Tommy Castro Show (and Painkiller CD thoughts)
Kimberly and I got a chance to get to a Tommy Castro show recently at the Rhythm Room here in Phoenix. We had seen Tommy a couple of times, and not knocking his studio work, but Live is a whole better vibe with Tommy. Tommy has a new band, in fact I’m not sure any of the old group remained. A real nice treat was that he had a great horn section with him – the guys from the new album ‘Painkiller’.
The show featured Painkiller, with live versions of at least 4 or 5 tracks. Seeing the CD is just out, we really hadn’t even heard any of it. Gotta’ say… it was quite the treat. Not only was the live show excellent, but the studio version tracks really hold up too. Tommy may still be a “live band”, but I think he really has put together a great disk. In particular a couple of tracks stood out for me: “I’m Not Broken” and “Big Sister’s Radio”. The later just a great old school vibe with Tommy’s guitar channeling Chuck Berry. ‘I’m Not Broken’ has a groove and lyrics that just about any man who has went through a tough stretch here and there can relate to – no doubt an out loud sing-along track. Some really nice other songs on the disk as well; the title track ‘Painkiller’ is classic Castro with an up tempo rock-groove-blues approach. ‘Lonesome And Then Some’ is kind of swampy, Philly Soul, Blues mix that provides the sway, and ‘A Good Fool’ has some great guitar licks featuring both Tommy and Coco Montoya.
Overall an excellent night of music and friends (Dan and Debbie were there too!). You should pick up the new CD, a great mix of Blues, Old School Soul, excellent (Stax/Muscle Shoals) horns, and Tommy.
