Born in San Jose, California in 1955, Tommy Castro first picked up a guitar at age 10. He fell under the spell of Elvin Bishop, Taj Mahal, Mike Bloomfield and other blues artists of the day. Almost every major rock and soul act, from Ike and Tina Turner to Janis Joplin to the J. Geils Band to Tower Of Power, toured through the area, and Castro was at every show. He saw John Lee Hooker, Albert King, and Buddy Guy and Junior Wells at the same local blues bar, JJ’s, where he often jammed, dreaming of one day busting out. Mixing the blues and rock and roll he loved and the soul music he heard blasting from lowriders in his neighborhood Tommy started to create his own personal sound and style. He honed his guitar skills and intense, gritty vocals, learning how to capture an audience as he performed on San Francisco’s highly competitive club scene. As his reputation spread, Tommy played in a variety of Bay Area bands, soon making a name for himself as a hotter-than-hot live artist bursting at the seams with talent. In 1985, he was recruited to become lead singer and guitarist for the regionally popular blues band NiteCry, gigging regularly throughout Northern California. Castro joined Warner Brothers’ artists The Dynatones in the late 1980s, performing all over the country. He formed the first Tommy Castro Band in 1992 and has not stopped touring since. In 1995, soon after releasing his first album on Blind Pig Records, The Tommy Castro Band was selected as the house band for three seasons on NBC Television’s Comedy Showcase (airing right after Saturday Night Live). The show brought him in front of millions of viewers every week and cemented his reputation as a not-to-be-missed, nationally touring live performer.
After a series of successful releases on the Blind Pig, Telarc and 33rd Street labels, Tommy Castro joined Alligator Records in 2009. His label debut, Hard Believer, was released to massive popular and critical acclaim. With the album, Castro won four of his six career Blues Music Awards, including the coveted B.B. King Entertainer Of The Year Award (the very highest award a blues performer can receive). In 2012, Castro stripped his music down to its raw essence, creating a high-energy, larger-than-life sound with the formation of The Painkillers. Tommy Castro & The Painkillers’ initial release, The Devil You Know, was embraced by his legion of fans and discovered by hordes of new ones. With the current version of The Painkillers (bassist Randy McDonald, drummer Bowen Brown and keyboardist Michael Emerson), Castro released Method To My Madness in 2015, Stompin’ Ground in 2017, and the irresistible Killin’ It–Live in 2019, with critics shouting praise and admirers cheering the group’s every move. The band has coalesced into one of the telepathically tightest units Castro has ever assembled, making them one of the most in-demand live roots music acts performing today, delivering soul-shaking, muscular music.
Castro’s relentless road-dog approach—gig after gig, night after night—has won him loyal, lifelong fans everywhere he plays. The Washington Post says Castro is “phenomenal and funky” with “soulful vocals and inspired blues guitar.” The San Francisco Chronicle describes Castro’s music as, “funky Southern soul, big city blues and classic rock…silvery guitar licks that simultaneously sound familiar and fresh.” No Depression says “Castro plays gritty, string-bending blues like a runaway train…a glorious blend that rocks the soul and lifts the spirits.”
His latest album Closer To The Bone is the most unvarnished, straight-ahead blues release of Tommy’s career. Produced by famed guitarist/producer Christoffer “Kid” Andersen, the record finds Castro at the top of his game, bristling with dynamic energy and raw emotion on a set of both new, original songs and inspired versions of songs by Ray Charles, Johnny “Guitar” Watson, Brownie McGhee and more. Guest artists include Andersen, Rick Estrin, Billy Branch, Deanna Bogart, Jim Pugh and The Sons Of The Soul Revivers. “I have always wanted to do what I would call a real blues record, and I felt like the right time was now. There is nothing contemporary about this album. It’s a blues record the way they might have made blues records back in the day. Closer To The Bone shows the real, deeper blues side of me: not the contemporary guy, not the rock guy, not the soul guy. I have real love for this music, so the tricky part was selecting the songs. I wrote a few new ones and chose songs by my friends and mentors including Johnny Nitro, Magic Slim, Ron Thompson, Mike Duke and Chris Cain. I picked songs by Wynonie Harris, Eddie Taylor, Jimmy Nolen and Johnny “Guitar” Watson. These are not the obvious artists people generally cover, and that was most definitely on purpose. Listening to Closer To The Bone, I hear my singing and my playing—and I know, with these songs, I am at my most authentic.” –Tommy Castro (as told to Marc Lipkin)
