American Jackpot/American Girls

A double album consisting of one conceptual tour de force and its deliberately slimmer companion, American Jackpot/American Girls captures the veteran Red Dirt band Reckless Kelly at their most ambitious, but that doesnt necessarily mean it finds the group branching out musically. The band continue to pledge allegiance to rough-hewn but slyly polished Texan roots music, staying in the steady-rolling troubadour lane, yet Willy Braun took it upon himself to capture undercurrents and characters that define American life. On American Jackpot, which is the heart of this 2020 double LP, Braun is as fixated on the present as he is in the past, and he shows a fondness for how the two can overlap or how legends, such as that of Jackie Robinson, linger in the popular consciousness. Braun and Reckless Kelly get lighter on American Girls, consisting of songs that were written and recorded during the American Jackpot sessions but didnt quite fit its concentrated theme. Despite Jackpots Southern-fried raver Mona, American Girls is indeed a bit more fun than American Jackpot -- Reckless Kelly go so far as to conjure the ghost of Sir Doug Sahm on the rollicking Lost Inside the Groove -- but theyre best seen as a pair, as the combination showcases the bands dogged determination, Brauns ambition as a songwriter, and, in a guest list that includes Charlie Sexton, Gary Clark, Jr., Shawn Sahm, Wade Bowen, and Suzy Bogguss, how highly Reckless Kelly are thought of in their adopted hometown. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine