Album Review – Reckless Kelly’s “The Last Frontier”

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#564 (Alt-Country) on the Country DDS.

To be perfectly honest, it was a little frustrating to see some of the rhetoric ahead of the latest album from alt-country and Texas music stalwarts Reckless Kelly. Their sense that nobody cares about albums anymore and folks only have the patience for short songs thanks to playlists and Tik-Tok feels a little … well, defeatist. Sure, they’re right in many respects, but they’re also wrong.

The general population may no longer want long songs or have the time to listen to albums. But there’s perhaps never been a more active and animated audience of deep listeners that love digging into the intricacies of songs and albums, including young listeners. This is the dynamic behind the success of Zach Bryan and others. Besides, artists should express themselves as best fits their muse and let the cards fall where they may. If the world doesn’t want songs that make them think, too bad. You do you.

Nonetheless, this new reality of streaming, playlisting, and Tik-Tok/Instagram has to be especially unnerving for Reckless Kelly since they’ve always embraced the album concept more than most. Beyond the music itself, they’ve actually been nominated and won Grammy Awards for their album packaging. Their 2011 Good Luck and True Love was the first to be nominated for Best Recording Package. They won in 2014 for Long Night Moon. 2020’s American Girls/American Jackpot was also nominated.

It can’t be easy to be in the position of Reckless Kelly these days. They’ve matured past being the hot new item in music that the press is incessantly doting over, but they’re not quite “legends” where the world celebrates you at every turn. The fact that they’ve been flirting with some sort of “retirement” in the offing is not surprising. But as we’ve seen from Robert Earl Keen and others, it’s difficult to impossible to pull off. The call of the road and recording is just too alluring for true artists.

So in lieu of retirement—and to meet the new realities in music—Willy Braun set out to write and record an album of songs that would fit on old 45s, meaning short, sweet, to-the-point, with obvious hooks married to melodies. No more complex poetic movements or overt political action through song, at least not on this album. Though you might worry this would result in getting less of Reckless Kelly than you wish, that’s not the case at all. The outcome is an album that is alive, engaging, and demanding of your rapt attention throughout without a punch-out in the bunch.


Instead of the album taking the easy way out by only relying on short and simple tracks, it challenged Willy Braun and the rest of Reckless Kelly to get out of their comfort zones, think about music from a different perspective, and really step up their game. With the help of producer Jonathan Tyler they not only met that challenge, they vanquished it. It was an exercise in the old music axiom “less is more.”

And don’t worry, this doesn’t mean there isn’t any depth or heartbreak to be found on The Last Frontier. “What’s Left of My Heart” and “Miserable City” are sad bastard songs if there ever were any. But they also happen to be really enjoyable tracks to listen to. The longest song on the album is “Long Lonesome Ride” at a whopping 3:07. But the writing on the song is as thoughtful as any other Reckless Kelly song.

I’ve turned history’s pages, I have seen the folly of man
I have watched the canyons of our civilization, worn down by wind and sand

By trying to keep things simple, short, and sweet, Reckless Kelly recorded their own version of a concept record, and one that rekindled the spirit of the band and doubled down on their artistry in an era when many artists of their generation are struggling to remain inspired. It’s hard to keep up the fight when it feels like the world is slowly turning the opposite way for everything you’ve ever known.

The Last Frontier is not a groundbreaking release or anything. But it’s quietly genius in its simplicity and efficiency. It feels like the best album that Reckless Kelly could squeeze out of themselves in this season of their career. And it feels like that deserves a slow clap.

8/10

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