Stacy Mitchhart – No Rhyme Or Reason
Dr Sam Records – 2026
12 tracks; 48 minutes
Cincinatti native Stacy Mitchhart has been playing since the early 1990’s and is a stalwart of the Nashville music scene, a city to which he relocated in 1996. He has released almost twenty albums across his career and his latest was produced by Tom Hambridge. Stacy used a studio team whose names will be familiar to readers who have heard Tom’s productions before: Tom on drums, Rob Cureton and Tommy Macdonald on bass, Kevin McKendree on keys and Kenny Greenberg on guitar; Max Abrams (sax) and Julio Diaz (Trumpet) add horns to several of the tracks and backing vocals come from Kyla Jade and Rachel Hambridge. Three guests also appear on a track each: Charlie Musselwhite adds harp, Kenny Neal plays harp and guitar and shares the vocals and Gretchen Wilson duets with Stacy. Stacy himself plays guitar and handles the lead vocals on material mainly written by Stacy, Tom and his regular co-writer Richard Fleming.
Strong rhythm guitar, overlaid wah-wah and blaring horns open proceedings as Stacy offers to treat someone “Good One Time” while “Bad As You” works well over a catchy riff, the two protagonists in the song being equally responsible for the mess in their lives, Stacy showing his picking abilities on the guitar. Stacy and fellow Nashville artist Gretchen Wilson duet on “You Sure Look Good To Me”, slide and rocking piano combining to give us a piece of roadhouse rock which would suit someone like Delbert McClinton, as well as being an excellent song for radio. The soulful ballad “Once You Leave” was written by Stacy and Kenneth Wright, a song about never being able to go back once a relationship has foundered. Stacy plays and sings convincingly and the backing vocals work well in support, definitely a highlight track.
Charlie Musselwhite’s harp and Stacy’s slide add a downhome Mississippi feel to “Flip It To The Other Side”, a song that starts with unusual lyrics about burning pancakes and swapping sides of a record if the girl is upset by a blues! “We Blew It” returns to the theme of people failing to make a go of their relationship before the only song to come from outside the core writing team. “It’s A Long Way Down” was originally written by Jordan Rainer and Kevin Brandt with Chris Stapleton in mind; he passed on it, but Stacy did not! Although its origins may be in the country field, the production here is more in a gospel vein, especially with Kevin’s churchy organ and Kyla Jade’s backing vocals. The title track gets its groove from the bass lines and scratchy rhythm guitar and is apparently a live favorite on which audience participation is required.
“Mean Bad Wrong” features Kenny Neal on co-vocals, harp and guitar, Stacy playing the slide and Kevin the honky tonk piano that together give the tune an old-time, semi-acoustic feel. “Never Gonna Get Me Back” is a late night slow tune with a strong vocal from Stacy before the album closes with two tunes written with traditional blues firmly in mind. “She’s Just Right For Me” is a shuffle intended to be in the style of BB King or Bobby Bland and works brilliantly, from Stacy’s BB-inspired leads to the call and response backing vocals and big band horns which make you check the sleeve notes to make sure that there are not extra horn players here! Stacy closes the album with a slow blues to feature his guitar work; “On My Dying Day” does just that, the longest cut here and a great finish to the album. “When my sins are written down for the judge on high to see, on my dying day, who’s gonna plead for me” gives a good sense of the despairing lyrics.
This is an extremely listenable album with Stacy’s solid vocals and guitar featuring strongly.
