Watch STEVE KELLY And Others Perform His Debut Single “How Are We Here Again”
WATCH STEVE KELLY, NAUGHTY PROFESSOR, ALEX WASILY (DUMPSTAPHUNK), SAM KUSLAN (SLUGGER) & MORE PERFORM KELLY’S DEBUT SINGLE “HOW ARE WE HERE AGAIN”
Live from Wild Child Studios in New Orleans, Louisiana
Listen to “How Are We Here Again” HERE | Pre-Order Debut Album ‘Here’s The Thing’ HERE
This month, New Orleans-based guitarist and vocalist Steve Kelly announced his 8-track debut solo album “Here’s The Thing“ available on February 21, 2025 via Regime Music Group. Coined as “Americana Soul,” Kelly’s songwriting navigates the complexities of life’s cycles, candid struggles with mental health and the perils and pitfalls of substance abuse and addiction, and the peaks and valleys of personal relationships, ultimately delivering a message of hope and perseverance. Today, Kelly has shared a brand new video with a live version of the debut single “How Are We Here Again” featuring New Orleans mainstay jazz-funk sextet Naughty Professor, Alex Wasily (Dumpstaphunk), Sam Kuslan (Slugger), Renée Gros, and Tiago Guy. Watch the video on YouTube HERE.
“How Are We Here Again” kicks the album off with a nod to 80s pop brilliance with influence pulled from Talking Heads, Prince, and Peter Gabriel. It’s a narrative of cyclical life challenges from a lens of Groundhog Day-like recurring events ultimately serving as a reminder that we’re all in the same boat at different points of our respective journeys. Lyrically, the song is about the constant push/pull of the rides that are love and life—the struggle of expectations, the ups & downs, the success, and the day-to-day existence.
“I was making a comment on the universality of struggle, and how the real irony is that the common thread that we can all relate to is just how personal and isolating it can feel when we seem stuck in these cyclical patterns,” reflects Kelly, “Whether it’s in love, work, family, politics, or society at large, we all know what it’s like to throw our hands up at the sky and say, ‘How are we here again?!’”
Here’s The Thing was produced by Kelly’s longtime collaborator and friend, Robert Mercurio of Galactic. Musicians on Here’s The Thing include Kevin Scott (Govt. Mule), Isaac Eady (Tedeschi Trucks Band), Stanton Moore & Robert Mercurio (Galactic), Gabrielle Cavassa (Joshua Redman), Andriu Yanovski (The Rumble, Boogie T.Rio), Anjelika “Jelly” Joseph (Galactic, Tank & The Bangas), Josh Kagler (Galactic, Irma Thomas), Noah Young (Naughty Professor), Nick Ellman (Naughty Professor, Maroon 5), Sam Kuslan (Slugger), Andrew Block (Gramatik), Scott Graves (J. & The Causeways), Kelly Pratt (David Byrne & St. Vincent, Father John Misty, Arcade Fire) and more.
Here’s The Thing is now available for pre-order on vinyl, CD, and a combined bundle HERE.
To learn more about Steve Kelly and to get the latest updates, please visit stevekelly.io.
ABOUT STEVE KELLY
New Orleans-based singer-songwriter-instrumentalist Steve Kelly is a true lover of his adopted home, calling it “the greatest city the world has ever known or will ever know.”
A fixture on the local scene, where he’s a regular at clubs like Tipitina’s, the Maple Leaf and Le Bon Temps Roule, Kelly’s debut solo album, Here’s the Thing, is more Memphis soul, with its Al Green gospel vocals, gurgling B3 organ and R&B horns, than New Orleans funk, his adopted hometown’s spirit is all over this music.
Co-produced by Kelly with Robert Mercurio of long-running New Orleans band Galactic (now owner of the famed Tipitina’s venue), Here’s the Thing is named after one of his pet phrases, as well as a lyric in the bridge of “St. Jude,” the third track on the record. Inspired by a love affair, the album offers an introduction to a musician who put in the work and waited until the time was right to launch his solo career after establishing his reputation for more than a decade with local group Gravy.
Songs like the breezy, rhythmic island feel of “St. Jude” and the jaunty break-up track, “Loretta,” a swaggering blues plaint reminiscent of The Band boasting a lyrical nod to the Rolling Stones’ “Tumbling Dice,” are the best examples of this approach.
The thumping drums and bass punctuated by the funky horns of “How Are We Here Again” juxtapose nicely with the wailing guitar and “take it to the church” gospel strains of “Maybe,” while the shimmering, dreamy reimagining of Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon” (meets “Astral Weeks”), complete with lush orchestration (arranged by Rick Nelson) featuring a nine-piece string section and a ghostly clarinet by Nick Ellman, represent another direction entirely.
Among the songs added to the original five tracks for the final album are “Always Been You” and “Hang on for Dear Life,” both of which offer inside looks at the forces of true romance from the inside-out, making for a personal statement set to a universal Americana sound.
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