Serve Blue Sky Shining with a sweet cocktail. Best enjoyed in a hammock. Like the liner notes suggest “Relax and enjoy!”
This is probably not a release for the reigning younger generation. Blue Sky Shining not a foray into the decadent world of sex, drugs and swearing. It’s a celebration of life. In his communication Rasmussen mentioned he was targeting an audience of 35 years and older, those that believe like my father that modern music is too much about drums and less about the guitar and the voice. Rasmussen, on acoustic guitar and with his voice and backing band, makes the music they used to make.
The country / blues rock style of Blue Sky Shining takes me back to a time in the distant past when the family would bundle into the van and travel around the Taranaki, from Oakura to Opunake, following the local cowboy heroes around the country music circuit. Rasmussen would have fit right in with that crowd. Music from the heart and soul.
David Rasmussen, aka The Raz Man, is of Cook Island descent and has spent his youth growing up in the Hutt Valley of Wellington, learning to play acoustic guitar by the age of 8, whilst at Tech he formed a band and played covers at venues most weekends when not playing Club Rugby League. This band, ironically named Gandalf disbanded appox 5-6 years later and he then set off for the big city lights of Sydney until 5 years ago and returned back to the Hutt to pursue his first passion...........hence this debut album.