Thursday, November 24, 2011
By John Benson
For blues artist Tommy Castro, 2010 was quite a banner year. He won four Blues Music Awards, including — for the second time in his career — the coveted B.B. King Entertainer of the Year Award (the highest award for a blues performer), as well as the award for Contemporary Blues Male Artist of the Year, Contemporary Blues Album of the Year (for 2009 album “Hard Believer”) and Band of the Year.
As a follow-up to all of the success, Castro, who appears Friday at The Cellar in Struthers, decided to give his fans something special with the concert CD “Tommy Castro Presents The Legendary Rhythm & Blues Revue — Live!.” Released last June, the 12-track affair finds the California musician sharing the stage with a slew of blues and R&B stars.
“The concert album was the result of this revue style show we’ve been taking out on the road,” said Castro, calling from a tour stop in Cleveland. “A few years ago, I got the idea it would be a good to take a few artists with us. We’re normally a six-piece band with horns. There’s a certain excitement that starts to happen when you get a group of musicians together because it’s different. It’s a little bit risky, right? There’s a little bit of an edge to everything and lots of times it turns out great performances.”
Among those great performances are Castro favorites “It’s A Shame” with Joe Louis Walker on vocals and “Gotta Serve Somebody” featuring the Tommy Castro Band.
Looking ahead, Castro said he’s already thinking about his next studio effort, which for some fans may include an unexpected turn away from his old-school sound. Diehards shouldn’t get too worried. Just as the California singer-guitarist spread his wings a bit with “Tommy Castro Presents The Legendary Rhythm & Blues Revue — Live!,” he’s looking to do the same for the next album. The only difference being this time, he’s studying an unlikely source.
“I’m going slightly more contemporary,” Castro said. “There’s another generation of blues acts out there that are doing some pretty cool stuff. They’re not exactly blues acts but blues-based acts. They might fall more into the category of jam band or more mainstream, but the roots and the basis of their sound is totally blues, like The Black Keys or Robert Randolph or Derek Trucks. Cats like that are very contemporary, very original-sounding groups, but their roots are all in blues and R&B and soul music, which is what I love.”
Normally, Castro said he leans more toward classic artists such as Ray Charles, B.B. King and Wilson Pickett. The problem is you can only stand in the shadow of those legends for so long. Furthermore, within Castro’s genre, there aren’t many bluesmen left. However, age doesn’t appear to be an issue for this 56-year-old. All he has to do is look at his idol, the aforementioned King — 30 years his senior — to see what his future may hold. At the very least, that appears pretty bright.
“Oh yeah, I believe so,” Castro said. “I have lots of work left to do.”