MITCH KASHMAR "WAKE UP & WORRY" Source: Cadence Magazine Date: 02/2007 Writer: Larry Hollis

Like Barrelhouse Chuck above, singing harpist Mike Kashmar is no newcomer to the bandstand. He’s been playing the blues for over two decades now and (3) is his second release for delta Groove Company. Backed by several names that appear regularly under that logo, Kashmar serves up an even dozen selections with over one-half being his own. Most noteworthy are the shuffled title number, a cleverly-worded rumba in “Green Bananas”, the swampy “Funky Dee” and “Black Dog Blues,” an acoustic duet with Alastair Greene's ringing Mississippi national steel-bodied guitar. “Dead Presidents” is from the Shakespeare of Chicago, Willie Dixon, and little Walter Jacobs’ “Up the Line” gets booted in fine fashion. He plays what sounds like a chromatic model on the former and there are two tin sandwiches on the Jimmy Reedish “You Dogged Me”. Guest Bobby Watley contributes both voice and Hammond B-3 organ to his minor sounding composition “I’m Sorry” while the Kashmar original “Half pint-A-Whiskey” is a rave-up replete with the sounds of many party goers. Junior Watson and Rusty Zinn both provide skillful guitar work herein. Some may object to the scantily clad ladies adorning the cover and elsewhere but, hey man, this is the Blues, and the rare color photograph of Little Walter strumming a guitar evens it all out.