Keep on Smilin'/Dixie Rock in Bloomington, MN

Geography alone conspired to lump
Wet Willie
in with the
Southern rockers
who waved the rebel flag across the '70s. Sure, they called sweet
"Alabama"
home, and Macon, GA, was where they gradually built their reputation, but these good ol' boys were attuned to a somewhat different Southern tradition than the likes of
the Allman Brothers
,
Marshall Tucker
, et al. Sure, the pretty ode to their native state was a pure and patriotic
Southern rock
ballad
, while
"Spanish Moss"
had that lovely guitar picking so essential to the genre, but the rest of
Keep on Smilin'
, their fourth album, hammers their banner to another flagpole entirely.
"Soul Sister"
crisply salutes mid-'60s
Stax
and
"Soul Jones"
follows that label straight into
funk
, as does the Southern-fried
"Country Side of Life."
"Trust in the Lord"
heads straight to church, with the band's backing
Williettes
providing the
gospel
chorus to the group's
boogie
revival.
"In Our Hearts"
is built to boogie as well, but interlaced with contemporary
jazz
. In contrast, numbers like
"Lucy Was in Trouble"
"Don't Wait Too Long"
shift into the smoother sounds of the then-current
R&B
scene. With its unique blend of white
rock
and black
, 1974's
proved to be
's breakout, taking them for the first (and only time) into the Top 50, and
the Willies
' follow-up, 1975's
Dixie Rock
, continued to plow this fertile but rarely tilled musical field. The title track, as one would expect, was precisely as advertised, except for
Jimmy Hall
's soulful
Otis Redding
-inspired vocals;
"Leona"
was the set's other
Southern rocker
; and
"It's Gonna Stop Rainin' Soon"
showcased their
country
skills. Intriguingly, the set's one religious number,
"He Set Me Free,"
is this time delivered via a hymnal chorus, instead of the rollicking
featured on their last set. A number of other tracks favors flashy
in all its garbs, with funky rhythms raging from the
-styled to the
Stylistics
-inspired. They'd reaped much of this harvest the last time around, but now they sow new fields on the slide guitar-laced
and 12-bar
blues
of
"Mama Didn't Raise No Fools,"
before sitting down on the porch for a well-deserved rest across the pure fingerpicking and harmonica-laced
"Jailhouse Moan."
Both these albums were superb, although the latter set inexplicably didn't even break the Top 100. Bringing the pair together on one CD is a no-brainer, capturing
at their most inspired heights. ~ Jo-Ann Greene