| The Real Deal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1995 | |||
| Studio | Sunnyside | |||
| Genre | Blues | |||
| Label | Bullesye Blues [1] | |||
| Producer | Ron Levy | |||
| Smokey Wilson chronology | ||||
| ||||
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" |
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