Rick Shaffer’s fourth solo album "Stacked Deck" was recorded at Del Tone Studio, a foreclosed VFW outside Detroit, and the always raucous Boom Room in Mississippi. The musicians gathered for the project are a mix of Shaffer’s usual rhythm section of Les Chishom, Leon Wingfield, Boo Boo Spencer, along with his Detroit crew Anna Burne, Jimmy Causton and Del Robinson. Written and produced by Shaffer, his latest release continues the "sonic minimalist” blueprint of his previous solo albums. The sound combines hard fuzz guitar driven garage-blues, a blues edged two step, lazy insistent rolling beat, new colors in the harmonica and spoons style percussion, along with an unadorned and unaffected blues narrative. Tracks "I Won't Deny," "Cool Treatment" and "Pushing Me" are all tough flat-out garage-blues wall of sound, with distortion drones, and searing slide tones that weave into your consciousness. The album opener "I Won't Deny" is a lean boogie swinging style garage blues piece, in the Tony Visconti/Marc Bolan production mold, that has a "Bukowski" lyrical element, heavyweight guitar hook, and psychedelic treatment of slide tracks. "Cool Treatment" is an over the top take on a John Lee Hooker one-note approach. Think "Jockey Blues" with heavy distorted guitars, a dirty R. L. Burnside style slide sound, wailing 60's beat-era harmonica, wrapped together in rocking mayhem. "Pushing Me" is a ratcheted up bluesy rocker psychedelic homage to the late Spirit guitarist, Randy Califo