Solid traditional blues with no frills but plenty of thrills abound in Tommy Castro and The Painkiller’s 8th outing.
Release Date: 7th February 2025
Label: Alligator Records
Format: Vinyl / CD / streaming
An eighth album but a first ‘all Blues’ album. Tommy Castro on guitar, Resonator guitar and vocals, is joined by the nucleus of Mike Emerson on keyboards, Randy McDonald on bass and Bowen Brown on drums. The album hosts a blend of original songs and covers. Amongst the covers is material from Ray Charles, Chris Cain, Eddie Taylor, Brownie McGhee, Johnny Watson and other illustrious blues men. Closer To The Bone was produced by master guitarist and studio wizard Christoffer “Kid” Andersen who captures the intensity and vibrancy perfectly.
EXPECTATIONS…
So you may be expecting high quality workmanship and that is exactly what this tight and ultra experienced band deliver. Chicago style blues at its best. Right from the start The Way You Do delivers brilliant solid Blues, a swirl of keyboards, a solid backbeat, the tried and trusted electrifying guitar solo and yearning vocals. Immediately you know you’re in for a great blues session. Recalling the likes of Black Magic Woman, The Way You Can Do supplies echoey guitars and a light Latin rhythm. Along with tunes like She Moves Me and Freight Train, Castro and the band dispense the kind of sound that attracted so many in the British Blues boom of the late sixties.
SMOKEY MOOD
The chunkier One More night leads on to the smokier blues mood on Crazy Woman Blues, tinkly keyboards, soulful guitar solo and fills match the lamenting vocals . For those who like the slow hand blues style on Fool For You follows soon after. But we bounce back when you have Woke Up And Smelled The Coffee, a real foot-tapper with guitar solos to die for and the church organ keyboards push this along at a pace. She Moves Me, Everywhere I Go, Stroll Out West and Hole In The Wall will all get your heart racing to get your jaunty juices flowing. More Latin rhythms surface on Ain’t Worth The Heartache, enhanced by some blues harp. We have some swing brassy blues too with Bloodshot Eyes with a trad jazzy feel.
“A REAL BLUES RECORD”
Tommy is proud of this back to basics sound what he calls: “a real blues record, the way they would have made them back in the day.” True it could class as pretty standard stuff, but brilliant standard stuff taking you back to some glory days discovering the blues. Tommy is one of the most highly acclaimed, winning awards for fun is noted for his live performances. He has been a popular visitor on the British Blues festival scene in the past. His ability to recreate this live atmosphere in the studio which is one of his strengths.
The final word goes to Tommy himself which just about sums this album up: “I’m not the contemporary guy, not the rock guy, not the soul guy. This is the deeper blues side of me. I know, with these songs, I am at my most authentic.”
Here’s Woke Up And Smelled The Coffee:
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