This month, New Orleans-based guitarist and vocalist Steve Kelly announced his 8-track debut solo album, Here’s The Thing, set for release 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, 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 featuring a live version of the debut single, “How Are We Here Again,” with New Orleans 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 off the album with a nod to ’80s pop brilliance, pulling influences from Talking Heads, Prince, and Peter Gabriel. It narrates cyclical life challenges through a Groundhog Day-like lens of 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 explores the constant push-and-pull of love and life—the struggle of expectations, the ups and downs, success, and day-to-day existence. “I was making a comment on the universality of struggle and how the real irony is that the common thread 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. The album features a stellar lineup of musicians, including Kevin Scott (Gov’t 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 as a combined bundle HERE.
To learn more about Steve Kelly and stay updated, please visit stevekelly.io.
ABOUT STEVE KELLY
New Orleans-based singer-songwriter and 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 venues like Tipitina’s, the Maple Leaf, and Le Bon Temps Roule, Kelly’s debut solo album, Here’s The Thing, leans more Memphis soul—with its Al Green-inspired gospel vocals, gurgling B3 organ, and R&B horns—than New Orleans funk. Yet his adopted hometown’s spirit is infused throughout this music.
Co-produced by Kelly with Robert Mercurio of the long-running New Orleans band Galactic (and current owner of the famed Tipitina’s venue), Here’s The Thing takes its title from one of Kelly’s 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 introduces a musician who put in the work and waited until the time was right to launch his solo career after spending more than a decade building his reputation with local group Gravy.
Songs like the breezy, rhythmic island-inspired “St. Jude” and the jaunty breakup track “Loretta”—a swaggering blues lament reminiscent of The Band with a lyrical nod to the Rolling Stones’ “Tumbling Dice”—stand out as some of the album’s highlights. The thumping drums and bass punctuated by funky horns in “How Are We Here Again” juxtapose nicely with the wailing guitar and gospel strains of “Maybe.” Meanwhile, the shimmering, dreamy reimagining of Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon” (meeting Astral Weeks)—complete with lush orchestration (arranged by Rick Nelson) featuring a nine-piece string section and ghostly clarinet by Nick Ellman—ventures into an entirely different musical realm.
Among the additional tracks added to the original five are “Always Been You” and “Hang on for Dear Life,” both offering intimate perspectives on true romance from the inside out, making for a personal statement set to a universal Americana sound.
