Shootin' Straight

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[11]
Robert Christgau	[12]
The Commercial Appeal	[13]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[14]
The Indianapolis Star	[15]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide	[16]

The Washington Post wrote that the album "proves that his off-beat sense of humor and his dead-on sense of swing are intact... Hicks sings about barflies, bank robbers and flying-saucer pilots in a small, dry voice that drifts easily over the crisp swing below."^[5] The Knoxville News Sentinel noted that "Hicks sounds charmingly confused in his stage patter."^[17]

The Indianapolis Star called the album full of "quirky humor and acoustic tunes that draw on influences ranging from jazz accordion to Texas swing slide guitar."^[15] The Los Angeles Times thought that "the zesty interplay of guitars, fiddles and mandolins looks back to Django Reinhardt."^[18] The Commercial Appeal stated: "Instrumentally, this is a group to reckon with, as Paul Robinson's lightning lead acoustic guitar intertwines with Stevie Blacke's mandolin and Jim Boggio provides atmospheric accordion."^[13] Elijah Wald, of The Boston Globe, listed it as one of 1994's best albums.^[19]

AllMusic wrote that "the material owes a lot to pre-bebop jazz, but it also owes a lot to country, rock, folk, and blues."^[11]