The Real Deal | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 1995 | |||
Studio | Sunnyside | |||
Genre | Blues | |||
Label | Bullesye Blues[1] | |||
Producer | Ron Levy | |||
Smokey Wilson chronology | ||||
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The Real Deal is an album by the American musician Smokey Wilson, released in 1995.[2][3] Wilson supported the album with a North American tour.[4] It was nominated for a W. C. Handy Award for best traditional blues album.[5]
The album was produced by Ron Levy.[6] It includes covers of Eddie Taylor's "Bad Boy" and Muddy Waters's "Feel Like Going Home".[4] Wilson wrote the remaining nine songs; he was primarily influenced by the styles of Mississippi blues musicians.[7][8] Preston Shannon played rhythm guitar on The Real Deal.[9]
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [10] |
DownBeat | [11] |
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [12] |
MusicHound Blues: The Essential Album Guide | [13] |
The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings | [6] |
The Chicago Tribune wrote that "Wilson brings a gruff, slashing Mississippi-bred attack to his uncompromising brand of contemporary blues."[14] The Age stated: "Fronting a sturdy, rhythm section, Wilson brandishes a guitar that eases from West Coast panache to stinging, Mississippi Delta grit."[15]
The Anchorage Daily News determined that, "at their best, his songs achieve a slow, coruscating effect enlivened by bright, sparsely picked notes on his guitar."[7] The Boston Herald opined that the album's acoustic tracks "positively reek of the Mississippi juke joints in which the Los Angeles-based Wilson learned his trade from the masters."[9]
AllMusic deemed the album "electric juke-joint nirvana."[10] MusicHound Blues: The Essential Album Guide praised the "joyous, defiant" "Not Pickin' Your Cotton".[13]
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Son of a ... Blues Player" | |
2. | "House in Hollywood" | |
3. | "Bad Boy" | |
4. | "Sittin' in Jackson" | |
5. | "Feel Like Going Home" | |
6. | "Rat Takin' Your Cheese" | |
7. | "In My Life" | |
8. | "Not Pickin' Your Cotton" | |
9. | "I Wanna Do It to You Baby" | |
10. | "When You Got Somebody" | |
11. | "Can't Make It Without You" |