the invasion of Southern rock bands from last year and makes for a worthwhile summer release.
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July 30, 2008 at 4:39 pm Permalink
I love this song, and I love the album it comes from. Easily in my top ten of 2008, and I don’t see that changing.
July 30, 2008 at 5:10 pm Permalink
This is a very good song… probably top 3 on the album for me. There’s nothing complicated or contrived- which is so refreshing and hard to come by on the radio lately. The metaphors all work, the beat is infectious, and the solo is fantastic.
July 30, 2008 at 5:57 pm Permalink
What Jim Malec said. Wonderful song and album!
July 30, 2008 at 6:22 pm Permalink
Is the rest of the album as good as this? I’m really liking it.
July 30, 2008 at 6:26 pm Permalink
“Ragged..” is one of the top three on the album as Mike said, but there’s no quality drop-off throughout. It’s a near-perfect country rock/Texas country album. Highly recommended.
July 30, 2008 at 6:34 pm Permalink
The lead singer has a bit of a Dwight Yoakam sound. Wonderful stuff.
July 30, 2008 at 6:42 pm Permalink
This is my favorite song on the record, but it’s all pretty solid.
July 30, 2008 at 8:03 pm Permalink
I can’t even listen to this album after hearing the disgraceful song “American Blood” and the cheap shot RK just had to get in. Absolutely shameful.
July 30, 2008 at 10:16 pm Permalink
I’ve recently gotten into “Texas country/rock” including Reckless Kelly. This isn’t my favorite Reckless Kelly song, but I enjoy it. If I have to choose, I definitely lean more rock than pop so I’d love to hear this on the radio (won’t happen!). Based on some of these reviews, I might have to check out the rest of this particular album.
July 30, 2008 at 10:20 pm Permalink
For everyone wanting to check out more, Rhapsody allows you to play 25 songs for free every month, even if you don’t have an account. You didn’t hear it from me, but there used to a be glitch so that any song you skipped or stopped before it ended didn’t count towards your monthly limit. I don’t know if that’s still the case or not.
July 30, 2008 at 10:23 pm Permalink
What Would Willie Do?–Bruce Robison
July 30, 2008 at 10:26 pm Permalink
Wrong board…could have swore I posted this elsewhere.
July 30, 2008 at 10:35 pm Permalink
I was gonna listen, but rhapsody wanted me to download their player / software, and I’ve already got enough crap on this tired old machine as it is. So I cant offer an opinion – unless there’s another link somewhere that I can listen to.
July 30, 2008 at 10:38 pm Permalink
I’m not sure if the link actually requires the Rhapsody software or if it’s just a browser plugin that it needs to install. For some reason, I think it’s the latter, but you can find this song on their MySpace if you’re interested.
July 30, 2008 at 10:54 pm Permalink
I listened to it on their myspace. I like it. I listened to a little bit of some of the other songs. I wasnt too keen on “Wicked Twisted Road”, but I liked “Ragged As The Road” and “Love In Her Eyes.”
February 11, 2009 at 8:08 pm Permalink
Does anyone know where this video was made?
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