West Palm Beach 25-year-old singer-songwriter Jamie Rasso has been rising through the ranks locally, with a carefree sound that's boldly straight-up pop flavored. Intriguingly, Rasso's summery vibe has won him favor with local musicians from disparate scenes. Swamp-folk act Everymen is a huge fan and so is Jon Glassman, frontman for quirky rock group Luna Rex. Simply put, Rasso is a musician's musician.
His father, Al Rasso, is a noted children's musician, with over 20 kids' albums to his name. Papa Al often joins Jamie live, on keyboards and guitar, and together the father and son duo make for quite the sunny Rasso family gig experience. They are joined by Cliff Guest on drums and Robert Bernhardt on bass to fill out the backbeat.
The Rasso gang has been selling a live disc at their shows that captures, believe it or not, the band's first gig. The amazingly mixed and exquisite-sounding live album was recorded back in August of last year, when the quartet played a Lake Worth-It festival afterparty at Havana Hideout.
Jamie sent us a track from that album, titled "Thoughts and Dreams." His free-flowing tenor vocals on here might draw him Jason Mraz comparisons at first, but don't sell him short. Rasso comes with a much more soulful delivery and his bluesy guitar licks certainly contain more moxie than the lightweight Mraz could ever muster. Rasso style is unapologetically mainstream, that's for sure, but his injects enough blue-eyed soul into his work to make his material feel heartfelt and vibrant.
Jamie Rasso "Thoughts and Dreams" (Live) by Cheerstothis
Rasso and his backing band perform today at the reinvigorated Elwoods in Delray Beach.
