Brian Setzer's Don't Mess With A Big Band, CD Review - by J. Blake

(New York, NY)

Brian Setzer has never been considered a “blues guitarist”, but as one of the most respected and revered players to ever pickup the instrument, he has always attacked the guitar with the passion and intensity of a bluesman and the virtuosity of a jazz player. His skill is arguably unparalleled in the world of “rock music” and he has done for both rockabilly and big band jazz, what the British players did for the blues in the 1960s.

His latest live release, The Brian Setzer Orchestra’s, aptly titled, DON’T MESS WITH A BIG BAND (2CD set) highlights many of the guitar-slinger’s biggest career hits and, as usual, some astounding musicianship. Disc 1 pulls almost entirely from his big band catalogue; with the exception of fun versions of the “Batman Theme” (for the 1960s ABC television series) and Eddie Cochran’s “Summertime Blues”. Definite highlights here include the always breathtaking “Sleepwalk” (from 1998’s THE DIRTY BOOGIE) and Setzer’s unconventional take on Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Flight of the Bumblebee”; a guitar tour de force titled “Honey Man” from 2007’s WOLFGANG’S BIG NIGHT OUT.

Disc 2 finds Setzer looking back to his days with The Stray Cats, as he tackles the bulk of their biggest hits with more recent big band swing arrangements. Crowd pleasers like “Stray Cat Strut”, “Rumble in Brighton” and “Rock This Town” sound huge here, recorded live with the 18-piece orchestra. The disc closes with Setzer and company blowing the roof off of the joint with a booming big band encore of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “The House Is Rockin’”.

DON’T MESS WITH A BIG BAND is a sizzling live of album from one of America’s greatest guitar heroes. Its only real noticeable flaw is that it doesn’t quite live up to the precedent set by The Brian Setzer Orchestra’s 2004 live effort, THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION.

It may not be “blues”, but with 19 tracks of pedal to the metal, “no-holds-barred” rockabilly/swing…is it really that far off?


If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy: Jimmy Vaughan Live in NYC

Thanks and keep reading American Blues News and also check out Media Wah Wah for more of this writer’s thoughts and opinions about Movies, Music, TV & More.

NYC blues fans, make sure you check out Al Green live at B.B. King's Blues Club and Grill on September 2nd and Jerry Lee Lewis on the 13th!!!

Copyright © 2010 - J. Blake. All Rights Reserved

Derek Truck's Roadsongs, CD Review - by J. Blake

(New York, NY)

I recently observed an interesting thing while attending Fathom Event’s “one-night-only” screening of Eric Clapton’s 2010 Crossroads Guitar Festival. Of all the magnificent talented featured in the “film”, the only one to elicit applause was Derek Trucks (and his band). Watching a concert in a movie theater is an odd experience. It is like being there, but at the same time it is far from it. On July 27th, 2010 an NYC audience sat quietly, watching a 2hour+ HD presentation that included a whole lot of blues and even more guitar. Proper movie theater etiquette was being observed until the Derek Trucks-Susan Tedeschi Band took the stage (with guests that included Warren Haynes). It was only then that the audience, collectively, forgot where they were and lost themselves in the music. It was actually an amazing thing to witness and I’m pleased to say that The Derek Trucks Band’s latest CD captures at least some of that magic and energy.

ROADSONGS marks The Derek Trucks Band’s first live album since 2004’s LIVE AT GEORGIE THEATRE and is by far, Trucks’ most sonically satisfying live recording to date. The slide-guitar virtuoso and his group of talented collaborators are in fine form here, delivering 14 tracks (on 2 discs) that span the entirety of his career; with a definite bias toward 2009’s Grammy-winning ALREADY FREE.

Recorded over two nights at Chicago’s Park West, ROADSONGS exhibits the band’s proclivity for brilliant dynamics and their amazing ability to straddle the line between complete control and raw, spontaneous live energy; things that are never more present than on the album’s 14 and a half minute version of "Afro Blue" and its 13 minute (blues turned funk) medley of "Get Out My Life Woman/Who Knows”. Other highlights include the blues standard “Key to the Highway”, covers of Bob Dylan’s "Down in the Flood", Bob Marley’s "Rastaman Chant" and Eric Clapton’s "Anyday" as well bluesy DTB originals "Get What You Deserve" and "Don’t Miss Me".

Derek Trucks continues to shine as a compelling live performer and as a (somewhat) recently crowned “Guitar God”. His specific way of melding blues, jazz, rock and soul creates a sound that is uniquely his and ROADSONGS captures it and his (and his band’s) talent beautifully. This particular lineup of the band may be currently on hiatus as Trucks tours North America with his wife Susan Tedeschi, but this latest live release gives us something exciting to cherish until the DTB is touring again.

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy: ALREADY FREE CD Review

Thanks and keep reading American Blues News and also check out Media Wah Wah for more of this writer’s thoughts and opinions about Movies, Music, TV & More.

NYC blues fans, make sure you check out Al Green live at B.B. King's Blues Club and Grill on September 2nd!!!

Copyright © 2010 - J. Blake. All Rights Reserved

Delaney & Bonnie's On Tour With Eric Clapton Reissue!!! - by J. Blake

(New York, NY)

The year was 1969. Blind Faith, rock’s first ‘official’ super-group had formed and was reluctantly touring to promote their first (and only album). Disillusioned by the stardom that Cream and Blind Faith had bestowed upon him, guitarist Eric Clapton found exactly what he longed for in Blind Faith’s opening act; a rootsy rock ‘n’ soul group from America called Delaney & Bonnie & Friends. The enjoyment the band appeared to be having together, along with their energetic stage-presence and their ‘down home’ sound, shed light on the musical path that the British guitar-God had been searching for since Cream’s end.

Against the rest of Blind Faith’s wishes, Clapton began taking the stage nightly, with the dynamic opening act and when his ‘super-group’ met their inevitable demise in October of 1969, the guitar-slinger decided to take to the road as a sideman in Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett’s traveling musical family.

It was under the Bramletts’ tutelage that Clapton found his voice as a front-man and singer. It was his relationship with Delaney and Bonnie (and their band) that led to one of his most artistically fruitful periods; most notably his first solo album and the eventual formation of Derek and The Dominos.

Released in June of 1970, Delaney & Bonnie & Friends’ ON TOUR WITH ERIC CLAPTON was recorded live on December 7th, 1969 at Fairfield Halls in the U.K. and featured Clapton and future Dominos Bobbie Whitlock, Carl Radle and Jim Gordon as well as Leon Russell, Dave Mason and George Harrison. The album reached #29 on the Billboard album charts and has proven to be the Bramlett’s most successful recording.

Now, 40 years later, the good people at Rhino Handmade are giving ON TOUR WITH ERIC CLAPTON more than just the standard ‘deluxe’ treatment. Due out this July, the reissue will contain four discs featuring four complete concerts from December of 1969 and over three hours of unreleased performances…including Clapton singing a rare gem from his first solo album, “I Don’t Know Why”!!!

The following passage has been taken from www.rhino.com:

The set, which comes packaged in a mock road case, contains Delaney & Bonnie & Friends’ complete performance at London’s Royal Albert Hall, plus a composite of the next night’s performances at Colston Hall in Bristol, and both the early and late shows from the tour’s final stop at Fairfield Halls in Croydon. Along with the Bramletts, the touring band showcased on these discs includes guitarists Eric Clapton and Dave Mason, bassist Carl Radle, drummer Jim Gordon, organist Bobby Whitlock, Jim Price and Bobby Keys on horns, percussionist Tex Johnson, and singer Rita Coolidge. The Croydon shows also features Mysterioso (aka George Harrison), who can be heard playing bottleneck slide, a technique Harrison reportedly learned from Delaney during this tour.

Along with unreleased versions of all the songs from the original, this reissue also contains several songs not featured on the 1970 album, including “I Don’t Know Why” a track the Bramletts penned with Clapton; “My Baby Specializes” and “Everybody Loves A Winner” from the Bramlett’s debut HOME; “Get Ourselves Together” from the couple’s 1969 follow-up ACCEPT NO SUBSTITUTE; the traditional “Will The Circle Be Unbroken”; a cover of Spencer Davis Group’s “Gimme Some Lovin’”; and the instrumental “Pigmy.”

For more information and to preview tracks, visit Rhino’s site by clicking HERE.

*Note, the following videos are not featured in this epic reissue, but were filmed during the same period. Enjoy!!!







If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy: Derek & The Dominos Live In Philly

Thanks and keep reading American Blues News!!!

NYC blues fans, make sure you check out Johnny Winter live at B.B. King's Blues Club and Grill on June 23rd and Chuck Berry on June 25th !!!

Copyright © 2010 - J. Blake. All Rights Reserved

Johnny Winter: Live at The Fillmore 10/3/70, CD Review - by J. Blake

(New York, NY)

Until recently 1971’s LIVE JOHNNY WINTER AND has been considered the definitive officially released live document of the albino blues-rocker in his prime. With material taken from two 1970 performances (Fillmore East, NY & Pirate’s World, FL), LIVE JOHNNY WINTER AND unfortunately clocks in at a mere forty minutes and focuses heavily on the rock side of Winter’s 1970 repertoire. Luckily over the past decade, fans have been sporadically treated to previously-unreleased live recordings featuring Winter during the early stages of his now 40+ year career. Al Kooper and Mike Bloomfield’s FILLMORE EAST: THE LOST CONCERT TAPES 12/13/68, The Allman Brothers’ LIVE AT THE ATLANTA INTERNATIONAL POP FESTIVAL: JULY 3 & 5, 1970, JOHNNY WINTER: THE WOODSTOCK EXPERIENCE and Winter’s LIVE BOOTLEG SERIES, VOL. 1 all help paint a much more detailed picture of the guitar-slinger as an artist and collaborator during the late-60s and early-70s.

Now, thanks to Sony and Collectors’ Choice Music, fans can revel in a Johnny Winter live experience that arguably surpasses all of his other previously released early live recordings. Released in May of 2010, LIVE AT THE FILLMORE EAST 10/3/1970 captures the “Johnny Winter And” group (featuring Rick Derringer) live, just weeks before the performances that would eventually make up LIVE JOHNNY WINTER AND. Though the two live collections highlight different performances of some of the same material, as a whole, the October 3rd Fillmore East recording focuses slightly more on the blues than its predecessor and miraculously runs a whopping twenty-seven minutes longer; while only upping the track count from six to seven. With LIVE AT THE FILLMORE EAST 10/3/1970, Winter classics like “It’s My Own Fault” (22:25) and “Mean Town Blues” (18:08) run significantly longer than the versions featured on LIVE JOHNNY WINTER AND and surpass those previous versions with not only length, but energy and musicianship.

That is not to say that the 1971 live album is flawed. On the contrary, LIVE JOHNNY WINTER AND is a wonderful collection of performances, but with this newly released Fillmore show, the bar for live Winter recordings has been set higher than ever before. The interplay between Winter and Derringer is what really sets this recording apart. The two guitar-titans push each other to a new standard of six-string blues excellence and in the process, drag the rhythm section along with them; making for an incredibly energetic blues-fueled performance.

In addition to “It’s My Own Fault” and “Mean Town Blues”, “Good Morning Little School Girl” pulses with the “head cutting” energy of Winter and Derringer’s dueling guitars, while renditions of Bob Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited” and Muddy Waters’ “Rollin’ and Tumblin’” showcase Winter’s classic “throw caution to the wind” slide playing-style. Blistering versions of Winter’s original blues-rock composition “Guess I’ll Go Away” and the Derringer penned “Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo” round out the performance’s set list; making for a thoroughly satisfying blues-rock listening experience.

LIVE AT THE FILLMORE EAST 10/3/1970, is easily one of the best blues oriented releases of 2010 so far. 1970 was an exciting time for rock and blues music and that excitement is captured in spades on this recording. LIVE AT THE FILLMORE EAST 10/3/1970 is a treasure from the annals of blues-rock history. Like all live recordings, it captures a specific moment in time and luckily for us, that moment was captured beautifully. This live album is an absolute “must have” for all Johnny Winter fans and any fan of blues guitar…or guitar in general.

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy: Johnny Winter-A Bluer Shade of Pale
You may also like to read American Blues News' interview with Johnny.

Thanks and keep reading American Blues News!!!

NYC blues fans, make sure you check out Albert Lee live at B.B. King's Blues Club and Grill on June 19th and Johnny Winter on June 23rd!!!

Copyright © 2010 - J. Blake. All Rights Reserved

Derek and the Dominos Live In Philly (Retro Concert Review) - by J. Blake

(New York, NY)

It is October 1970. Eric Clapton has already been called “God” and found international fame with his previous bands, Cream and Blind Faith. In an attempt to step out of the spotlight, he spent four months as a supporting player with the American rock/soul group Delaney & Bonnie & Friends and during that time switched his axe of choice from Gibsons to a 1956 sunburst Fender Stratocaster affectionately called ‘Brownie’.

His latest musical endeavor, Derek & The Dominos, involves keyboardist/vocalist Bobby Whitlock, bassist Carl Radle and drummer Jim Gordon; the core rhythm section of Delaney & Bonnie Bramlett’s band and by now they have already spent the spring writing new material and the summer gigging in Europe with guitarist Dave Mason and backing George Harrison as the session band for his first solo album ALL THINGS MUST PASS.

The last few days of August and the first half of September were spent in Miami Florida at producer Tom Dowd’s Criteria Studios. The band has laid down a collection of blues standards, a Hendrix cover and nine Clapton/Whitlock original compositions. Clapton’s almost juvenile romantic obsession with George Harrison’s wife Pattie Boyd and the presence of Clapton’s recently realized guitar soulmate, Duane ‘Skydog’ Allman, has fueled the sessions with an energy that few studio recordings ever achieve.

On September 18th, just 8 days after Derek & The Dominos recorded a version of Little Wing as a musical tribute to Clapton’s dear friend, Jimi Hendrix died of mysterious circumstances at the age of 27. With the exception of returning to the USA with the intent of attending his funeral on October 1st and instead opting to spend that time putting the finishing touches on their then unfinished first album, Clapton and his band spent the remainder of September and early October playing a handful of European concert dates.

The Dominos’ American tour kicked off yesterday, October 15th, 1970 at Rider College in Trenton New Jersey. Unfortunately not much is known about that show specifically, but if tonight’s performance in Philadelphia is any indication, then the Trenton crowd was in for quite a treat. Clapton and his band will be spending two consecutive nights in Philadelphia, playing its legendary music venue The Electric Factory. Tomorrow night’s show will slip into obscurity and be barely remembered as time marches on, but thanks to an industrious bootlegger, a decent quality recording will document the band’s performance tonight, Friday the 16th; creating a ‘boot’ that will eventually be considered by many collectors to be among Clapton’s best.

The band’s set-lists up to this point have been mostly made up of material from both the forthcoming double-album LAYLA AND OTHER ASSORTED LOVE SONGS and Clapton’s recently released self-titled first solo album, but remarkably, tonight’s performance feature The Dominos performing a unique and very blues-heavy collection of songs.

With the exception of two shows in December, Duane Allman will unfortunately not be joining Clapton for The Dominos’ American tour, but the weeks they spent in the studio playing alongside one another have had an effect and influence on the British bluesman that will never be more evident than during tonight’s performance. As the band takes the stage, an introduction is announced over the P.A., “Ladies and gentlemen, Derek & The Dominos” and we watch as Clapton counts off the night’s opening number. Suddenly our ears are assaulted by a flurry of slide-guitar as the band launches into an Elmore James-esque version of Robert Johnson’s Rambin’ On My Mind; a song that Clapton made his vocal debut with, on the now legendary BLUESBREAKERS: JOHN MAYALL WITH ERIC CLAPTON.

The bulk of tonight’s material may indicate that Clapton is here to play the blues, but that does not stop him from treating the audience to an electrifying preview of what will be on the band’s upcoming studio album. As the Johnson cover comes to a close, we hear a quick “thank you” before the band breaks into an extended and funky prelude to the Clapton/Whitlock composition Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad? This type of drum-driven introduction will prove to be commonplace for this song during the tour, but tonight we hear Clapton do something out of the ordinary. He takes on the role of an M.C., hyping the audience with a carnival-style bark, “Get ready to go! Get ready for the show! I’m gonna sing you song. Yeah yeah!” As the band explodes into what will later be considered arguably the best recorded version of this future fan favorite, Clapton’s fingers attack the 16 minute high-octane jam with an energy and fluidity that will rarely be summoned by the guitarist after this particular period of his career.

The rest of the show is bookended by long and spirited renditions of songs from the self-titled album ERIC CLAPTON; which was released just two months prior to this Philadelphia performance. These versions of Blues Power and Let It Rain are both wonderful and worth mentioning, but it is what the band plays between them that makes this show unique and historic. For their live shows, it is common for the Dominos to instantly follow the Clapton/Leon Russell collaboration, Blues Power, with a slow blues number in the key of ‘C’. They usually play either Stormy Monday or Have You Ever Loved A Woman? (a song that Clapton originally played with Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, but recorded just a seven weeks ago for the LAYLA album) and this night in Philly is no exception. Clapton’s guitar playing on Have You Ever Loved A Woman? is full of vigor and intensity. He plays through his normal pauses and assaults the 12-bar progression with extended stretches of 6-string agility that will one day be more often associated with Stevie Ray Vaughan than Ol’ Slowand.

The “LAYLA sessions” officially wrapped on October 2nd with Clapton and Duane Allman performing a Little Walter Jacobs song titled Mean Old World. Unfortunately the song will not make it on to the album, but it will eventually turn up decades later on various Clapton and Allman compilations. Clearly though, it is still freshly planted in Clapton’s mind, because tonight he breaks out the slide once again; treating the Philly crowd to an extremely rare live performance of the Little Walter standard. As with Rambin’ On My Mind, Clapton dances around the fret-board, bottleneck in hand, with a looseness that is atypical for the British guitar icon; who will eventually develop a habit of playing slide with almost too much precision for some people’s tastes. Once again the Skydog influence boils to the surface, as it does on the following song as well; the first known live performance of Clapton playing the Blind Willie Johnson composition Motherless Children. For you “non-Clapton junkies”, the reason why this is significant is that this song will not surface again in his repertoire until 1974, when a studio version of it is recorded for the album 461 OCEAN BOULEVARD. The song will eventually become a semi-staple of Clapton’s live shows, but for now, we hear a slightly less polished glimpse of what is to come…and it is amazing.

As mentioned earlier and like most of The Dominos’ live performances, the night ends with a lengthy (yet explosive) rendition of Let It Rain and it is a fitting finale to jaw-dropping night of music. For a concert that clocks in at just over 73 minutes, the fact that the band only played 7 songs is quite astounding. Clapton and his band’s ability to keep relatively basic blues and rock conventions interesting and entertaining for such extended periods of time, is both outstanding and commendable.

A week from now, on October 23rd and 24th, Derek & The Dominos will record two of their four sets at the Fillmore East in New York City and selections from those recordings will eventually be released, first as a double-LP titled IN CONCERT in 1973 and then as an extended double-CD collection titled LIVE AT THE FILLMORE in 1994. Nearly half of the songs performed in Philadelphia will not make it to the Fillmore stage, or any other Dominos performance for that matter. They instead will be replaced with more selections from the future Dominos studio album, other Clapton/Whitlock compositions and songs from Clapton’s past career, like Crossroads and Presence Of The Lord; two songs that for some reason will rarely make it back on to any of the band’s future set-lists.

The American tour will end at Suffolk Community College in Seldon New York on Sunday December 6th, 1970. The Dominos’ masterpiece LAYLA AND OTHER ASSORTED LOVE SONGS will be released just 5 days later (on 12/11/70) to mediocre sales and minor critical acclaim; though its title track will go on to be considered one of the greatest rock-guitar anthems of all-time. In spring of 1971, Derek & The Dominos will enter Olympic Studios in London to record their 2nd album, but tensions and stresses caused by substance abuse will lead to their breakup during these sessions and Clapton will go into nearly 3 years of heroin fueled seclusion before recording again. Sadly, Duane Allman will die in a motorcycle accident in Macon Georgia on October 29th, 1971 at the age of 24.

In 2006 and 2007 Clapton will revisit most of The Dominos’ material alongside Allman heir and Dominos namesake Derek Trucks, but it is in 1970, with Whitlock, Radle and Gordon, that Clapton played with a fire that he arguably will never be able to reproduce. Like all great artists he and his style will evolve throughout the coming years, cementing him as an important figure in not only blues and rock, but in popular music in general. Thankfully we have the recordings, both official and unofficial, to document these periods in time and music and to illustrate the creative evolution of artists like Eric Clapton and so many others.

*If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy:The Real King Of The Blues

Thanks and keep reading American Blues News!!!

Copyright © 2009 - J. Blake. All Rights Reserved

NEW YORK: Tommy Castro Interview - by J. Blake

As a long time fan of Tommy Castro, to say that I was “thrilled” that he agreed to take some time out his busy touring schedule for a fairly extensive interview, is an understatement. As he spoke to me over the phone, from his tour bus, I found him to be charming and candid. We chatted at length about everything from his blues music beginnings and his guitar-heroes to his creative songwriting process and the making of his latest album; HARD BELIEVER, a Billboard Blues Music Chart staple since its release in September.

Though it appears that he has accomplished just about everything that there is to accomplish in the blues music industry, Castro revealed that it has been a long road to the top and there are still a few more important stops left on his musical journey.

J. Blake: First of all I just want to thank you for taking a few minutes to talk to me. I saw you play at a blues festival in Troy, New York in 1997 and I’ve been a fan ever since.

Tommy Castro: Cool! Was that the one that was sponsored by a beer company? And was Magic Slim on the gig?

JB: I’m not sure.

TC: I remember, that was one of our first trips out east and we played this festival out there, with Magic Slim on the bill. I just remember, because it was sponsored by a beer company and they were bringing him some beer and he says over the microphone “I don’t drink no beer! Beer makes you fat!” (we both laugh) And it was sponsored by a beer company! It was so great…maybe that was it.

JB: Yes maybe. Changing gears a bit, I just wanted to talk to you about growing up in California.

TC: San Jose, California.

JB: And taking up the guitar and what motivated you to play. I’m a guitar player and I’m always curious about how one picks up the instrument and really gets into it and decides to pursue it; obviously to the extent that you have.

TC: Well, it was pretty simple. My older brother was playing guitar. I don’t know what made him think of it. Obviously The Beatles and The Stones were on the scene and he was just a kid wanting to learn how to play guitar, because that seemed like such a cool thing to do and he was about 6 years older than me. So I watched him play guitar for a couple years and then somewhere around age 10, I guess, I started sneaking his guitar when he wasn’t around. One thing led to another and I started to play.

And you know the blues explosion of the ‘60s was happening; and I wasn’t really all that knowledgeable about music or about what was going on. I just knew the bands that I liked. I liked The Rolling Stones, I liked Cream and I liked bands like The Doors; and somewhere along the line I got into Michael Bloomfield and the Paul Butterfield Band. Elvin Bishop was one of my favorites and all these guys are blues guys. You know at the time they were big stars on the radio; being played on FM radio all the time and I figured out somewhere along the line that it was blues that I liked.

JB: Sure…

TC: I didn’t realize at first what it was. I remember somebody told me that Eric Clapton was the best blues guitar player in England and I went “wow!” I didn’t realize that he was a blues guitar player! I thought he was a rock guy. (laughs) I thought I was listening to rock ‘n’ roll! So that’s when I started thinking about it a little bit. I read some interview of Michael Bloomfield talking about B.B. King and I went out and got a B.B. King record and that was really what kind of changed my life I think; from that point on.

JB: Which record?

TC: LIVE IN COOK COUNTY JAIL.

JB: A classic!

TC: And I got LIVE AT THE REGAL too. They were both out about the same time.

JB: Yeah LIVE AT THE REGAL was the one that did it for me.

TC: Really?

JB: Yes.

TC: That’s the one where his amp head had all that reverb on it?

JB: My brother gave it to me one year for Christmas and when I popped that it was kind of all over for me.

TC: (laughs)

JB: So was it the ‘70s that you started playing in bands?

TC: Yes. I had played in some bands back in my hometown. You know just a couple of hometown blues bands. We ran a jam session at a little club on Sundays. So we created the house band there, called the Boulevard Blues Band; because JJ’s Blues Club was on Stevens Creek Blvd. So we called it the Boulevard Blues Band and it just had a bunch of my old friends. And then some of the members from that band splintered off into a thing called ‘Night Cry’ and we were actually working quite a bit around the South Bay and sometimes we’d get to work up in other parts of the Bay Area; namely San Francisco.

That was about the time that I decided I wanted to try and make it as a musician and so I moved to San Francisco. That was when I joined The Dynatones. I was playing in little clubs around San Francisco as a hired gun for just about anybody that would have me and these guys in The Dynatones saw me with Johnny Nitro and the Doorslammers. They were looking for a guitar player and so I played for them for a couple of years.

JB: So you were strictly a guitar player with them?

TC: Yeah, but I did sing. I sang some. They had a lead singer, so I played guitar and sometimes sang. And in Night Cry I was the singer who sometimes played guitar.

JB: I see.

TC: So I was going “sooner or later I gotta get it together, where I’m the singer and the guitar player!”

JB: (laughs)

TC: You know that’s what I want to do. So I started my own band at the end of the ‘80s. It might have been 1989, that I started The Tommy Castro Band and we just knocked around the San Francisco Bay area. There was such a scene at the time. We worked every single night somewhere. We didn’t take any nights off. Once in awhile we would take Monday night off, but we couldn’t really pick a night to take off, because there was always a gig available.

You know it took a little while to get to that point, but pretty soon we had plenty of work. But it was all local gigs and you know none of it paid very well, but if you put enough gigs together, everybody was making a pretty decent living. Of course the goal was to make a record and get out of there.

JB: Sure.

TC: Then Blind Pig came along, who has an office in San Francisco and offered us a deal and an agent offered to represent us. Anyway, those two things are the hardest things to get happening when you’re a new band; to a get a record label and an agent. The record label wants you to have an agent and the agency wants you to have a label!

JB: (laughs) Yeah it always seems to turn out that way.

TC: And you’re in a ‘catch 22’ situation a lot of times, but we managed to cross that little bridge and we’ve really just been doing this ever since.

JB: It is kind of amazing, because it appears that since that time…I guess looking at it now, it has been 20 years, but ultimately you’ve accomplished a ton within that time. You’ve won the Blues Music Award for Entertainer of the Year, but the thing that is most impressive to me, and I would imagine to you as well, is all the people you have gotten to share the stage with. And recording with John Lee Hooker! I mean that stuff has to be amazing right?

TC: Yeah it is pretty amazing. I never thought that those kinds of things would happen. Look I never expected that those kinds of things would take place, but they just happened quite naturally as I went about my business. At one point John Lee Hooker and I were with the same booking agency, so I got put on the bill with him a bunch of times. And so we became friends and he would tell me “everywhere I go they’re talkin’ ‘bout you.” (laughs) “They’re talkin’ ‘bout ‘chu!” And so I made this record and I had this idea of him singing on it and it just came together and it was pretty amazing. He passed away about a week later.

JB: In the picture on your website, you’re sitting next to him and you look like a kid in a candy store. I mean it has to be surreal, when you’re a blues musician and you get to sit there and watch John Lee Hooker perform on your record? But what about jamming on stage with people like B.B. King and Buddy Guy?

TC: I know. It still doesn’t even seem like it’s real. It’s more like I’m watching a movie or something in my memory when I think about those things. It’s pretty exciting and of course quite an honor. I’m just very grateful that those people accepted me enough for those things to happen.

JB: Sure.

TC: And it’s pretty amazing. Especially B.B., because you know B.B. was my hero. He was the first guy that I really just went nuts for on guitar and I just didn’t care about any of those rock guys anymore after I heard B.B. King. (laughs) I stopped playing rock and just kept on trying to get into more traditional blues guys after that; for a long long stretch anyway.

Later on after the Stevie Ray Vaughan era came and went. I was recording for Blind Pig and everybody was trying to get you to be more of a blues-rock player, I started to fuse a little bit of my old rock ‘n’ roll roots in with the blues and that’s where some of that stuff came from. But my time with The Dynatones, especially, really turned me on to all different kinds of soul music. You know driving around in a van with Walter Shuffelsworth and The Dynatones, he had so many great records that he had put on cassette. He had like 90 minute cassettes, about a hundred of them, just loaded with greasy old soul music and we would drive for hundreds of miles and thousands of miles, listening to that stuff the whole time. So I just got deeper and deeper and deeper into the soul music sound and then all three of those things have become what it is that I do now; blues, soul music and rock ‘n’ roll.

JB: Yes. The latest record, HARD BELIEVER, is definitely a blend of all those things. There’s definitely a ‘Stax’/Memphis soul influence on a lot of the album and then the next track comes around and it’s hardcore roadhouse blues…

TC: Yeah.

JB: And then some good old fashioned rock ‘n’ roll. When you sit down and you start to compile the material for an album, I’m always interested in how that process works. Clearly there are cover songs on this album and originals; I was wondering if maybe you could give me a little bit of insight into the thought process of putting together a song list for an album like this one?

TC: Well first of all, I go out and write songs with as many people as I can and I work on a couple of things on my own. I get my ideas together and then I go out and write songs with these really great songwriters, like Jeff Silbar and Bonnie Hayes; I sometimes get together with Gary Nicholson or Stephen Bruton, before he passed away, Jimmy Pugh from Robert Cray’s Band. There is a number of people that I like to get together and write songs with; oh Mike Schermer, you know these are guys that I know are good songwriters and I take them some of my ideas. I think co-writing is the way to go, because I have a lot of ideas but I am always interested in what somebody else thinks. Some other input is always good. I always just say “two heads are better than one.”

JB: Right.

TC: So we get together and I think I get better songs, depending on who I am working with. So I start that way, but it’s hard to do because I’m working all the time.

JB: Sure.

TC: It’s hard to do, because I have a family at home and kids and stuff like that; a regular life to lead and besides this being my work, it is hard to find the time to get together with other writers, but I run around and do my best at that. And then I keep notes when I’m listening to music; ideas for songs that I want to do. Cover songs that I think would be good for me to do.

JB: Yes.

TC: Then you get your producer in there and they always have some ideas. In this case Victims of Darkness and My Babe, from The Righteous Brothers, were John Porter’s idea and it was my idea to do Wilson Pickett and Bob Dylan.

JB: Okay.

TC: So there you go. There really wasn’t any kind of concept or plan in place. I just try to write good material and I try to pick stuff to cover that I haven’t done yet. Like, I’d never done a Bob Dylan song. That’s basically what was happening when we were putting this one together and then you just have to wait and see how it turns out. I had no idea it was going to turn out like it did. I think it is a really good record and to honest with you, I was kind of worried about it. (laughs)

JB: What were some of your worries, specifically?

TC: I wasn’t sure if we had the right material exactly. I wasn’t sure about some of the songs, but they really came together really great. You know it takes some doing. When you write a song, you don’t have the finished sound yet. You haven’t heard it yet. You don’t know how it is going to turn out. You don’t know exactly what it is going to be, until you have a chance to work with the band, work with the producer, work with different ideas, changing things around. You know, tweaking it to make it better.

JB: Can we take a couple of steps back? When you were talking about collaborating on writing songs; clearly there are many ways of going about it and inspiration comes in different forms. When you work with somebody, do you come to the table with ideas musically, lyrically, or both…or does it differ from song to song?

TC: Usually it is an idea for a story or something; like ‘Trimmin’ Fat’. I had just written that down, because I thought it might make a nice idea for a song.

JB: Okay

TC: Then we just built a story and a guitar riff around it. Mike (Schermer) and I, both play guitar; we were both just sitting there going at it, trying to think of different ways that we might be able to do that and I ended up using a combination of ideas for the final song. Usually it is just an idea for a story; something I had jotted down somewhere. Going through life I notice this and I think of that, I hear a phrase in a conversation or in a movie, or in a book I’m reading; something just jumps out at me.

‘Definition of Insanity’, I wrote that down and when I got together with Jeff (Silbar) to write songs, he asked “what’ve you got?” I went “let me see.” So I look through my book, at what I have written down and we decide which one of those ideas seems like the ‘idea for the day’. He said “let’s work on that one. I like that.” So we start to work on it. Then after we get a start on it, I continue to work on the lyric later on. We don’t necessarily sit there and finish it one day. It’s a long process. It takes the input from all kinds of people. I have lots of help. I’ve got a lot of really good musicians that I work with and I had a great producer; the engineer usually has some input when you’re making a record. I had a guitar teacher that was working with me on some of the guitar playing; to help me get some nice guitar stuff on there. It’s a process and it takes awhile.

JB: That’s interesting. So even at this stage of your career and experience, you still sometimes bring in a coach or a teacher to help refine your sound?

TC: I’ve been studying with this guy a little bit and basically when I take lessons, I tell him the kind of thing I’m trying to do; “I’m planning a solo over these changes…teach me something.” (laughs) So I thought, why not take him into the studio with me? You know, sometimes when you’re singing there’s somebody that does ‘vocal production’ and they help the singers get the harmonies right and they sometimes help the lead singer get the best performance. It is called ‘vocal production’ and I thought that we could do the same thing with the guitar. I thought maybe we could get some really great stuff with the guitar and I think I managed to do that on this record. After a dozen albums, I’ve done just about everything I can think of. (laughs)

JB: Yes after awhile, you do start to realize that you’re playing the same solo on every song, if you don’t brush up.

TC: Yeah, you’ve got to go out there and try and find some places that you haven’t gone before. I insist on doing that. I’m not going to play the same stuff over and over. I’m not going to make the same record. I’m not going to make the same kind of record. This record is different than PAINKILLER. It’s different than RIGHT AS RAIN or SOUL SHAKER. It is different in a bunch of different ways and the one before that was different than the one before that and I think that is why people keep buying our stuff. Well at least that is my evil plan.

JB: Earlier I was pointing out some of your accomplishments. For a guy that has won pretty significant awards and played with some of the greatest, arguably, to ever play the blues; what are the goals now? Is there anything you’re still striving for? Anybody you’re still looking to play with? Or is the goal to just keep going and making the best music that you can?

TC: My goal is to write a song, eventually, that is really just better than I’ve ever done before and really really great. I want to write a really great song; (laughs) maybe a few really great songs, but at least one really great song that will absolutely have to be played on the radio, everywhere.

That’s really the focus for me next, because otherwise, we’ve played all the places we want to play. We’re continuing to work. We’ll be going on blues cruises a couple of times this next year. We’ll be going to Europe again. We’ll be going around the country again. I’ll be doing the legendary Rhythm and Blues Revue with different artists coming to play with me and my band on tour. We just have a lot of stuff going on and that’s all great. That’s what we do. That’s kind of my job. We love to do it and it is continually getting a little better; especially since we got on with Alligator Records.

Business has been good for us, but so my goal, I guess, is to really seriously make a mark and write, perform and record a really amazing song and I just have a feeling that I have one in me. (laughs) Hey and getting a Grammy nomination would be nice. That is another one I’d like to do. We missed it this time around and I think maybe if we had that song I was talking about, I think that might do it.

JB: I’m sure your legions of fans believe that you can do it too. Lastly, is there anybody out there that you’ve spotted on the circuit; any more recent blues bands that you’re listening to that you might want to let our readers know about?

TC: Trampled Under Foot.

JB: Okay.

TC: That’s the best new band I’ve seen in years. I really like them a lot. Do you know who they are?

JB: No I don’t. Not yet, but I’ve been doing a lot of reviews on our site and we’re always trying to get the word out about some of these great bands, that may not be all that well-known around the country yet. I am definitely going to be checking them out.

TC: Yeah Trampled Under Foot. They’re out of Kansas City and they won the International Blues Challenge a couple of years ago and they’re just a girl and her two brothers. They’re bass, drums and guitar and it’s pretty cool what they do. The girl singer is phenomenal. Oh and of course Ruthie Foster! She’s another one of my favorite artists. I don’t know how ‘new on the scene’ she is, but I really dig Ruthie Foster.

JB: Well I appreciate you taking a couple of minutes out of your busy schedule to talk with me. I loved HARD BELIEVER. It is definitely one of my new favorite records and I just appreciate it a lot.
TC: Well, thank you man. You have a great rest of the day and I’m glad we finally got to do this.

JB: Me too.



Since our conversation, Tommy Castro and his band have been nominated for 5 Blues Music Awards; including Band of the Year, Best Contemporary Blues Album, Contemporary Blues Male Artist of the Year, B.B. King Entertainer of the Year (which he won in 2008) and Best Instrumentalist (for Keith Crossan, Saxophone). Congratulations!!!

Click HERE to check out the ABN CD Review for HARD BELIEVER.

Copyright © 2009 - J. Blake. All Rights Reserved
*Live Photos: Copyright © 2009 - Nelson G. Onofre. All Rights Reserved.