''Showdown!'' is a collaborative

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

album by guitarists

Albert Collins Albert Gene Drewery, known as Albert Collins and the Ice Man (October 1, 1932 – November 24, 1993),Skeely, Richard. "Albert Collins: Biography" Allmusic.com. was an American electric blues guitarist and singer with a distinctive guitar style. ...

Robert Cray Robert William Cray (born August 1, 1953) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He has led his own band and won five Grammy Awards. Early life Robert Cray was born on August 1, 1953, in Columbus, Georgia, while his father was stationed at ...

and

Johnny Copeland John Clyde Copeland (March 27, 1937 – July 3, 1997) was an American Texas blues guitarist and singer. In 1983, he was named Blues Entertainer of the Year by the Blues Foundation. He is the father of blues singer Shemekia Copeland. In 2017, Cop ...

, released in 1985 through

Alligator Records Alligator Records is an American, Chicago-based independent blues record label founded by Bruce Iglauer in 1971. Iglauer was also one of the founders of the ''Living Blues'' magazine in Chicago in 1970. History Iglauer started the label using hi ...

. The album is mostly made of original material, with cover versions of songs like

T-Bone Walker Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker (May 28, 1910 – March 16, 1975) was an American blues musician, composer, songwriter and bandleader, who was a pioneer and innovator of the jump blues, West Coast blues, and electric blues sounds. In 2018 ''Roll ...

's "T-Bone Shuffle",

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post-war blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago b ...

's "She's into Something" and Ray Charles' "Blackjack". Collins, Cray and Copeland were supported by Johnny B. Gayden and Allen Batts, who at the time were members of Collins' Icebreakers, and Alligator's household artist

Casey Jones John Luther "Casey" Jones (March 14, 1863 – April 30, 1900) was an American railroader who was killed when his passenger train collided with a stalled freight train at Vaughan, Mississippi. Jones was a locomotive engineer for the Illinois Ce ...

. In the album's sleeve notes, producers

Bruce Iglauer Bruce Iglauer (born July 10, 1947) is an American businessman and record producer who founded Alligator Records as an independent record label featuring blues music. Early life and career Iglauer was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States ...

and

Dick Shurman Richard L. Shurman (born May 23, 1950) is an American record producer, sound engineer, music journalist, music historian, and backing vocalist. He has produced numerous recordings by notable musicians including Johnny Winter, Lurrie Bell, Eddie ...

observe how Copeland and Cray were both given support by Collins early in their career, and how the three musicians have often crossed paths since then, making this collaborative effort a "thirty years in the making" project. ''Showdown!'' was one of Alligator's most successful albums, peaking at n. 124 on the US charts and selling over 175,000 units worldwide. The album won a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

for Best Traditional Blues Recording in 1986. It was re-released on CD by Alligator in 2011. In a retrospective review,

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

noted that "Cray's delivery of Muddy Waters' rhumba-rocking "She's into Something" was one of the set's many highlights".

Track listing

#"T-Bone Shuffle" (

) – 4:54 #"The Moon Is Full" (Gwen Collins) – 4:59 #"Lion's Den" (Johnny Copeland) – 3:55 #"She's Into Something" (Carl Wright) – 3:49 #"Bring Your Fine Self Home" (Johnny Copeland) – 4:30 #"Black Cat Bone" (Ivory Lee Semien, Harding Wilson) – 4:54 #"The Dream" (Robert Cray, David Amy) – 5:28 #"Albert's Alley" (Albert Collins) – 4:01 #"Blackjack" (

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson Sr. (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential singers in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Ge ...

) – 6:26

Personnel

- guitar, harmonica, vocals *

- guitar, vocals *

- guitar, vocals *Johnny B. Gayden - bass *Allen Batts - organ *

- drums

References

1985 albums Robert Cray albums Albert Collins albums Johnny Copeland albums Alligator Records albums Albums produced by Bruce Iglauer Collaborative albums {{1980s-album-stub