Bluesman Johnnie Bassett is a Detroit (and European) festival favorite, an impeccable guitarist and infectious singer who has been on the scene since the 1950s. Bassett has recorded only sporadically in the past, but now Mack Avenue Records has issued a new CD which might finally earn him some deserved national attention.

I CAN MAKE THAT HAPPEN features the laid-back Bassett on ten tunes most of which were written by sidekicks Chris Codish and Keith Kaminski. The tunes include the bawdy ballads Love Lessons and Spike Boy ("let me hammer you down, baby"); a shake-your-booty instrumental, Dawging Around;, a duet with Detroit diva Thornetta Davis, Teach Me to Love; a fresh interpretation of Jimmy Hendrix's The Wind Cries Mary (Bassett and Hendrix used to jam together in Seattle); and the funky Motor City Blues.

Bassett is backed by musicians drawn from two popular Detroit bands, Motor City Horns and The Brothers Groove. Together these superb artists help make I CAN MAKE THAT HAPPEN one of the most pleasurable blues albums of 2012.