BOBBY CASS
If Not Now, When?
Bell Asher Records
Veteran singer/guitarist Bobby Cass leads this session, featuring 10 original songs and a fired-up blues band. Together, they work up a storm suitable for your night out on the town. But there’s variety here, and Cass has put together a diverse session that pleases blues lovers everywhere as well as those who prefer pop, rock, or another form of popular music. His lead vocals and his hot guitar give the session its personality: charmed by the way a song can make you relax and thrilled by the underlying fires that exist through rhythmic pride.
“Bell Asher Jam” features the dueling guitars of Joey Delgado and Bobby Cass in a magnificent anthem that implies adventure and mystery. “Hard to Say Goodbye” features Barbara Paul as lead vocalist in a sweet and tender ballad. “Shadowblue” features Cass in a countrified setting where optimistic lyrics and mellow melodies predict a day of good cheer.
Elsewhere, Cass delivers good, powerful blues with the kind of enthusiasm that buries itself in your soul. “Minute by Minute Blues,” a true session high point, has Cass tellin’ it like it is. “Fairy Tale Blues” sashays at a moderate tempo suitable for dancing while Cass sings about what could have been. “I’ve Got a Secret” lets Cass and the band explain how blues drives itself every night and every day. With this one, Tony Rodriguez adds a strategic harp solo to color the mood appropriately. Throughout the album, Bobby Cass delivers original vocal lines and fills the room with mighty guitar licks, developing a true success.
--Jim Santella
Reprinted with thanks to and permission from Southland Blues, Dan Jacobson and Jim Santella
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