Article Contributed by New West Records
Published on 2026-07-16
Kelly Doyle will release Thieves on August 14, 2026, via Strolling Bones Records. The nine-track set was produced and mixed by Steve Christensen (Khruangbin, Steve Earle) and features Doyle on guitar, Will Story on bass, Jeremy Bruch on drums, and Nelson Deveraux on saxophone.
Recorded in Doyle’s hometown of Houston, Texas, the new album ends a sort of wilderness period for the musician following many years in the ambient sphere. With Thieves, he pivots back to the guitar with an instrumental album that takes root in jazzier terrain and carries a radiant energy.
Several Kelly Doyles have been floating around Houston for years. He is as likely to be found playing guitar while leading a jazz trio in a late-night setting as he is adding colorful flourishes in support of a singer-songwriter, honky-tonk performer, or lounge act.
Doyle’s guitar tone will sound familiar to those who know his work, but the way he applies it to the music is thoughtful, melodic, and playful. He has long played well with others, adding bright lines to the retro lounge of Clouseaux and, later, wild old-school honky-tonk solos with Robert Ellis.
He has also played with Phosphorescent, Craig Finn, and What Made Milwaukee Famous, and has been prominently featured on Khruangbin’s Late Night Tales. Plug Doyle in, and he can play with just about any act.
Under the Radar premiered a live performance of the album highlight “Cold Open.”
“‘Cold Open’ is kinda like if Wim Wenders made a spaghetti western in space,” Doyle says. “It feels like a lost soundtrack cue—moody, spacious, and careful. The record has a long ambient ending, and it’s like the characters float off into space and die.”
Filmed at Ovations in Houston, the performance was directed by Javier Fernandez, with cinematography by Vincent Briseno. Watch it HERE.
Magnet Magazine previously premiered a live performance of the album’s first single, “Bats Are Cute.” Playful exotica meets psychedelic jazz as the song starts light and quirky before veering into Bitches Brew-inspired improvisation.
“This is a song directly inspired by the rhythmic quality found in Martin Denny’s Exotica record,” Doyle says. “It is something I can’t seem to shake. I love the sounds of ’50s exotica. Pairing that with the Miles Davis Bitches Brew/Live-Evil era panning effects over the improvising created a really nice mood. It made the exotica side of the song less campy and more creepy.”
When Doyle found his way back to the guitar, he found himself listening to Grant Green, the storied guitarist associated with jazz whose recordings grew increasingly expansive throughout his career. Green’s approach to guitar in the 1960s and ’70s later found a new audience as many of his parts were used as hip-hop samples.
With Thieves, Doyle similarly puts his compositional skill to work with pieces that do not showcase his instrument so much as nestle it into compositions that unfold over the course of five minutes and leave lingering impressions.
“I really don’t think of it as jazz at all,” Doyle says. “I know it’s a necessary descriptor that you have to use. But I think of it as just part of a trajectory of things I dig.”
Those influences also include the work of Lloyd Green, the late Nashville A-Team session player whose pedal steel work is echoed by some of Doyle’s warping string bends; the dark, immersive sounds of ambient and electronic composer Tim Hecker; and the reverb-rich sound of fellow Telecaster master Danny Gatton, who, like Doyle, could play a country session and a jazz session back to back.
The compositions on Thieves are concise.
“I wanted the melodies to be strong,” Doyle says. “There’s a thing with some modern jazz where it feels like people are on stage kissing their muscles. I don’t care for that. It doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy shredding. But I also like intention and purpose. I think compared to my other records, this one sounds less manicured. A little freer, a little looser. But I wanted to focus on the melodies and rein in everything else.”
Thieves will be available across streaming platforms, compact disc, and standard black vinyl. The album is available for pre-order now via Strolling Bones Records.
Thieves Track Listing:
1. Thieves
2. Pink Houses
3. Cold Open
4. Needlerooser
5. A Year and a Day
6. Big Fish
7. Found a Knife
8. Bats are Cute
9. Lodge Scene
Kelly Doyle Live:
July 23 - Milwaukee, WI - Sugar Maple w/ Nelson Devereaux
July 25 - Minneapolis, MN - Berlin
August 14 - Houston, TX - Ovations (Record Release Show)
(More dates to be announced soon)
https://www.kellydoylemusic.com/
www.strollingbonesrecords.com
