In a time when live music often leans toward overproduction and under-substance, it was pure magic to watch two master songwriters, Willy Braun and Roger Clyne, sit down with nothing but two stools, two guitars, and 70 years of combined road-tested storytelling between them—a little hard to believe given their youthful ethic and energy.

Willy was in a family band on national television in his single-digit years. Roger, the son of a son of an Arizona rancher, rebelled with his start as a punk rocker, “armed with skateboard and clove cigarettes,” before the years reinvigorated his love of the high desert, his family’s legacy, and deepened his love for Mexican and Arizona culture.

On May 9th at The Club at ArrowCreek in Reno, and again on May 10th at The Nashville Social Club in Carson City, Braun (of Reckless Kelly) and Clyne (of Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers, and formerly The Refreshments) traded verses, swapped stories, and turned each evening into an intimate, hilarious, and deeply moving tribute to the craft of songwriting.

Roger Clyne and Willy Braun at ArrowCreek

Though they’ve only recently played together, there’s already the unmistakable chemistry of a new creative brotherhood—a kind of literary bromance built on shared values: authenticity, humility, and humor. They are, at heart, poets of the American West—Roger from the high deserts of Arizona, Willy from the rugged mountain deserts of Idaho—but they meet on the same musical trail, where wit and wisdom ride side by side.

A Master Class in Humor and Heart

With decades on the road, you'd expect seasoned stage presence—but what wasn't expected was just how funny these two are. Missed lyrics? A broken string? A squealing mic? No problem. Each “flaw” became a punchline, returned like a backhand from Wimbledon. Mother’s Day jokes, Three Amigos quotes, philosophical arguments over the meanings of “euphemism” and “simile”—the stage wasn’t just a performance space, it was a campfire lit with laughter.

Songs with Roots and Wings

Willy Braun dug deep into his catalogue, pulling from his earliest days in Austin, where—too young to legally join his bandmates on 6th Street—he was already writing gems like “Black and White.” Across both nights, the audience was gifted with “Wicked Twisted Road,” “Nobody’s Girl,” and a pair of classic road-weary anthems: “Desolation Angels” (Friday) and “Ragged as the Road” (Saturday). The latter, stripped down to two acoustic guitars, still shook the room like a Texas storm.

Willy also shared “Lonesome on My Own,” a co-write with Idaho songwriter Jeff Crosby. It's a haunting meditation on love lost in an age of social media. Willy’s opening line—

“Hate to say it, but she looks happier now in her posts and her photographs”

—defies usual songwriting rules about avoiding tech-speak, but here, it works with crushing precision. The final nugget—

“Now I can be lonesome on my own”

—doesn’t just complete the chorus. It infuses our experience with a scaffolding we’re left to fill with our own stories of relationships failed, staying with us like smoke in our clothes. (Well, that might be metaphor and euphemism…!)

Roger Clyne’s songs rode in on a different horse—one carrying punk rock spirit through mariachi soul. From “Mexico” to “Leaky Little Boat” to “Tell Mama,” his voice proved a finely tuned and deeply dynamic instrument—equal parts grace and grit. Another highlight was “Mekong,” a bittersweet, booze-soaked ballad of distance and regret, sung like a hymn for those too far gone for too long:

“But is it true it's always happy hour here? / If it is I'd like to stay a while.”

Mutual Admiration Society

As much as they admired each other’s work, Roger and Willy made sure the crowd knew the names they revere. Alejandro Escovedo’s Real Animal album was offered like a sacred text. They played “Always a Friend”—a song famously covered by Springsteen but written by Escovedo and Chuck Prophet. According to legend (shared with a grin), Prophet thought The Boss “did it wrong.” Hearing Roger and Willy do it together? They clearly made new friends with these fans, leaving us to wonder if Chuck just might have approved….

Braun dropped hints about upcoming collaborations between Reckless Kelly and Steve Earle, the legendary songwriter whose own reckless years bore fruit for music fans but uncertainty in his life. Roger and Willy closed pre-encore on Saturday with Earle’s “Feel Alright,” weaving the perhaps inevitable excesses of an artist’s road life into a proud celebration:

“I got everything you won't need / Your darkest fear, your fondest dream
I ask you questions, tell you lies / Criticize and sympathize
Yeah, but be careful what you wish for, friend / 'Cause I've been to hell and now I'm back again
And I feel alright, I feel alright tonight!”

The Peace of Wild Things

There was something of Wendell Berry in the way these evenings unfolded—a pause from the chaos of modern life, a space where storytelling could breathe and songs could find new life in old chords. Braun and Clyne are not just survivors of the touring life; they are sages of it. Their connection to land, family, language, and each other made for two rare nights of grace.

For those who were there, you know. For those who weren’t—you missed something real. Something wild and peaceful. Something sacred and funny. Something that won’t happen the same way again.

Until the next time Roger Clyne and Willy Braun share the stage.

Songwriters of the High Desert: Willy Braun and Roger Clyne Deliver!