Americana Music Times

Not since Billy the Kid rode that New Mexico and Texas line has someone from the New Mexico side of the border had such an impact on his neighbors in Texas. In fact he might be an hier of Mr. Kid. He does have a baby face. The reality is that Mike Kelly’s new record “Wake the Dead” is a tour-de-force that sticks to the listener like west Texas dust.

Now based out of Austin the debut record by the Ruidoso native is going to leave its mark. Kelly is not just another un-tucked flannel shirt-wearing, first name, last name band singers who seems to pop up like blue bonnets in the spring in Texas, and are gone just as fast. At first listen to “Wake the Dead” it could be mistaken for just another one of those aforementioned records. However, after the third or fourth song the record sneaks up and revels something more. True, some of the themes are about drinking or having a fight with a girl, or about the most used Texas songwriter theme of coming back home after a long trip on the road. Yes, all of those same well-used and worn themes are in Mike Kelly’s songwriting on “Wake the Dead.” However, the difference is that Kelly like great songwriters before him uses them well and the poetry makes the difference. With these songs, he gives expression and not just words. Like Townes, Joe, and Guy of a generation before, or Owen Temple, Gordy Quist, and Adam Carroll of today, Kelly delivers the goods in a song even if the song is not some serious tome of universal truth. It is hard to do but he pulls it off.

Mike Kelly is a songwriter of distinction with a unique voice, and we can only hope that “Wake the Dead” is a start of something long lasting with more great records in the years to come.

Mike Kelly Official Video