MITCH KASHMAR "100 MILES TO GO" Source: Living Blues Date: 09/2010 Writer: Mark Uricheck

Back in the 1980s, the California-based, harmonica-squealing road dogs played everywhere from Santa Barbara to Chicago, Europe, and beyond.  Names like Kim Wilson, Rod Piazza, and Junior Watson were part of their social circle at the time, and the band had the honor—as well as the chops—to back everyone from Lowell Fulson to Big Joe Turner live.  During those salad days, the band also found the time to make a record called 100 Miles To Go.  Originally issued through a small European label nearly 25 years ago, the album gets a second wind with this reissue on Delta Groove.
        
The definitive Pontiax lineup of Kashmar on harp, Bill Flores and John Lawton on guitar, Jack Kennedy on bass, and drummer Tom Lackner were combustible to say the least.  The whimsical, sauntering boogie that has come to define great Southern California blues is stamped all over this set.  Kashmar’s harmonica giggles and chirps like a songbird let loose from its cage, while the Pontiax steer a steady shuffle on Night Creeper.  Kashmar pulls out his Little Walter–themed bag of tricks on the instrumental Lip Service, while a stunningly syncopated rhythmic pulse vamps behind it, showcasing the band’s kinetic unit.  Also not to be missed is the fatback harmonica of guest William Clarke mischievously trading trills and warbles with Kashmar’s in the mid-tempo heat of Horn Of Plenty. 
        
Two bonus tracks are included, both recorded recently at Pacifica Studios in L.A., (the site of the original record’s tracking) and engineered by Glenn Nishida, who worked on the original record as well.  When You Do Me Like That and The Petroleum Blues teem with the authentic fire of those decades-old Pontiax sessions, with the band’s trademark swanky vibe and bite.  This is the one that put Mitch Kashmar on the map—a blueprint for Windy City–influenced blues, tempered with golden California sunshine.