 Tommy Castro in 2002 Ray Lillo photograph. Click on the image to see a larger version.
Workin' hard
By John Orr
Long known as one of the hardest-working blues groups in the Bay Area, the Tommy Castro Band now has what leader Casto thinks is the best gig ever: Opening for the B.B. King Blues Festival tour, which comes to Shoreline on Saturday and Concord on Sunday.
''It is, it's really cool,'' said Castro by phone last week from his San Rafael home. ''The best gig we've ever had. We're getting busier every time we turn around, better gigs coming our way all the time, but this, by far, is the best of them all."
Castro, 46, was born in San Jose and started listening to B.B. King records -- ''Live at Cook County Jail'' and ''Live at the Regal'' when he was 14.
''He's 75 now, and he does every bit as good a show now, every night. It's pretty amazing," said Castro of King. ''It gives me something to strive to be like. I want to be like B.B. King.
''You know, he's an originator. Nobody really sounded like him before he came along. He was the first to do what he does. He is very professional about his business, his show is really tight, he is a nice person, treats his band and everybody really well.
''He's somebody I really admire and look up to and want to be more like him. That's a healthy thing. You don't want to copy anybody, be anybody else, but there are some people of character you would like to be more like. Like B.B. King.''
Castro's brother Ray, who had his own band, taught him to play guitar, and he started learning licks from those King records.
And eventually he heard another San Jose guitar player -- Chris Cain -- and that experience showed him his way in life.
"I love Chris," Castro said. "I remember before I really got into it, before I was working very much on the blues scene, I would go see the Cain band every chance I got. They were really part of the reason why I decided to do this. I was playing with bands here and there on the weekends, in the '80s, when this whole blues revival started ... I would see Chris, was very, very inspired by Chris and his band. Seeing them gave me some hope that there was possibly some work for guys doing this music.''
Shortly after that Castro moved to San Francisco to ''try to expand my music-business opportunities.
''We took every possible gig, just to be playing. The gigs we were doing then weren't paying very much, but we would take them, even if it meant passing the tips bucket down in North Beach.
''Now, we still work a lot.'' Castro said. ''People ask, 'How come you work so much?' I ask, 'How come you work so much?' Everybody I know has to work for a living.
''That's what we do. We worked a lot then, we work a lot now -- just fewer actual gigs because of the traveling now. It takes longer to get to the gigs.''
The day of this conversation -- the day he would leave for the start of the B.B. King tour -- he'd gotten up earlier than usual blues standards thanks to his children, Jackson, 3, and Gabrielle, 5. "The kids are up, everybody's up,'' Castro said. His wife, Cori, is a fulltime mom and homemaker, and also helps Castro with his music business. He has another daughter from a previous marriage, Jasmine, who is a buyer for a Silicon Valley tech firm.
Castro is of Portugese descent. His father split by the time he was about three, but his mother Rose, who still lives in San Jose, with Castro's sister Helena, supported the family in even tight times.
''She bought me my first guitar, always encouraged me, never told me to get a real job,'' Castro said. ''Which I always appreciated. She bought guitars and amps for my brother and me.
''Later on in life you appreciate how tough it must have been for her to raise us on her own.''
The music business keeps expanding for Castro. He's a good vocalist and guitarist with his own style, and an excellent songwriter. And few people in the blues work harder than he does, still.
''Guilty of Love,'' produced by keyboardist Jimmy Pugh, is one of the best blues albums of the year and has some real tasty stuff, including ''Blinded in the Face of Love,'' a real ear worm that stays with listeners long after the stereo is switched off. It's a slow boogie with very simple instrumentation, leaving lots of ear space for an excellent vocal by Castro:
I used to lie
In bed and think of you
I used to lie
And tell myself it's true
I couldn't see a future for me without you
Blinded in the face of love.
Castro's voice and his call-and-response guitar licks are joined by a good horn section on ''Ain't No Fun To Me'':
Standin' by the highway, just waiting in the rain. Standin' by the highway, though the sun is shining, it still cause me pain.
Castro and a recording crew visited Hooker in his Los Altos home just a few weeks before the legend died in his sleep on June 21. The frail old Boogeyman sat on his couch and lent a few mellifluous words to the Castro tune ''Guilty of Love.'' ''Guilty!'' he sang, punctuation to Castro's vocal. Castro appreciates the favor.
''I have to ask myself,'' Castro said, ''Why is it that blues and rhythm & blues is all I like? A lot of music just doesn't do it for me. It has to have soul, depth, a certain kind of rhythmic appeal. That comes from blues, and rhythm and blues.''
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