Tommy Castro & The Painkillers with opener GA-20

Multiple award-winning, California-based blues and rock sensation Tommy Castro is the guitar slinging, soul-singing leader of the telepathically tight and wildly raucous Tommy Castro s released 17 previous albums over the course of his four-decade career. Each release features its own individual sound and style, ranging from horn-fueled Rn roll. With his new album, Closer To The Bone, Castro has returned to his roots, delivering what he calls a real blues record, the way they would have made them back in the day. Closer To The Bone is the most unvarnished, straight-ahead blues release of Castros career, one that bristles with every ounce of his dynamic energy and raw emotion. On Closer To The Bone (Castros 8th Alligator release), Castro and his Painkillersbassist Randy McDonald, keyboardist Mike Emerson and drummer Bowen Brownmix new Castro originals (Aint Worth The Heartache, Cant Catch A Break, Crazy Woman Blues) with songs originally performed by many of Castros friends and heroes. Artists and their songs include Johnny Nitro (OneMore Night, on which Castro plays his treasured 1966 black Fender Stratocaster, a guitar once owned by Nitro himself), Magic Slim (Hole In The Wall), Ron Thompson (Freight Train), Mike Duke (Keep Your Dog Inside) and Chris Cain(Woke Up And Smelled The Coffee). Castro additionally chose obscure songs by Wynonie Harris (Bloodshot Eyes), Eddie Taylor (Stroll Out West), Jimmy Nolen(The Way You Do) and Johnny Guitar Watson (She Moves Me).