Reckless Kelly is led by brothers Willy (vocals/guitar) and Cody Braun (vocals/fiddle/mandolin/harmonica). Alternative country-rock outfit Reckless Kelly formed in Bend, Oregon, before relocating to Austin, Texas, in October, 1996. The Brauns had previously toured with their father in Muzzie Braun & the Boys, a Western swing band, and were joined in their own group by lead guitarist Casey Pollock, bassist Chris Schelske, and drummer Jay Nazz. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Willy, thanks for taking time to chat with 9 Inning Know it All.
Please tell us more about yourself.
Enough about me, what do you think of me?
I hear you a big baseball fan. What team or teams do you follow?
I’ve been a Red Sox fan since I was a kid. My mom is from Mass and my cousins were a little older than my brother Cody and I. They used to send us their hand me downs and I got all the Sox gear and Cody got all the Yanks gear, so we became fans… nobody told us what we were in for later in life… it was tough for a long time, as my dad is also a Yanks fan, so I took a lot of crap until 2004. Then it was all worth it. I’m still a Sox fan but we have gotten to do the anthem at a bunch of parks and have gotten to meet a lot of players, etc. and so now I follow a lot of teams and root for a lot of different guys. We do a lot of stuff with the Rangers organization, so they’ve kind of become the “band team.” it’s the one team we all pull for… One of our bucket list goals is to do the anthem at every park in MLB, so at some point if we pull it off I’ll probably be a fan of all the teams. Except the Yanks.
Reckless Kelly hosts a celebrity softball game every year. Who does it benefit and who plays in it?
The Reckless Kelly Celebrity Softball jam is a benefit concert that we host every spring at Dell Diamond in Round Rock TX, just north of Austin. It’s the home of the AAA Rangers affiliate, The Express. They have been great to us and the Ryan family has helped us out a ton with the jam. All the proceeds go to area Little League and another great organization that benefits special needs kids called the Miracle League. This year we’re trying to raise enough founding to renovate a park in Austin with artificial turf and the whole 9 yards. So far it’s looking like we’ll be able to pull it off.
The teams are made up some of our musician friends like The Motorcars, Randy Rogers Band, Hayes Carl, Ray Benson, Dale Wattson, and many others. We also have a bunch of retired MLB players and other athletes who make up the actual talent on the team like Gregg Swindell, Brooks Keishnick, Kevin Millar, Brett Boone, etc.
Do you have a favorite player or players and why?
I’ve always been a big fan of David Ortiz, mostly because I was at game 4 of the 04′ ALCS when he soon the game in the bottom of the 12th to start the best comeback of all time. I’ll never forget it, and even though he’s a DH, I will always have a soft spot in my heart for him.
Do you know of anyone who uses a Reckless Kelly song as their walk-up?
Not that I know of but I do know that a few of the Red Sox pitchers are fans and they listen to Wicked Twisted Road in the clubhouse before games sometimes. John Lackey told me that and I’m pretty proud of it, especially being a sox fan!
Who were your influences growing up?
lots of TX stuff… Steve Earle, Rodney Crowell, Billy Joe Shaver, etc… when I started buying rock and roll records we got turned on to The Beatles and a lot of old classic stuff. A couple of our first rock and roll albums were the Byrds and Chuck Berry… dad had a lot of different stuff in his collection.
Did you play baseball growing up?
Yeah, but mostly in the back yard. We built a full on ball diamond in the field behind the house with cut base paths and a mound and outfield fences and the whole shebang. we even had bleachers. It was pretty sweet and we’d have a lot of people over and play ball… The barn in the middle of the outfield was called “The Brown Monster” and if you hit a ball through the window everyone on the field had to give you a dollar. We were on the road a lot and home schooled so we didn’t have time for Little League. I played in one little league game and I think I went 1 for 1 with a single… I remember getting thrown out at first by a girl the second time. The guys never let me live that down.
Do you have a favorite ballpark that you have visited?
Fenway and Wrigley. I like the old school parks. The new ones are okay and comfy, but I like the classic feel of the older ones. They have charm and lots of memories… walking in to either of those parks is like stepping back in time. We’ve gotten to do the anthem at both of them and it was really intimidating to do so, especially Wrigley because we know if we messed it up we’d be seeing it on sports center for the rest of our lives.
What are your five favorite albums of all-time?
Some of them change from time to time but #1 and 2 are always the same… Guitar town and Rubber Soul. the other 3 vary from time to time… right now it’s
Guitar Town (Steve Earle)
Rubber Soul (The Beatles)
Wildflowers (Tom Petty)
Stardust (Willie Nelson)
Trace (Son Volt)
If a player tests positive for PEDs in their career, should they be eligible for induction into the Hall of Fame?
That’s a complicated issue, but overall, I say no. If you had to cheat to win you aren’t being held to the standards of the hall of fame. In cases where the substances they were taking weren’t against the rules at the time, I can look beyond that, but in black and white cases, I think they shouldn’t be allowed. Now, Pete Rose however, is a different story. He should be in the Hall Of Fame!
Give us the names of five bands that people might not have heard of that need to be heard.
Micky and the Motorcars.
Sons of Bill
The Greencards
The Damn Quails
Rodney Hayden
Willy thanks for taking the time. Is there anything you would like to add?
GO SOX!
Check out Reckless Kelly at http://recklesskelly.com/