Reckless Kelly Take the Road Less Traveled on Alternate Routes

Out May 15, the double vinyl and digital release revisits fan favorites with fresh energy while returning the songs to the band’s hands.

NASHVILLE, TN, May 15, 2026 — With Alternate Routes, out May 15 on double vinyl and digital, Reckless Kelly turn the page on a new chapter by celebrating the songs that helped define their career and bringing them back under the band’s control.

Listen to Alternate Routes Here

More than a retrospective, Alternate Routes is both a reclaiming and a reflection. For Reckless Kelly, the album is about taking back songs that have traveled with them and their fans for decades, capturing the road-tested versions audiences have come to love from years of live shows.

“These songs have been part of our lives, and our fans’ lives, for decades,” says Cody Braun. “But like many of the artists who came up when we did, we didn’t own the original recordings.

Re-recording them was our way of taking a little bit of that story back. Not rewriting history, just making sure the future of these songs lives in the hands of the people who created them.”

For the band, the issue goes beyond nostalgia. Like many artists of their era, Reckless Kelly watched their original masters change hands over the years, leaving the band with little control over how those recordings could be used, reissued, or revisited. Re-recording the songs became the clearest way to regain artistic control and create new versions that directly benefit the people who made them.

“We’ve watched artists like Taylor Swift and John Fogerty fight to reclaim their work, and it’s been inspiring,” Braun continues. “It reminds you that songs aren’t just products, they’re your memories, your years on the road, your life’s work. The beautiful part is that fans play a role in this. Every time someone streams this version or buys this record, they’re helping us own our music and protect it for the long haul.”

Still, Alternate Routes is not about looking backward. It is about documenting how these songs have grown over time. Rather than recreate the original recordings note for note, Reckless Kelly used the project to capture the versions that have evolved onstage after decades of touring, changing naturally through feel, arrangement, and instinct.

“There are always things you would like to do better, so this was an opportunity to have another chance at some solos, arrangements and tempos, a second look,” says Braun. “We tracked the bulk of these tunes in three days, so it’s also a testament to how tight this band is and how familiar we are with these songs.”

Recorded at Arlyn Studios in Austin, Texas, Alternate Routes features fresh takes on Reckless Kelly staples including “Ragged As The Road,” “Nobody’s Girl,” “Seven Nights in Eire,” “Wicked Twisted Road,” “Motel Cowboy Show,” “American Blood,” and “Vancouver.” The double-vinyl edition will also include an exclusive surprise for fans. 

The title Alternate Routes speaks to the spirit of the album itself. It suggests another way through familiar terrain, a parallel path that honors where Reckless Kelly has been while opening the door to what comes next. Developed with longtime friend Betsy Baird, the artwork leans into that alternate-universe feel, echoing the album’s balance of memory, reinvention, and forward motion.

For fans, Alternate Routes offers more than a return to favorite songs. It is a chance to hear Reckless Kelly at full strength, revisiting the music that helped define the band while taking meaningful control of its future.

“That’s what this album is really about,” says Braun. “Honoring where we’ve been, and making sure the path forward belongs to us, and the people who’ve been walking it with us all along.”

Alternate Routes Track List

Side A

Ragged As The Road
Nobody’s Girl
Seven Nights In Eire
Wicked Twisted Road

Side B

Break My Heart Tonight
Stick Around
Motel Cowboy Show
American Blood

Side C

Love In Her Eyes
Guy Like Me
You Don’t Have To Stay Forever
Vancouver

Side D’s Nutz

(You’ll have to listen to see what you’ll find)

Album Credits

Reckless Kelly

Willy Braun — Lead vocals, rhythm guitars, harmonica, percussion
Cody Braun — Rickenbacker electric mandolin, Collings acoustic mandolin, harmonica, fiddle, harmony vocals
Jay Nazz — Drums, percussion
Joe Miller — Bass guitar
Geoff Queen — Lead electric guitar, pedal steel guitar

With

Bukka Allen — Hammond B3 organ, piano, accordion
Kym Warner — Acoustic mandolin on “Seven Nights In Eire”

Produced by Cody Braun and Willy Braun
Engineered by Jacob Sciba
Mixed by Jacob Sciba and Cody Braun at Arlyn Studios
Recorded at Arlyn Studios, Austin, Texas