Billy Joe Shaver,
The Real Deal



Label: Compadre Records

(4 out of 5)

After nearly four decades in the music business, Billy Joe Shaver nonetheless has to convince people that he's the real deal. If anyone still doubts whether Shaver is a true Texas music original on par with Willie Nelson or Guy Clark, The Real Deal should help put their misgivings to rest.

A handful of new originals—like the ironic "There's No Fool Like an Old Fool," the bittersweet "It Just Ain't There for Me No More," the appreciative "Sweet Melody," and the quietly defiant title track like the ironic "There's No Fool Like an Old Fool," the bittersweet "It Just Ain't There for Me No More," the appreciative "Sweet Melody," and the quietly defiant title track—add to the solid songwriting legacy that has grown steadily since the 1960s.

The Real Deal offers a couple particularly noteworthy additions to the Shaver canon. "Slim Chance and the Can't Hardly Playboys," with Kevin Fowler sharing vocals, playfully parodies the many paint-by-numbers bands Shaver has witnessed over his 66 years. The centerpiece is "Aunt Jessie's Chicken Ranch," a nearly 8-minute epic story song about a Rio Grande rendezvous with an Oedipal twist.

While "Try and Try Again" is a recycled song, its impassioned treatment here is the best of its author's long and fruitful career. The same cannot be said of "Live Forever" with Big & Rich, which is passable until the final, over-harmonized minute.

Billy Joe Shaver doesn't need guest vocalists—especially not flashes-in-the-pan like Big & Rich—to convince those in the know that he is a bona fide Texas treasure.

Anyone conversant in Texas music knows that Shaver is the real deal. His excellent new album certainly strengthens our resolve.

Buy The Real Deal from Lone Star Music for only $14.99.

September 17, 2005