Never quite as celebrated as his contemporaries Tom Waits and Dr John, Chuck E Weiss nevertheless occupies the same territory of mournful, whiskey-soaked blues. This follow-up to his Waits collaboration Extremely Cool sounds as if it could have been recorded 30 years ago - and in fact one track was recorded 30 years ago, a version of Down the Road Apiece that features the late blues legend Willie Dixon. Elsewhere we get such predictably Southern fare as barroom laments, voodoo chants and swampy bluegrass strummings, all executed with evident gusto and enjoyment. For the most part Old Souls and Wolf Tickets is an enjoyable listen but ultimately its self-indulgence gets a bit wearisome; it's simply never quite as much fun for the listener as it clearly was for the man who made it.
