Grammy-Winning Powerhouses Steve Earle And Reckless Kelly Reunite For Summer Single “BAD GIRLS,” Out July 18
AUSTIN, TX, July 15, 2025 — Two titans of Americana and Outlaw Country—GRAMMY Award-winning artist Steve Earle and GRAMMY Award-winning band Reckless Kelly—join forces on a surprise new single, “Bad Girls,” releasing Friday, July 18 on all digital platforms. The fiery track is available for pre-save now.
Recorded in Austin’s legendary Arlyn Studios, the track is the first of two singles scheduled for release this summer. The idea to record together was sparked by a run of unforgettable joint shows. As Earle explains, “Playing these shows together the last couple of summers has been such a blast, we just thought it needed to be documented in the studio.”
Cody Braun of Reckless Kelly adds, “In 2004, we recorded two tracks with Steve at his and Ray Kennedy’s studio in Nashville for tribute albums honoring Warren Zevon and Alejandro Escovedo. We had a great time and hoped to do it again someday. Here we are, 21 years later, doing just that.”
Penned by Reckless Kelly frontman Willy Braun, this nostalgic nod to the wild ones that got away finds Willy and Steve swapping stories in the easy rhythm of longtime friends. “Steve is one of our biggest influences, so hearing our voices on the same track is kind of surreal and definitely cool,” muses Willy.
Concert goers can experience the electric collaboration live this summer in a limited run of shows this month:
July 19 – Dallas, TX – Dos Equis Pavilion (with Parker McCollum)
July 25 – Enoch, Alberta – River Cree Casino
July 26 – Calgary, Alberta – Calgary Folk Festival
July 27 – White Sulphur Springs, MT – Red Ants Pants Music Festival
Steve Earle’s Full Tour Schedule | Reckless Kelly's Full Tour Schedule
About Reckless Kelly:
Americana/Outlaw Country band Reckless Kelly has been burning up stages with their high-energy blend of rock and country music since 1996. Fronted by central Idaho natives Willy and Cody Braun, the brothers are part of a rich musical legacy that spans three generations. Twenty-five years ago, Willy and Cody moved to Austin, TX, added drummer Jay Nazz to their core, and formed a band that would change Texas's musical history. Over nearly three decades, the GRAMMY award-winning group has become a staple in the Americana scene, earning a GRAMMY Award, Outlaw Country Group of the Year at the 2024 Ameripolitan Awards, and more recently, Entertainer of the Year in the 2025 Texas Music Chart Awards.
Their annual festival, The Braun Brothers Reunion, celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2024 and just announced the 2025 lineup for another year of music in the mountains that helps to raise significant funds for their hometown in Challis, Idaho. The band released their 17th Studio album in 2024, The Last Frontier, which features two #1 hit radio singles - "Keep Lookin' Down The Road," and "What's Left of My Heart." Reckless Kelly are currently on a national tour with stops announced at the Ryman Auditorium, Braun Brothers Reunion, Billy Bob's Texas, a run of shows co-headlining with Steve Earle, including The Calgary Folk Festival. The Americana award-winning band will also celebrate the 20th Anniversary of their hit album, Wicked Twisted Road, which will be available on vinyl for the first time ever later this year. The members of the band are Willy and Cody Braun, drummer Nazz, Joe Miller on bass, and Geoff Queen on lead guitar. www.recklesskelly.com EPK
About Steve Earle:
Steve Earle is one of the most acclaimed singer-songwriters of his generation. A protégé of legendary songwriters Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark, he quickly became a master storyteller in his own right, with his songs being recorded by Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Joan Baez, Emmylou Harris, The Pretenders, and countless others.
1986 saw the release of his record, Guitar Town, which shot to number one on the country charts and is now regarded as a classic of the Americana genre. Most recently, Earle’s 1988 hit Copperhead Road was made an official state song of Tennessee in 2023. Subsequent releases like The Revolution Starts...Now (2004), Washington Square Serenade (2007), and TOWNES(2009) received consecutive GRAMMY® Awards. Jerry Jeff, released in 2022, consisted of Earle’s versions of songs written by Jerry Jeff Walker, one of his mentors.
Earle has published both a novel, I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011), and Dog House Roses, a collection of short stories (Houghton Mifflin, 2003). Earle produced albums for other artists such as Joan Baez (Day After Tomorrow) and Lucinda Williams (Car Wheels on a Gravel Road).
As an actor, Earle has appeared in several films and had recurring roles in the HBO series The Wire and Tremé. In 2009, Earle appeared in the off-Broadway play Samara, for which he also wrote a score that The New York Times described as “exquisitely subliminal.” Earle wrote music for and appeared in Coal Country, for which he was nominated for a Drama Desk Award.
Earle is the host of the weekly show Hard Core Troubadour on Sirius Radio’s Outlaw Country channel. In 2020, Earle was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. And in 2023, Steve was honored by the Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music.
Steve’s latest album, Alone Again (Live), was released on July 12th, 2024. www.steveearle.com