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Gabriel Kelley is an example of why it pays off to be honest. He took his career on a sharp left turn when he left a fairly comfortable job as a songwriter on Music Row in Nashville to live in a trailer and write the kind of music he wanted, the kind that people really need to hear. After months of struggle-along with a successful Kickstarter campaign-Gabriel has come up with It Don’t Come Easy, a collection of songs that ultimately fulfills what he set out to accomplish. It’s honest, down-home country record that avoids coming across as amateurish or sloppy.

The recordings are centered on what is arguably Gabriel’s greatest asset: his voice. His deep, twangy baritone gives opener “How Come” the lift it needs to kick off the album properly, and his turn in “When Is Enough” is truly heart-wrenching. The band, whose work recalls the best work from Ryan Adams & The Cardinals, flesh out the songs with crisp, rollicking piano and pedal steel that tugs at the heartstrings. At the center of it all, though, is Gabriel, whose searing, personal lyrics give affirm his decision to set out on his own. I doubt that any artist on Music Row could do this set of songs justice; it takes a man as forthright and direct as Gabriel Kelley to really speak to you through music.

– Kevin Korber