Smokin’ Joe Kubek & Bnois King, Fatman’s Shine Parlor (Blind Pig)

I guess you’d refer to the music on this disc as “roadhouse blues.”

King and Kubek are a couple of Texas guitar slingers that have been dishing out this style of music for a couple of decades, although King was born in Louisiana.

Not unexpectedly, there’s lots of clashing guitars, crashing drums, thumping bass lines and oft-times frantic vocals—kind of sounds like a hybrid of Hound Dog Taylor, Canned Heat and Bachman-Turner Overdrive.

The themes here are all-too-familiar. Drinking—”River of Whiskey”—voodoo—”Brown Bomba Mojo”—two-timing women—”Got My Heart Broken”—food—”Cornbread”—having the blues—”Done Got the Blues” and, of course, Texas road houses—”Lone Star Lap Dance.”

There’s nothing wrong with this music. It just tends to be repetitive, as one song bleeds into another. It’s certainly not Common Core R&B.

“Fatman’s Shine Parlor” might best be listened to with a shot and a couple beers.

Conversely, you won’t want to put this one on if you were nursing a hangover.