Blackjack Choir is ultimate expression of all that
James Talley is as a songwriter and performer.
Blackjack Choir, his third album for Capitol, was released in 1977 at the dawn of the Urban Cowboy hype, the beginning of the wane of the outlaws, the kicked-open door of punk, and the cocaine heights of disco. Oh yeah, and the period in which mainstream pop and rock sucked more than at any other time in their history up to that point. In other words, it's a miracle the album was made at all by a major label.
Talley used basically the same band he'd employed on his previous outings, but added
Reggie Young on guitar and a cello and tuba for texture on a couple of songs. The depth was already there, but
Blackjack Choir also had dimension. "Bluesman," the opener, kicks it off with
Young kicking in on electric,
Talley in his smooth tenor riding above a horn section that slips and slides through his lyrics, which are, of course, about the workmanlike side of being a bluesman. "Alabama Summertime" is a country song with pretty steel guitars, but inside its sunny disposition is an ache, a blues, a looking back, a longing. "Everybody Loves a Lovesong" could have been written by
Mickey Newbury with its beautiful Dixieland blues and jazz feel, with a tack piano and tuba framing the rhythm section.