Artist:     Buzz Cason

Album:     Passion

Label:     ArenA

Release Date:     02/17/2017

89

BUY DIGITAL

BUY PHYSICAL

A member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, Buzz Cason ensured his own immortality by writing a pair of songs that certified pop classics —“Everlasting Love,” a song that’s charted in every decade since it was written (courtesy of Robert Knight, Gloria Estefan, and U2), and “Soldier of Love,” a hit that has laurels of its own, thanks to covers by the Beatles, Pearl Jam, Marshall Crenshaw and Arthur Alexander. Yet Cason has also established himself as a star, accumulating credits with Bob Willis, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Jimmy Buffett, Kenny Rogers, and, most impressively, Elvis Presley.

Still, even at the venerable age of 78, Cason still isn’t content to glide by on his accomplishments. In the last decade alone, he’s released several solo recordings that affirm that he’s still vital in the here and now. Now he’s released what may very well be the best album of his career, one that nearly 60 years after his debut, he’s as incisive as ever.

 The bulk of Passion’s tracks—songs like “Passion,” “Bread,” “Walkin’,” and “Just As Gone,” in particular—find Cason singing with a gruffness and determination that often sounds unerringly like Bob Dylan, given his raw, raspy growl. Cason is uncompromising, and when he tears into songs such as “That’s the Way It Is” and “Like a Dog,” he sounds absolutely unrepentant. And well he should. Passion measures up to its title.

—Lee Zimmerman