I love those Blindfold Tests when the listener is asked if the artist is black or white. Mick Kolassa, who plays guitar and sings, would have stumped me. He sounds like he came out of a STAX session of the 60s with a rough and tumble voice, particularly when teamed with the horns of Marc Franklin/tp and Kirk Smothers/ts on the funky “I Can’t Help Myself”, the blues jumping “We Gotta” and boogaloo-ing “Sweet Tea”. John Blackmon supplies a 60s drum groove to “If You Can’t Be Good” and the core team of Bill Ruffino/b, Rick Steff/keys, Jeff Jensen/g dig deep grooves, with Eric Hughes blowing a nasty Chicago wind of a harp on “I’ve Seen” and the slowly shuffling “Good Night Irene”. Kolassa shows his humor on the latter, as well on “Who’s Been Talking” along with some tasty guitar licks by Jensen, while Kolassa gives an acoustic message that is riveting on “She Kept Her Head Up”. Memphis moods.