Billy Joe and Eddy Shaver return with an album full of full tilt country, blues and rock. It also reaches a little deeper into their Texas roots; roots planted in Corsicana and Waco, where Billy Joe spent his nights running back and forth between the Green Gables honky-tonk where his mother worked, and the porch where his babysitter, Imogene, and her blind son played and sang the blues. It was fertile ground for a young boy who would grow up to be one of the great root songwriters of his generation.
"Electric Shaver" combines Billy Joe's songwriting with his son Eddy's unique guitar work. It also marks the second album Shaver has done for the up-and-coming indie record label New West Records. "Electric Shaver" was recorded in Nashville, and produced by Ray Kennedy (Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams), half of the Twang Trust that he founded with partner Steve Earle.
The album contains 11 songs written by Billy Joe and one, "Heart to Heart," penned with Eddy. The Shaver's borrow from a sound that has developed across generations and has been distilled by years on the road in honky-tonks around the world. And on any given night, in bars and honky-tonks, in cities and towns, on highways and back-roads, there is a place where the music of Hank Williams and Muddy Waters come together. That is where you will find Shaver tearing it up each and every time they take the stage.
www.newwestrecords.com or (323) 653-1338
This review is copyright © 1999 by Matt Alcott, and Blues On Stage, all rights reserved.
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