Here is the review of _Shootin' Straight_ from Jazziz, January 1995 issue. 
Reprinted without permission. 

Dan Hicks plays this kinda jivey, Texas swingy, bluegrass-ish music, as
purely unclassifiable as Mose Allison but a lot more fun.  _Shootin'
Straight_ is his first high profile recording in a good number of years,
certainly since he traded his Hot Licks for the Acoustic Warriors. 
Fortunately, the songs still have all the charm, humor, and warmth that
earned him a cult following.  He's long been one of those guys enjoyed by
everyone who hears him, though they won't find him on the radio.  Indeed,
listeners are as likely to get a some-things-never-change feel from this
recording as a stone admiration for the drop dead musicianship of the new
band.  Captured live, these tunes range from the samba-esque "Savin' My
Lovin'" to the sheer speed and exuberance of "Willie."  But as much talent
as Hicks brings to his playing, his main forte has become telling tales
with **gin-dry wit**, what he introduces at the beginning of the show as
"new tunes and pretty doggone good poetry put to music."  "Bottom's Up"
takes the women's points of view on thosw laughably bad days that drive
you to drink and then to unload your troubles on the folks you're drinking
with-"My car won't start but that's alright, 'cause I'll soon be in gear." 
He describes one of his neighbors in "13-D" as "a pork chop dinner with a
big baked potato and a side of peas."  What could be tastier than that? 
The tunes themselves. -Hank Bordowitz

copyright 1995 by The JAZZIZ Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved.  JAZZIZ
is a registered trademark of The JAZZIZ Magazine, Inc.