Good ol’ Popa Chubby – a.k.a. Ted Horowitz – keeps chuggin’ along and making solid records, especially when it comes to guitarslinging. A couple of tunes here seem like mere excuses to jam (including the instrumentals “Kinda Dicey” and “The Devil’s Guitar”) but the more rock-and-roll cuts like “Slide Devil Man, Slide” showcase the best parts of his act, with its killer slide and Chubby’s trademark spoken-word vocals. “Long, Deep, Hard, and Wide” is a hard-rocking stomper with stinging guitar, menacing vocal, and cool stories to go along with the music. “Smugglers Game” is a walking blues with sitar-sounding guitar and a big solo sound to change things up. “Back In My Baby’s Arms” has a nice old-school soul feel with a beautiful, melodic solo. Soul music makes several other appearances here, too, including the Strat heaven of “Why I Can’t Have You.” “Virgil and Smoky” is another story song, with a lyric that’s downright scary, delivered in a nasty, funky blues to match. It’s a definite highlight of the record.

In this day and age, it’s a real treat to have labels like Blind Pig delivering music by artists like Popa Chubby.