MITCH KASHMAR "100 MILES TO GO" Source: Folk Bulletin Date: 02/2011 Writer: Fabrizio Poggi

When I bought this record (at that time was a classic LP), back in 1989, I was thunderstruck. They were a couple of years I started playing the harmonica seriously and at that time my purchases were mainly focused on the blues.
I do not know how it happened. I had never heard the name of that group. The only thing I knew was that they were from California, land of great harmonica players like Rod Piazza, William Clarke, Mark Hummel and many others. Maybe I was struck by the photo of those guys on the cover: I thought they had more or less the same age as me and their expression seemed to guys who were pretty darn seriously. When I put the dish on the turntable, from the first song "Night Creeper" I knew that record was very important for my musical education. The band turned to a thousand harmonica and the voice of Mitch Kashmar towers above everything. Not only quell'armonicista played with taste and style, but also sang a few. That shuffle opening with the harmonious played clean on the high registers shook my soul. The voice, the guitars and a powerful rhythm section did the rest. Years passed. More than twenty. Mitch Kashmar undertaken a successful solo career and Pontiax disbanded. But not before he had spent years as a great jamming with William Clarke and Kim Wilson (big fans of the band) and accompanying legends like Albert Collins, Luther Tucker, Lowell Fulson, Jimmy Witherspoon, Pinetop Perkins, Pee Wee Crayton, Big Joe Turner and Eddie Cleanhead Vinson. It tells the story that the record was soon sold out and no one thought to reprint it. Everyone seemed to have forgotten. Too bad. But in America and the blues sometimes miracles happen. So it was that a fan of the band, an era that followed the Pontiax and Kashmir because he wanted to become a blues harmonica player, meanwhile founded a record label, a label that is now among the most famous music in the African American quality. The label, as you'll already know and that is the Delta Groove Pontiax fans was none other than the deus ex machina of this prestigious label or Randy Chortkoff. Thanks to him this fantastic album is available again. And I heard today is the same effect as two decades ago. It 'a fantastic album, well played, well sung and well recorded. And Kashmir is a really good songwriter. The title track and "Gonna find someone new" alone are worth the purchase.

I will not go beyond the pleasure of letting you discover (as I did many years ago) a great record. There are also two bonus tracks from the original lineup recorded specially convened for the occasion. If you love the west coast blues and more true sound of the very first Thunderbirds this disc is for you.