Alligator Records’ GRAMMY-Winning Showdown! LP To Receive Deluxe Reissue On November 29

On Friday, November 29, 2024, Alligator Records will release the deluxe 40th Anniversary LP version of the GRAMMY-winning, history-making super-session, Showdown!. Originally released in 1985, Showdown! is an all-star collaboration between blues guitar legends Albert Collins, Johnny Copeland, and Robert Cray. In addition to winning a GRAMMY Award in 1985, the album was inducted into the Blues Foundation’s Hall Of Fame in 2016.

Showdown! has now been remastered and will come in a deluxe gatefold jacket with expanded artwork. The set also features a spirited remembrance of how the record came to be, written by Alligator Records founder, president, and album co-producer Bruce Iglauer. The record is pressed on 140g clear vinyl. The new release also includes the song Something To Remember You By, not available on the original release.

Showdown! features three of the greatest blues guitarists all at the very top of their talents, with each artist spurring the others to deliver one stellar performance after the other. The idea for the album grew out of a live session Iglauer helped put together for the 1984 Chicago Blues Festival — a Texas Guitar Showdown. The set featured Collins, Copeland, and their mentor, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown. It was so successful, Iglauer and co-producer Dick Shurman wanted to capture the lightning on record.

With Brown unable to commit to the recording project, Collins’ protege Cray was asked to come on board. Cray’s song The Dream (written the night before it was recorded) is an album highlight. Copeland, father of current Alligator star Shemekia Copeland, brought two original songs to the project, and Collins brought one. Interpretations of songs by T-Bone Walker, Muddy Waters, Ray Charles, Guitar Slim and Texas legend Hop Wilson rounded out what has become one of the best-loved titles in the entire Alligator catalog.

Showdown! remains one of Alligator’s most successful albums in the label’s 53-year history, selling over 310,000 units worldwide.

Tracklist:
1. T-Bone Shuffle (4:54) (T-Bone Walker)
2. The Moon Is Full (4:59) (Gwen Collins)
3. Lion’s Den (3:55) (Johnny Copeland)
4. She’s Into Something (3:49) (Carl Wright)
5. Bring Your Fine Self Home (4:30) (Johnny Copeland)
6. Black Cat Bone (4:54) (Hop Wilson & Ivory Semien)
7. The Dream (5:28) (Bruce Bromberg & Robert Cray)
8. Albert’s Alley (4:01) (Frank “Sonny” Scott)
9. Blackjack (6:26) (Ray Charles)
10. Something To Remember You By (5:28) (Eddie “Guitar Silm” Jones)