Thomas Cassell – The Never-Ending Years
While the CD cover art depicts a studious, well-dressed, handsomely groomed, bespectacled young man the music is bluegrass, fiddle & mandolin-driven. Sung with a smoothness even Johnny Mathis would appreciate. The 10 flowing tunes that make up The Never-Ending Years (Drops Oct 4/Mountain Fever Records/34:00) were produced by Casey Campbell (mandolin) & Thomas Cassell (lead vocal/mandolin). The songs never fail to deliver the rural feel, the hay-scented fields & the peaceful personality of a well-bred horse.
Despite his haberdashery, Thomas Cassell’s striking bluegrass is performed in an intelligent sway rather than a foot-stomping get-down & nasty dancehall diversion. He should’ve dressed as he did & added a straw hat for contrast. Even the titles to some tunes are not a hodge-podge of words that scurried about decades before by corn cob pipe-smoking mountain dew-drinking musician cousins. He looks like a mandolin player who went to Harvard & happens to like Bill Monroe’s music. And I like Bill Monroe’s music. This stuff is good.
If anything was achieved Thomas makes the genre attractive to unfamiliar ears & that’s to say mainly urban ears who are stuck in the Taylor Swift gear of country-pop & never heard Elvis do “Blue Moon of Kentucky.” Thomas sings with confidence & suaveness that would allow bluegrass to be performed in an easy-listening nightclub setting alongside chanteuses & troubadours. There’s a champagne pour to his melodies & he’s elevated the genre to music that can be embraced by city folk without fanfare. The playing is dynamic (“Old Methuselah”) & impressive.
The majority of the pieces are originals despite their vintage feel. How the recording was captured is also admirable. Every crisp note seethes with clarity & their individualism converges into what makes up the melody. The other important factor is that no two songs sound alike. Cassell manages to keep his repertoire divergent & interesting.
As I listened to the performance, I got these impressions about the late blues guitarist Jeff Healy who was also a formidable player like Thomas Cassell & they both don’t look the role. But they both could sure sing & play. That would’ve been a great pairing.
This is relaxing & can be fascinating music. If interpretation of an old genre is an art form, Mr. Cassell is truly an artist.
Highlights – “Reincarnation In Retrospect,” “Anything But the Truth,” “Old Methuselah,” “Hands,” “Welcome To Virginia” & “The Old Tennessee River.”
Musicians – Tim Stafford, Bob Minner, Jake Stargel & Wyatt Rice (guitars), Ron Stewart & Cory Walker (banjos), Bronwyn Keith-Hynes & Jason Carter (fiddles), Rob Ickes (resophonic guitar), Max Etling, Jeff Picker & Missy Raines (bass guitars), Amanda Fields, Ashby Frank, Ronnie McCoury, Dale Ann Bradley, Marshall Wilborn & Becky Buller (harmony vocal).
Cover photo courtesy of Scott Simontacchi. CD @ https://thomascassell.com/