Trinidaddio Blues Festival
CONTACT:
PUBLICITY: Marc Lipkin / Chris Levick email: publicity@allig.com
RADIO: Tim Kolleth email: radio@allig.com
p.o. box 60234
chicago, illinois 60660
773-973-7736/
www.alligator.com
BLUES/ROOTS GUITARIST AND VOCALIST TOMMY CASTRO TO PERFORM IN TRINIDAD!
Tommy Castro, winner of the 2008 Blues Music Award as “Entertainer Of The Year,” will bring his scorching, soaring guitar, gritty vocals, and soul-drenched songs to Trinidad for a live performance on August 29, 2009. Blues Revue says, “Tommy Castro can do no wrong….soulful, heartfelt vocals, and exquisite, stellar guitar work. A seamless blend of blues, gospel-flavored R&B, soul and roadhouse rock.” According to The San Francisco Chronicle, Castro plays “funky Southern soul, big city blues and classic rock…silvery guitar licks that simultaneously sound familiar and fresh.” Castro’s Alligator label debut, Hard Believer, will be released in August 2009. Concert information is as follows:
Saturday, August 29th
Trinidaddio Blues Festival
Central Park
500-543 Stonewall Ave
Trinidad, CO
www.trinidaddio.com
719-859-8031
8:45 p.m.
$20 General / $40 VIP
$5 Kids (6-12) / Children under 5 FREE
Born in San Jose, California in 1955, Castro first picked up a guitar at age 10. He came under the spell of Eric Clapton, Elvin Bishop, Michael Bloomfield and other blues rock players early on. As he got older, Castro moved forward by investigating the past, falling in love with the blues guitar work of Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Freddie King, Buddy Guy, Elmore James and singers like Ray Charles, Wilson Pickett and James Brown. By his late teens he was playing in a variety of San Francisco-area bands.
Castro joined Warner Brothers act The Dynatones in the late 1980s, where he honed his chops on the road for two years, performing live around the world and backing major artists like Carla Thomas and Albert King. He formed his own band in 1991 and won the Bay Area Music Award for Best Club Band in both 1993 and 1994. He released his debut album, Exception To The Rule, on Blind Pig in 1996. The album won the 1997 Bay Area Music Award for Outstanding Blues Album, and Castro also took the award for Outstanding Blues Musician that same year.
In the mid-1990s The Tommy Castro Band served as the house band for three seasons on NBC Television’s Comedy Showcase (airing right after Saturday Night Live), bringing him in front of millions of viewers every week. During the 1990s and into the 2000s, Castro released a series of critically acclaimed CDs for Blind Pig, Telarc and 33rd Street Records as well as one on his own Heart And Soul label. In 2001 and 2002 the legendary B.B. King asked Castro to open his summer concert tours. Playing over 80 concerts, Castro often found himself sitting with King to close out the show. As a further tribute to his talent, on October 16, 2006 San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom declared “Tommy Castro Day” throughout the city.
Castro’s most recent releases, 2007’s Painkiller (Blind Pig) and 2008’s Command Performance:
Publications across the country, from The Washington Post to The San Francisco Examiner, sang his praises. Billboard called him “a major blues player.” Carlos Santana, with whom Castro has also performed, said, “Tommy Castro has the voice and the sound to touch everybody’s heart.” With his upcoming Alligator debut and plenty of high-energy tour dates to follow, Castro is ready to write the next chapter of his already illustrious career.
Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/
