Tommy Castro & the Painkillers Killin It Live Review

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Tommy Castro

Background data
Born	(1955-04-xv) April fifteen, 1955 (age 67) San Jose, California, Usa
Genres	Blues, soul, Southern rock, Chicago dejection, rock and roll, soul-blues
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter
Years active	1980s–present
Labels	Alligator, Bullheaded Pig, Telarc, 33rd Street, Delta Groove, Heart And Soul, Saloon
Associated acts	B.B. King, Ronnie Baker Brooks, Magic Dick, Buddy Guy, Taj Mahal, Deanna Bogart
Website	www.tommycastro.com

Musical artist

Tommy Castro Live at W.C. Handy Blues Festival 2021

Los Angeles, 2021 Photo by Victoria Smith Photography

Tommy Castro (born Apr fifteen, 1955, San Jose, California, United States) is an American blues, R&B, and rock guitarist and vocaliser. He has been recording since the mid-1990s. His music has taken him from local stages to national and international touring. His popularity was marked by his winning the 2008 Dejection Music Award for Entertainer of the Year.^[ane]

Co-ordinate to The Chicago Sun-Times, Castro plays "Memphis soul-drenched R&B…top-of-the-line blues."^[2] Tom Callahan of Blurt added, "Castro has a soulful vocalism, searing guitar and is an excellent songwriter and vocalist. If you close your eyes y'all will be convinced that you are listening to Otis Redding singing in 1967…tremendous."^[iii]

Biography [edit]

Castro began playing guitar at the age of 10 and was influenced and inspired by electrical blues, Chicago blues, West Coast blues, soul music, 1960s rock and roll and Southern rock. His manner has always been a hybrid of all his favorite genres. He names Mike Bloomfield, Elvin Bishop, Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Elmore James and Freddie King as guitar influences and Ray Charles, Wilson Pickett and James Brown as vocal influences.

He began playing professionally in Bay Area cover-song bands in the 1970s. In the 1980s he joined the Warner Bros. Records' ring The Dynatones. In San Francisco, he began playing with North Embankment musicians in the 1980s. He cited Johnny Nitro and Johnny Ace as early mentors at that stage in his life.^[4]

Since 1991, he has led his own bands, featuring a drummer, a bass guitar player, and a saxophone player (Keith Crossan has held the saxophone position for many years). Equally of 2009, he had added trumpeter Tom Poole and keyboards to the band. He was signed to Blind Pig Records characterization and released Exception to the Rule in late 1996. It won the 1997 Bay Expanse Music Honour for Outstanding Blues Album, and Castro also took the honour for Outstanding Blues Musician that same year. Castro was also an early on adopter of the internet's new graphical web browsers to promote his music. He established his web presence in September 1995, and registered his first domain name in December 1996.^[5] In the mid-1990s The Tommy Castro Ring served as the house ring for 3 seasons on NBC Television's Comedy Showcase (airing right after Saturday Nighttime Alive), bringing him in front of millions of viewers every week.

In 2001 and 2002, B.B. King asked Castro to open his summer concert tours. Castro received an open up invitation to join King on phase for the nightly finale.

Castro has released albums on the Telarc, 33rd Street and Middle And Soul and near recently on the Alligator characterization, likewise as on Blind Pig. His album Guilty of Love featured the final recording session for John Lee Hooker. In 2002 he was featured on the Bo Diddley tribute album Hey Bo Diddley – A Tribute!, performing the song "I Can Tell". In 2007 the readers of BluesWax (online magazine) voted Painkiller equally BluesWax album of the year. It too won the 2008 Dejection Music Award for Contemporary Blues Anthology of the Year.

In 2009, Castro joined the roster of Chicago's Alligator Records with his release Difficult Believer, produced by John Porter. The album was described by Billboard as "irresistibly funky…it has a street-level grit and a soulful sincerity that's impossible to ignore."^{[half dozen]} Blues Revue said Hard Believer is "a fine set of roadhouse-rockin' blues.".^[7] Blurt says, "Difficult Laic might just exist the best yet from this veteran Bay Expanse blues artist."^[iii]

In May 2010, The Blues Foundation awarded Castro multiple Blues Music Accolade honors for Blues Male Artist of the Year, Contemporary Blues Album of the Year, B.B. King Entertainer of the Yr, and with his band, Ring of the Yr.^[8]

In 2011, Castro stripped downwardly his band to a iv-piece unit called the Painkillers with bassist Randy McDonald from the original Tommy Castro Ring, keyboardist James Pace and original Painkillers drummer Byron Cage. 2013's The Devil You Know, was recorded with this line-up plus guest appearances by Marcia Ball, Tab Benoit, Joe Bonamassa, The Holmes Brothers, and Magic Dick.^[nine] The album was reviewed by Allmusic.com, saying "Castro brings peppery garage energy to everything. His guitar playing is fired up and roaring with a renewed sharpness that keeps the pot boiling. His voice is a soulful and versatile blue-collar growl. This anthology is total of the blues, but it'south also like a full-charged blue-eyed R&B and soul review, making this ane of Castro's finest releases."^[10]

In 2015, recording with long-standing bassist Randy McDonald, keyboard role player Mike Emerson (Elvin Bishop, Carlene Carter,^[11] James Armstrong, Petty Theft), and drummer Bowen Brown he released, Method To My Madness,^[12] which debuted at number four in the Billboard Blues Albums Chart.^[13]

On September 29, 2017, he released Stompin' Ground (Alligator) once more with Painkillers' bassist Randy McDonald, keyboardist Mike Emerson and drummer Bowen Brown.^[14] Every bit on his previous albums, Castro had several guests including Charlie Musselwhite (harp and vocals on "Live Every Day"), Mike Zito (guitar and vocals on "Rock Bottom"), Danielle Nicole (vocals on "Soul Shake"), and Los Lobos' David Hidalgo (guitar and vocals on "Them Changes").^[15]

Discography [edit]

1994: No Foolin' [alive] (Saloon)
1995: Exception to the Rule (Bullheaded Pig)
1997: Can't Go on a Good Man Down (Blind Squealer)
1999: Right as Pelting (Blind Hog)
2000: Live at the Fillmore (Bullheaded Hog)
2001: The Essential Tommy Castro (Blind Pig)
2001: Guilty of Love (33rd Street)
2001: Mystic Theater Alive (promotional 4-song EP) (33rd Street)
2003: Gratitude (Middle & Soul; at present on Oarfin)
2003: Triple Problem with Jimmy Hall & Lloyd Jones (Telarc)
2005: Soul Shaker (Bullheaded Pig)
2007: Painkiller (Bullheaded Squealer)
2008: Command Performance: Legendary Rhythm & Blues Revue (Delta Groove)
2009: Hard Laic (Alligator)
2011: Tommy Castro Presents The Legendary Rhythm & Blues Revue - Alive! (Alligator)
2012: "Greedy"/"That's All I Got" (vii" single) (Alligator)
2014: The Devil You Know (Alligator)
2015: Method To My Madness (Alligator)
2017: Stompin' Ground (Alligator)
2019: Killin' It Live (Alligator)
2021: Tommy Castro Presents A Bluesman Came To Town (Alligator)

References [edit]

^ FOLLOW, INDEX. "BLUES MUSIC AWARDS 2008, by Dorothy HILL". www.bluesart.at . Retrieved Oct 26, 2018.
^ Johnson, Jeff. The Chicago Sun Times, August 9, 2009
^ ^a ^b Callahan, Tom. Blurt Online, Review of Hard Laic Archived November 7, 2009, at the Wayback Auto, Baronial 17, 2009
^ Ace, Johnny (April 2011). "JOHNNY NITRO, THE MAYOR OF THE North Beach BLUES SCENE" (PDF). GOLDEN GATE GROOVES. {{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
^ "tcband.com whois lookup - who.is". who.is . Retrieved May 24, 2021.
^ Mills, Fred. Billboard, Review of Hard Believer, August 11, 2009
^ Nager, Larry. Blues Revue, October 2009
^ "Tommy Castro Leads BMI Wins at 2010 Blues Music Awards". BMI.com. May 13, 2010. Retrieved October 26, 2018.
^ Lipkin, Marc. "Tommy Castro and the Painkillers' The Devil Y'all Know Set up For Jan 21, 2014 Release". Alligator Records. Retrieved November 11, 2014.
^ Leggett, Steve. "Tommy Castro & The Painkillers CD Review The Devil You Know". All Music. Retrieved November 11, 2014.
^ Courant, THOMAS KINTNER; Special to the. "COUNTRY'S CARLENE CARTER OPENS UP IN NEW Oasis". courant.com . Retrieved December 12, 2018.
^ "Tommy Castro & The Painkillers – Method To My Madness | Album Review". www.bluesblastmagazine.com . Retrieved Oct 26, 2018.
^ "Dejection Music: Acme Blues Albums Chart". Billboard. January xiv, 2014. Retrieved November 3, 2015.
^ Nash, JD (Baronial 16, 2017). "Tommy Castro to Release 'Stompin' Basis' - American Blues Scene". American Dejection Scene . Retrieved October 26, 2018.
^ "Tommy Castro & The Painkillers, Stompin' Basis, Alligator Records, blues CD review by Robin Zimmerman". www.chicagobluesguide.com . Retrieved October 26, 2018.