MITCH KASHMAR "100 MILES TO GO" Source: Blindman's Blues Forum Date: 08/2010 Writer: Craig Ruskey

100 Miles To Go marks the fourth disc in the Mitch Kashmar catalog in the past five years, and although it appears to be a new offering from the folks at Delta Groove, it’s actually a reissue of a long out-of-print vinyl album by the West Coast harpster recorded with his formidable five-piece band back in 1988. If you’re an avid listener to stripped-down, harmonica-fueled blues with more than a small dose of bristling guitar scattered throughout, this should be right up your alley. Kashmar easily proves that his talents as songwriter, singer and harp player more than two decades ago were all to be reckoned with. Nine of the disc’s dozen tracks were penned by him. There are two solid harp instrumentals, his own Lip Service and William Clarke’s Horn Of Plenty, where Kashmar and the band are joined by Clarke himself. Guitarists Bill Flores and Jon Lawton acquit themselves well on a handful of cuts, including the Slim Harpo-influenced My Kinda Woman and the Little Walter by-way-of Willie Dixon gem, Long As I Have You. The funky Let It All Fall Dead displays Kashmar’s early talents all in full view; the lyrics are balanced and visual, the singing smoky and heartfelt, and his high register harp playing is flawless. There are a pair of new bonus tracks recently recorded by the band showing they can still wrestle these blues around even if they‘re all a little older. Listeners won’t find anything groundbreaking here, but it’s a highly rewarding effort by a frontman and his band who proved their talents night after night up and down the Left Coast almost twenty-five years ago.