Idaho-via-Austin Americana troupe Reckless Kelly have announced their forthcoming retirement. After over 25 years together, the band will embark on one final tour ahead of fully retiring from the road in 2025.
Co-founding brothers Willy and Cody Braun told Rolling Stone that Reckless Kelly will begin scaling back their rigorous touring schedule to about 35 concerts per year in 2023, after nearing or exceeding 200 shows annually for the majority of their career, for most of which they've been an independent band.
"In a nutshell, I've been playing music professionally and touring since I was seven or eight," Willy Braun, bandleader and primary songwriter, told the publication. "I still love playing, I still love travelling, and I still love all the guys in the band. What it comes down to, really, is I'm ready to do something different. By the time we hang it up in three years, I will have been on the road playing music for over 40 years. I've been at this so long, there's not a lot of surprises anymore, and I'm ready to not have to be somewhere every weekend for a bit."
Fiddle and mandolin player Cody Braun added: "I want everyone who supported us to know how much we appreciated it over the years. In the independent world, you survive by the kindness of others. There are people who let us sleep on couches or play their clubs when we weren't drawing flies, and the next three years are ones we're looking at as a thank-you to those people."
Reckless Kelly apparently still have plans to release at least one more full-length album ahead of hanging up their hats in 2025. They put out double LP American Jackpot/American Girls — the most recent of their 10 studio albums — in 2020.
Co-founding brothers Willy and Cody Braun told Rolling Stone that Reckless Kelly will begin scaling back their rigorous touring schedule to about 35 concerts per year in 2023, after nearing or exceeding 200 shows annually for the majority of their career, for most of which they've been an independent band.
"In a nutshell, I've been playing music professionally and touring since I was seven or eight," Willy Braun, bandleader and primary songwriter, told the publication. "I still love playing, I still love travelling, and I still love all the guys in the band. What it comes down to, really, is I'm ready to do something different. By the time we hang it up in three years, I will have been on the road playing music for over 40 years. I've been at this so long, there's not a lot of surprises anymore, and I'm ready to not have to be somewhere every weekend for a bit."
Fiddle and mandolin player Cody Braun added: "I want everyone who supported us to know how much we appreciated it over the years. In the independent world, you survive by the kindness of others. There are people who let us sleep on couches or play their clubs when we weren't drawing flies, and the next three years are ones we're looking at as a thank-you to those people."
Reckless Kelly apparently still have plans to release at least one more full-length album ahead of hanging up their hats in 2025. They put out double LP American Jackpot/American Girls — the most recent of their 10 studio albums — in 2020.
