He gets compared to Little Johnny Taylor, or so the press would have you believe, but George Stancell’s debut—40 years in the making, if you can believe that—has more in common with the Memphis sweet soul greats of the early ’70s. Fact is, his surprisingly thin voice and nice-guy guitar make his blues a lot less effective than it could be, because while he can unload a good shuffle or funky chicken scratch blues, he’s most at home on the flip side of the adult urban contemporary coin. Gorgeous George’s debut works best when he’s forgetting about authenticity and sinking into smooth yet sprightly soul grooves like “Gonna Keep On,” his duet with Mary Taylor, or “A Bluesman,” which is only slightly grittier than, say, Willie Mitchell’s immortal productions at Hi.

Stancells’ debut only happened after years of work and constant gigging, but unlike, say, Ted Hawkins, there’s no sense of an almost-lost master developing here, just a decent guitarist who has a flair for soul touches. Still, like his wrestling namesake, his unimposing demeanor could be harboring a real monster; only time will tell. I doubt it, though; dues-paying or not.