Things happen that way

"Things Happen That Way has turned out to be Dr John's last recorded studio album, and it rises to the occasion. It is the Night Tripper at his gumbo best, a joyous, uplifting mix of New Orleans funk, jazz, blues and country rock, a healing Americana which laughs at ethnic and regional boundaries. Listen to the impossibly funky arrangement of Hank Williams Sr.'s country classic "Ramblin' Man" and try not to gasp with delight".

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"The only out of place tune on Things Happen That Way is, weirdly, the remake of "I Walk on Guilded Splinters," with Dr. John backed by Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real. It's well done, but it's impossible to improve on the original's spooky perfection. All told, this a fitting, heartfelt, and bittersweet sign-off from an American treasure, and one fans will return to".

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"Storied veteran tip his hat to country music on understated and spirited farewell".

"The man born Malcolm John Rebennack also loved country. His death from a heart attack while making 'Things Happen That Way' in June 2019 freights covers of Hank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" and Willie Nelson's "Funny How Time Slips Away" with extra poignancy, but with Willie, [Willie's] son Lukas's band and Aaron Neville helping out elsewhere, there is audible love in the room. Three final, reflective and intimately presented Rebennack originals shine (...), but the best of all, perhaps, is his take on The Traveling Wilburys' "End Of The Line". Here rendered as a syncopated New Orleans march sung à la Lee Hazlewood, it's a typically deft switcheroo".