MITCH KASHMAR "WAKE UP & WORRY" Source: Suncoast Blues Society Date: 01/2007 Writer: Tim Graham

Wow! The harmonica gods have been smiling on me. I was thinking I would maybe get one good CD to review this issue and along comes another West Coat harpmeister to accompany my review of Mark Hummel. If the music is not enough to sell you, fellows, the packaging is! Old Mitch is pictured on the front and inside cover in what appears to be a motel room with three scantily clad women and there seems to be harps, booze, guns, and as Arlo Guthrie says, ³all kind of mean and nasty things going on.

Seriously, this is a great follow up to Mitch¹s 2005 release Nickels and Dimes with 12 cuts that make you think you are zig-zagging back and forth from Chicago to California. Mitch has proven himself in West Coast festivals over the last 20 years and by fronting the Mannish Boys for some high profile gigs. He takes an excellent group of musicians into the studio for some truly good harp numbers accompanied by his power house vocals. You can easily tell why Mitch earned a Best New Artist nomination by the Blues
Foundation for the last CD.

The recording kicks off with a swinging original by Mitch called I Got No Reason that will rock the whole house. Mitch¹s harp and voice combined with Junior Watson¹s guitar playing is dynamite. The next cut is the old Willie Dixon song Dead Presidents where Kashmar puts his West Coast touch to this clearly Chicago tune. I got a real kick out of the third number also written by Mitch called Green Bananas. This Latin-tinged songs warns, don¹t buy any green bananas, you want be around that long.² Mitch wrote several other songs here including the title track (I guess that¹s what he is supposed to be doing in the motel room on the cover) and Black Dog Blues which holds it¹s own with any of the post WW II blues compositions. There is another Kashmar written song called Night Creeper where his funky playing is backed by both Junior Watson and Rusty Zinn. In fact Zinn plays on 6 of the twelve songs. Being a Little Walter fan I really enjoy his song as done by Mitch called Up The Line with Junior and Rusty wailing away as well.
   
Ok, enough said. Someone pass a copy of this to Mr. Chuck Ross. Being the harp aficionado that he is I could see Mitch Kashmar in a future TBBF.