Who Stole My Monkey?

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[9]
Orlando Sentinel	[6]
The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings	[10]
Tucson Citizen	A[11]

The Charleston Daily Mail wrote that Chavis's "chugging, circular, single-chord style has proved to be all but inimitable."^[12] The Orlando Sentinel said that "Boozoo, [bassist Classie] Ballou and guitarist Carlton 'Guitar' Thomas create complicated harmonic structures with Thomas sometimes echoing Boozoo's phrases, sometimes embellishing them, sometimes supporting them with simple chords and sometimes developing miniature counter-melodies."^[6] The Wall Street Journal determined that Chavis's "in-your-face style marks a throwback to a day when musical intensity mattered more than pristine technique or production values."^[13]

The Chicago Tribune stated that Chavis "bypasses familiar verse-chorus-verse structures and 4/4 tempos for old-fashioned, cycling riffs and off-kilter, two-step grooves."^[14] The San Diego Union-Tribune determined that "his earthy, no-fuss music combines Creole and Cajun traditions with blues, without diluting any of them."^[15] The Washington Post opined that the title track gets "mired in the same old drum-bass-rubboard boom-scratcha boom-scratcha of a dozen other zydeco songs."^[16] The Tucson Citizen praised the "reedy squeezebox, good-time vocal delivery and playful way with the lyric."^[11]

AllMusic wrote that "Boozoo lays down tunes just like he was working a dance in Louisiana rather than making a record in the sterile confines of a recording studio."^[9]