Still killin’ it

Never seen Tommy Castro perform? The Bay Area bluesman has something to lure you out to the club, his new album, Killin’ It Live.

“It’s a little bit of a calling card in a way: ‘Hey this is the show, if you want to come and see it,’” Castro said in a recent interview. It’s a compact collection, 10 tracks from across the guitarist/vocalist’s nearly 30-year solo career that were recorded at a handful of venues across the country—including Biscuits and Blues in San Francisco; the legendary Antone’s in Austin; Texas, and Daryl Hall’s popular Daryl’s House in rural New York.

“I’ve been through so many different phases with this career of mine—different groups, different lineups, different directions. I think people don’t know what to expect if they haven’t been to one of my shows in a while. I thought it’d be great to put out a record that shows what we’re doing now.”

The “we” is Castro and his band The Painkillers, featuring longtime collaborator/bassist Randy McDonald, plus keyboardist Mike Emerson and drummer Bowen Brown.

The album covers the gamut of Castro’s compositions, from roadhouse rock (“Make It Back to Memphis”) to slow blues (“Lose Lose”) and sweet soul (“Anytime Soon”). There are also a pair of well-chosen covers: Sleepy John Estes’ “Leaving Trunk” (à la Taj Mahal’s groovy rendition) and a hot version of Buddy Miles’ “Them Changes” that closes out the album.

“We can do just about everything I’ve ever written with this band,” Castro said. “We’ve been together about four years. … There’s a point where everybody knows where we are all the time instinctively.”

Each year, the hard-working outfit tours the United States twice and Europe once. “It isn’t getting any easier, but I’m up for it,” Castro said of the grind. “I still love climbing on the bus and going across the country. We always turn up some new gigs along the way and we love seeing places and people we’ve seen over the years.”

A San Jose native, Castro started playing guitar when he was 10 years old, but he didn’t start playing music for a living for a couple of decades.

“I grew up in a working-class neighborhood where people did jobs they hated just to put food on the table,” Castro said. “I just played because I loved to play. It was my sport. One day a light bulb went off in my head: ‘Wouldn’t it be great if I did something I cared about and loved?’ I didn’t come up with that idea until I was about 30.”

He honed his chops at blues clubs and in cover bands around the Bay Area, and eventually joined forces with McDonald in the soul band The Dynatones in the 1980s. Then, in 1991, the two met up again in the first incarnation of the Tommy Castro Band. “We knew what we wanted to do: It’s blues, soul and rock ’n’ roll,” he said. “That’s who we are.”

Within a couple years of playing, the band had become a hit in the Bay Area.

“We got a record deal, booking agent, management. It started happening really fast.”

Castro’s been putting out his own music since his 1996 debut on Blind Pig Records, and in 2009, he moved over to Alligator Records and released Hard Believer. The following year, he won four Blues Music Awards: Male Artist of the Year, Contemporary Blues Album of the Year, Band of the Year, and the B.B. King Entertainer of the Year.

The latter award had special meaning for Castro, who had previously opened for King on multiple tours, often joining him on stage for the final song of the night. And King, he said, was one of his guitar inspirations.

“I really connected with guys like B.B. King—the simple stuff,” he said. “Sometimes it calls for a little shredding. Even though that’s not necessarily my strong suit, I’ll go there if that’s what the song calls for. That sums me up as a player. I play what the songs call for, not the flashiest solos, but what fits the tunes.”