Mick Kolassa

All Kinds of Blues

Mick Kolassa is a prolific singer-songwriter with fifteen albums to his credit. Michigan born Kolassa has has lived in the greater Clarksdale, Mississippi area for almost thirty years. He is part of the local Memphis blues scene and a former member of the Board of Directors of The Blues Foundation. After years of songwriting Kolassa decided to record his album debut and enlisted his friend Jeff Jensen as producer. He realized his “labor of love” in 2014 and released “Michissippi Mick”, donating all of the net proceeds to The Blues Foundation. Finding the process invigorating Kolassa would make another album each year with Jensen producing. The albums were critically well received by the blues community. In 2017 Kolassa recorded his fifth album “Double Standards”, an album of duets, with Sugarray Rayford, Annika Chambers, Victor Wainwright, Tas Cru, Eric Hughes, Gracie Curran, Tullie Brae and others. More Albums followed including “Blind Lemon Sessions”, 2020’s “If You Can’t Be Good, Be Good At It!”, and 2021’s “Uncle Mick’s Christmas Album”. This new album is aptly titled “All Kinds of Blues”.

Kolassa opens with “Thank You Memphis” with producer Jensen on guitar; Eric Hughes, harmonica; Leo Goff, bass; Tom Lonardo, drums; and the horn section of Marc Franklin, trumpet; and Kirk Smothers, saxophones. “Where Love Takes Me” again with the fabulous horns includes Dexter Allen, bass; and Joey Robinson, drums; “I’m always going to go where love takes me”.

“Did You Ever Wonder ?” includes co-writer Doug Macleod joining Jensen on guitar, and singing a duet with Kolassa, while Ruffino plays bass, and Rick Steff plays accordion; “What it’s all about I just can’t figure it out…when does breakin’ news finally get broke”. On “Too Old To Die Young” Kolassa joins Jensen on guitar “I missed my chance, I could’ve been a legend…It’s been fifty-years since I turned twenty-one, I don’t know where I’m going, but I know where I’ve been”.

“Happy Endings” features Dexter Allen, bass; and Joey Robinson, keyboards and drums; “why can’t my dream come true”. On “Amy Iodine” Kolassa chimes “I got a new lady friend, she ain’t like nobody else…Amy Iodine, I know your love is true, there is nothing I wouldn’t do for you…who knew I’d find a love like this in the ‘app’ store”. “You Bumped Me Again”, “I worked hard all these years, the only thing standing in my way is you, oh you bumped me again”, as the great horn section decorates.

“Does Your Mama Know ?” includes Hughes on harp as Kolassa chants “you know how much I love you, tell me why you gotta’ keep it hid”. “Eating My Soul” includes James Cunninham, drums; Rick Steff, Hammond B-3; and Kirk Smothers, baritone sax. On “I Can’t Sing No Blues Tonight” Kolassa again goins Jensen on guitar as he sings “breakin’ my heart…tearing me apart, I can’t sing no blues tonight”. “That Don’t Mean”, “you just make it worse…when people know you don’t care”, again with the fabulous horns. My favorite is “Somebody Else’s Whiskey”, “when your drinking somebody else’s whiskey, you think your cool, drinking somebody else’s booze”. “Bad Decisions” opens with harp ace Hughes as Kolassa sings “when you had a drink you make a bad decision…it just takes a couple of shots to make a bad decision”.

On the closer “A Yankee Heading Home” Kolassa finger-picks his guitar, joining lead guitarist Jensen, he sings “I miss these summer evenings sitting by the fire” as he thinks about moving back to Michigan after living in and around Memphis for thirty years.

“All Kinds of Blues” celebrates Kolassa’s love of the genre in all it’s styles and glory. Kolassa has been writing and singing his songs for three decades and he hasn’t lost a step. Thank you, Mick.

Richard Ludmerer
Contributing Editor/Making A Scene

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