Out October 20 via No Big Deal Records
Now Available for Pre-Order
The Austin, TX-based Reckless Kelly have announced that they will celebrate the 20th anniversary of their debut album Millican with a limited edition vinyl release on October 20 via their own label No Big Deal Records. The double LP vinyl pressing of Millican is limited to only 1000 copies and includes two never before released songs, “Wild Western Windblown Band” and “Millican.”
The two unreleased songs were remixed at Arlyn Studios in Austin, TX, where Reckless Kelly recorded the album more than 20 years ago, and the entire double LP set was re-mastered by Gavin Lurssen in Burbank, CA.
The album is now available for pre-order in the form of a limited edition “Tape Baking Bundle” that includes the Millican 20th Anniversary Remastered for vinyl double LP with unreleased bonus tracks, a digital download card, Millican CD, Millican anniversary T-shirt and a Millican Koozie. Starting on October 20 all of these products will be available individually via Reckless Kelly’s merch website rkmerch.com.
“Twenty years flew by like it was nothin’, and then all of a sudden, there we were, back at Arlyn Studios listening to the masters on two inch tape,” explains Willy Braun. “When we made Millican we never thought to release it on vinyl. Cassettes were still being phased out, CDs were the new big deal, and we’d just heard about this thing called ‘the internet.’ Now that ironically, vinyl is the new big deal, we’ve decided that Millican deserves a place in the record collection. It was, after all, recorded to tape, (something that only the cool cats were doing at the time) so it seems fitting to have an all analogue version available for the die hards.”
The new Millican cover was digitized by Sarah and Shauna Dodds of Backstage Design Studio who designed the artwork for Reckless Kelly’s last four studio albums, earning themselves three GRAMMY® nominations and one GRAMMY® Award for Best Recording Package.
“As has become a bit of a tradition for our collaborations, die-hard fans might find an easter egg on the cover… Look closely,” said the Dodds.
“This album means so much to us as it was the first preview of Reckless Kelly to an audience that has stayed and grown with us,” explains Jay Nazz. “It’s the memories and excitement of making our first album together and sharing this celebration with our fans.”
“I love a good challenge, and this was definitely challenging,” explains David Abeyta “The tapes were 20 + years old, and had been moved around our hot and humid town of Austin, Texas, from place to place over the years. The first playback of the multitrack reels showed that the tapes would need to be restored before we could go any further and mix the two previously unreleased bonus tracks, ‘Wild Western Windblown Band’ and ‘Millican.’ In the end we felt good about using the most time tested method: baking the tapes in a convection oven, to get the backing to re-adhere to the tape, and restore playability.”
“Twenty years flew by like we were standing still, but after all this time, this album remains the cornerstone of that signature RK sound,” said Willy Braun. “We never wanted to label it, and we never really knew what to call it so if anyone asks, just tell em’ we sound like Millican.”
Last year, Reckless Kelly released their 9th studio album Sunset Motel to great acclaim. The album debuted at #12 on the Billboard Americana/Folk Albums Chart and hit #1 on the Texas Regional Radio Report Chart and #7 on the Americana Radio Chart. The album was embraced by CONAN’s TeamCoco, Billboard, Rolling Stone Country and many more.
Tracklist:
1) Back Around
2) Walton Love
3) It’s All Over
4) I Still Do
5) Black & White
6) Waitin’ On The Blues
7) Hatax
8) Hey Say May
9) Drink Your Whiskey
10) Baby’s Gone Blues
11) Time Bomb
12) Wild Western Windblown Band
13) Millican