The Brightest Smile in Town is an album by the American musician Dr. John, released in 1983.[2][3] It was his second solo piano album.[4][5] It was reissued in 2006, along with Dr. John Plays Mac Rebennack, Vol. 1 plus bonus tracks.[6]
The album was coproduced by Ed Levine.[7] Half of its songs are instrumentals.[8] "Waiting for a Train" is a cover of the Jimmie Rodgers song.[9] "Touro Infirmary", about a dead friend, was included on the album's reissue.[10]
The Philadelphia Inquirer deemed the album "an uneven but charming record that peaks with his rowdy performances of 'Marie La Veau' and ... 'Average Kind of Guy'."[13]The Globe and Mail praised the "unassuming, easy-rolling vein of New Orleans' piano playing."[15] The Philadelphia Daily News called it "a joyous romp through various aspects of traditional and modern music from the Crescent City."[16]
Robert Christgau noted that "too often on his second unaccompanied mostly-instrumental album he's as pleasant and boring as any other session man doing his thing."[11]Goldmine determined that the album is "filled with glissandos, arpeggios and quiet, almost eerie, passages."[17]
^McDermott, Tom (December 21, 2002). "Solo Practice – Twenty years ago, Dr. John single-handedly recorded one of the best albums of his career". Food & Drink. Gambit.
^Shuster, Fred (March 5, 2006). "Recordings". Zest. Houston Chronicle. Los Angeles Daily News. p. 4.
^Levine, Ed (2019). Serious Eater: A Food Lover's Perilous Quest for Pizza and Redemption. Penguin. p. 37.