Tommy Castro & The Painkillers to release 'Closer to the Bone' on February 7, 2025

Blues-rock great Tommy Castro is set to release his next album in early February 2025. Get all the details below and check out the great new track "Woke Up and Smelled the Coffee"...Robert Kinsler 

TOMMY CASTRO & THE PAINKILLERS TO RELEASE NEW ALBUM, CLOSER TO THE BONE, ON FEBRUARY 7, 2025 CLOSER TO THE BONE Is The Most Straight-Ahead, Raw Blues Album Of Castro's Four-Decade Career. "This Is Me At My Most Authentic," Castro Says. Video For Advance Single, Woke Up And Smelled The Coffee, Premieres Today

“A great artist...impassioned vocals and pure inventiveness in his stellar guitar solos…He makes playing rough feel easy.”  --Blues Music Magazine   “With a sterling reputation, guitarist and vocalist Tommy Castro is one of the foremost practitioners of electric blues. Searing delivery…rousing and teeming with emotion. [He is] a sheer, soaring tour-de-force.” --Living Blues   “Castro plays gritty, string-bending blues like a runaway train...a glorious blend that rocks the soul and lifts the spirits.” --No Depression   "Soaring vocals and swirling leads…showcasing Castro's testifying, confessional vocals [and] resonant emotional power as a singer.” --AllMusic

On Friday, February 7, 2025, Alligator Records will release Closer To The Bone, the new album from award-winning, California-based blues and rock sensation Tommy Castro. Castro is the guitar slinging, soul-singing leader of the telepathically tight and wildly raucous Tommy Castro & The Painkillers. With Closer To The Bone, Castro -- the four-time Blues Music Award-winner for the B.B. King Entertainer Of The Year -- delivers what he calls, "a record I've always wanted to make." Closer To The Bone is the most unvarnished, straight-ahead blues release of Castro’s career, one that bristles with every ounce of his dynamic energy and raw emotion. On Closer To The Bone (Castro’s 8th Alligator release), Castro and his Painkillers – bassist Randy McDonald, keyboardist Mike Emerson and drummer Bowen Brown – mix new Castro originals (Ain’t Worth The Heartache, Can’t Catch A Break, Crazy Woman Blues) with songs originally performed by many of Castro’s friends and heroes. Artists and their songs include Johnny Nitro (One More 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) and Mike Duke (Keep Your Dog Inside). 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). According to Castro, “These are not the obvious artists people generally cover, and that was most definitely on purpose.” Of the album's first single, Woke Up And Smelled The Coffee (a song written by Castro's Alligator label-mate Chris Cain), Castro says, "I always liked the song. Since it's been almost 40 years since he recorded it, I thought I would do my own version. People cover B.B. King and Buddy Guy, why not Chris Cain? He’s as relevant an artist as anyone who ever played the blues." A new video of Woke Up And Smelled The Coffee premieres today. Watch it below:

Tommy Castro -- Woke Up And Smelled The Coffee From Full Album Closer To The Bone, Out on February 7, 2025

Castro has released 17 previous albums over the course of his four-decade career as a professional touring musician. Each record has its own individual sound and style, ranging from horn-fueled R&B to piping hot blues and soul to fiery, stripped-down rock ‘n’ roll. With 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 was produced by master guitarist and studio wizard Christoffer “Kid” Andersen (producer of over 100 albums), at his now-famous Greaseland Studio in San Jose, California. On song after song, Tommy Castro & The Painkillers deliver one raw, inspired performance after another. Says Castro, “Here, I’m not the contemporary guy, not the rock guy, not the soul guy. This is the deeper blues side of me. I know, with these songs, I am at my most authentic.”

Photo by: Dragan Tasic

Sonic Invention Showcased on Trio of Titles

Lovers of jazz, instrumental music and blues will all find something to celebrate thanks to a trio of fantastic new titles available now.

Artist: Michel Petrucciani
Title: Colors (BMG)
You might like if you enjoy: GoGo Penguin, Vince Guaraldi Trio, Robert Glasper Trio
Tell me more: The enduring legacy of the late French piano virtuoso Michel Petrucciani is celebrated across Colors, a new BMG-issued title available via 2-LP, 2-CD and digital. The range of delights across the jazz-mining collection is as vast as it is great. The lush "Colors" opens disc one, the inclusion of horns enhancing Petrucciani's inventive and flawless work on the piano. The adventuresome "Looking Up" finds the pianist performing solo, as does the touching "Love Letter." Disc two opens with a live performance of "Cantabile" captured at the Blue Note in Tokyo in November 1997; it's a stunning composition that begins gently and grows in power over the first five minutes before reemerging as a nuanced breeze to complete its near eight-minute run. The joyful "Little Peace in C For U" is bolstered by some terrific violin play from Stephane Grappelli , whose musical connection to Petrucciani astounds across the fast-moving three minutes. Even casual fans of jazz will be drawn into inviting tracks such as "Charlie Brown" and the romantic "Even Mice Dance." Released in connection with the 20th anniversary of Petrucciani's death, the magnificent collection is capped by "Montelimar," which appears on an album for the first-time ever. The dazzling original – recorded in Paris in 1994 – features Petrucciani on both organ and (overdubbed) piano. In addition to 18 audio tracks and artwork (overseen by French journalist Pascal Anquetil), Colors includes liner notes from Charles Lloyd, Marcus Miller, Lenny White, Steve Gadd and Ahmad Jamal. Information: www.facebook.com/MichelPetruccianijazz.

Artist: Tycho
Title: Simulcast (Mom & Pop Music)
You might like if you enjoy: Moby, electronica
Tell me more: Infinitely dreamy, Tycho's new album Simulcast marks the sixth full-length effort from the Bay Area-based troupe. Group leader Scott Hansen has created a wonderful instrumental companion to last year's Grammy Award-nominated Weather. The new effort enthralls via eight inviting tracks as evidenced by the mid-tempo sheen of the aptly-named "Outer Sunset," the magnetic "Weather," emotive "Cypress" and edgier "PCH." The expansive "Stress" – which closes out the album – is another standout with a myriad of layers of sounds and moodscapes fitted against a laid-back beat that is both absorbing and entrancing. Tycho will embark on a "Simulcast Tour" that will span the U.S. beginning in early May 2020. Information: TychoMusic.com.

Artist: Tommy Castro & The Painkillers
Title: Killin' It Live (Alligator Records)
You might like if you enjoy: Walter Trout, Tinsley Ellis
Tell me more: Fans of modern-day bluesman Tommy Castro & The Painkillers have finally been rewarded with a live album from the group courtesy of the winning Killin' It Live. Featuring selections recorded at venues in New York, Texas, Michigan and California during 2018, the set was produced by Castro and engineer Ron Alan Cohen. Singer-songwriter-guitar hero Castro revisits many of his most beloved cuts, ranging from the Southern blues-rock stomp "Make It Back To Memphis" and Chicago blues-flavored version of Sleepy John Estes' "Leaving Trunk" to the soulful R&B ballad "Anytime Soon." Castro dips back to his second full-length album to deliver a rocking take on the lead guitar-draped originals "Can't Keep a Good Man Down," and "Calling San Francisco." As showcased across "Killin' It Live," San Jose native Tommy Castro and his top-tier band the Painkillers (bassist Randy McDonald, drummer Bowen Brown and keyboardist Mike Emerson) are definitely worth catching live. They recently received two Blues Music Award nominations for Blues Rock Album Of The Year and Blues Rock Artist Of The Year (the 41st Annual Blues Music Awards will be presented by the Blues Foundation in Temphis on May 7, 2020). Castro has a number of upcoming Southern California dates including at The Rose in Pasadena on March 19, and at The Coach House in San Juan Capistrano on Friday, March 20. Information: Alligator.com.




Robert Kinsler