Stacy Mitchhart
No Rhyme Or Reason
By Peter "Blewzzman" Lauro © Feb 2026
If you've ever been to Nashville I'd be willing to bet that you have had the absolute pleasure of seeing one or more of Stacy Mitchhart's live shows at Bourbon Street Blues. I sure have! On the other hand, should I lose that bet, then I'd also be willing to bet that simply said, you're just not into the blues.
For his seventeenth release, No Rhyme Or Reason, Stacy has pulled out all the stops. In addition to having multi Grammy Award winner Tom Hambridge produce and play on the album, Stacy brought in a few heavy hitters - most of whom are Grammy winners as well - as band-mates, and as guests.
Those joining Stacy - on lead & background vocals, and lead & rhythm guitar - are: Tom Hambridge on drums, percussion and background vocals; Kenny Greenberg on guitars; Kevin McKendree on keyboards; Rob Cureton and Tommy MacDonald on bass; Kyla Jade and Rachel Hambridge on background vocals; Max Abrams on saxophone; and Julio Diaz on trumpet. His guests include: Gretchen Wilson on co-lead vocals; Charlie Musselwhite on harmonica; and Kenny Neal on co-lead vocals, guitar and harmonica. Of the album's twelve tracks, eleven are original collaborations from a mix of Tom Hambridge, Stacy Mitchhart, Richard Flerming and Kenneth Wright.
The disc opens with a smoker titled "Good One Time". It features Stacy using lines like "If you need a driver, I'm the driving kind", and "If your heart needs stealing, I can rob you blind", while attempting to persuade a woman to allow him to treat her good one time. From the gritty guitar work, to the profound horn and keyboard enhanced rhythm, to the powerful and enticing lyrics, this one has it all going on.
"Bad As You" is a clever track that addresses the constant finger pointing that goes on between a habitually bickering couple. As it usually is the case in this type of a relationship, they happen to be as bad as each other. As it turns out, they actually like each other's bad company. Musically, with the band in a great rhythm groove behind him, Stacy showcases his killer guitar skills - those same skills that over twenty years ago earned him the Blues Foundation's "Most Promising Guitarist" Award.
This track is a vocal duet that features the handsome Stacy Mitchhart and the beautiful Gretchen Wilson very appropriately taking turns telling each other, "You Sure Look Good To Me". As Stacy tells it, "I almost spilled my whiskey across the barroom floor, when I saw what looked like heaven walking in the door"; while Gretchen's take is "From the second I walked in, your blue eyes burned right through me. I'm smelling what you're cooking boy, you know exactly what you're doing to me". Lyrically, musically, and especially vocally, this country blues number was by far my favorite track on the disc. Clearly, their thirty year friendship had a lot to do with their chemistry on this one. If "You Sure Look Good To Me" gets released as a single, I'm thinking it could go right to the top of the country charts.
"Once You Leave" tells the somber tale of trying to return to a relationship that you've walked out on. Sadly, most of the time the end result of that is "Once you leave, you can't come back'. It's a soulful, old-school ballad that Stacy and Kyla absolutely shine on vocally. In Stacy's words, "The background vocals that my friend Kyla Jade put on raised the song to a whole other level". Well said!
Logically, if a pancake's burning from being over fried, you've got to "Flip It To The Other Side". That said, as weird as that, and some of the song's other lyrics are, Stacy puts on a masterful performance singing them. On the other hand, with Tom and Rob laying down a rumbling rhythm; Charlie doing that Charlie Musselwhite thing he does on the harmonica; and Stacy having a grand ol' time sliding up and down the neck of his guitar; it's the music that makes this one cook.
The title track centers around Stacy being baffled as to why his woman treats him so mean. In his mind there's just "No Rhyme Or Reason". Isn't that what all us men think? Musically, Tom reaches deep into his creativity skills and with his genius use of percussion and mixing, produced a totally different and interesting sound on this one. Bordering on eerie, the way the instrumentation melds with the background vocals and horns, is quite mesmerizing.
"Mean Bad Wrong" features Stacy and recent Blues Hall of Fame inductee, Kenny Neal, performing a duo on vocals, as well as sharing guitar duty with Stacy doing the slide and Kenny on the rhythm. Throw in the always excellent rhythm; Kevin's outstanding piano runs; Kenny's sharp harmonica leads; and this is another of the disc's many highlights.
On the notes included with the album, Stacy describes "She's Just Right For Me" as "A song that reflects what made me love the blues to begin with". It's a hot blues shuffle that I think would have most of us agreeing with him. Musically and vocally, this one features everyone on top of their game.
The disc closes with a serious slow blues burner titled "On My Dying Day". The first two times I listened to it I just had to back away from the keyboard and soak it all in. To use a point Stacy made about the previous song, this is the kind of stuff that made me fall in love with the blues. With Stacy singing his heart out and laying down his best slow blues licks, and the rhythm section in that killer slow blues groove, this is indeed slow blues at its very best. Although they rarely win, when I was on several blues nominating committees, these were the kind of songs that were always on my "Song of the Year" ballot. Other tracks on No Rhyme Or Reason - which I think may be Stacy's best release - include: "We Blew It"; "It's A Long Way Down" (J. Rainer, K. Brandt); and "Never Gonna Get Me Back".
To find out more about Stacy Mitchhart, just visit his website at - www.stacymitchhart.com - and should you have not yet received your copy of No Rhyme Or Reason, contact Michelle Castiglia at macradiopromotions@gmail.com. As usual, whomever you contact, please tell them their friend the Blewzzman sent you.
