Billy Joe Shaver’s first dabble at producing himself illustrates just how important a firm guiding hand is, as well as what an indispensable element Eddy Shaver’s fiery guitar was to his father’s art. Heavily grounded in mid-tempo honky-tonk, The Real Deal needs the direction, pace and daring brought to Shaver’s work by producers such as R.S. Field. Plenty of A-list players are present, but none ever truly throw down with Eddy’s authority and sympathetic hell-raiser comprehension.
The result is a mild, meandering mix of pleasant enough Shaver-isms concerned with lost or wasted love. Shaver’s commanding voice still holds plenty of wistfully repentant hillbilly honesty, but the songwriting is fair-to-middlin’ for a guy who wrote “Low Down Freedom” or “The Word Was Thunderbird”, and the performances tend to recite the Shaver formula — except for the completely over-the-top, love-it-or-hate-it radio anthemization of “I’m Gonna Live Forever” (complete with Big & Rich cameo).
Gentle simpatico duets with Nanci Griffith and Kimmie Rhodes generate highlight moments, but it’s hard to imagine a seasoned producer sitting still for “Slim Chance And The Can’t Hardly Playboys”, a throwaway gag line duet with Ball Cap Nation favorite Kevin Fowler.
Taken individually, tracks such as “There’s No Fool Like An Old Fool” or “It Just Ain’t There For Me No More” are vintage Shaver and will stand up exceptionally well in a radio mix. But taken as an album, The Real Deal doesn’t quite manage the more-than-the-sum-of-its-parts spirit-lifting magic of albums such as Tramp On Your Street or The Earth Rolls On.
