August 25, 2005

Castro's songwriting blends blues, soul

By Regis Behe
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, August 25, 2005

On one side of the equation there's the blues: Down-and-dirty, gut-wrenching, pour-your-heart out blues. John Lee Hooker. Muddy Waters. B.B. King. On the other side, soul: Smooth and inspirational, joyful and sad, the music of the libido and the ego. Sam Cooke. Al Green. Otis Redding. Superficially, blues and soul seem like odd bedfellows, the primal and the sophisticated, if you will. But in the Bay Area of California, they've always co-existed and mixed. "That combination of blues and soul music is something that's been natural to us," says Tommy Castro, who performs at Moondog's in Blawnox Wednesday. "We don't think twice about it. Some people think it's two completely different things. ... But out here, it's never been a problem."

The title of Castro's most recent album, "Soul Shaker," is a microcosm of the Bay Area sound. It jumps a little like Elvin Bishop, has horns that swing like the Tower of Power and mines the primal power of the blues as typified by Taj Mahal. Castro, born in San Jose, Calif., in 1955, has a everyman's voice that might not be operatic, and a guitar style that is hardly flashy. In combination, however, his vocals and playing seem a perfect match for the melange of music on "Soul Shaker," which he views as his most accomplished recording. The reason? Castro finally got serious about songwriting.

"One of the reasons there are so many different sounds on 'Soul Shaker,' different approaches, is we just started with good songs that we felt were strong," he says. "Then we let the songs be played in the most natural way." That resulted in Castro producing songs in styles he'd never before attempted. Take "Anytime Soon": A slow-paced song that gradually builds momentum, it starts with an acoustic guitar and Castro's naked vocal before adding bass, drums and a gorgeous horn arrangement. "It couldn't have possibly been any other tempo," Castro says. "The influences come from everyone from Otis Redding to Van Morrison and Bob Seger, people who put across songs with that kind of soul. It's soul music but not in the most traditional sense."

Castro realizes not everyone is going to appreciate his mix-and-match approach. He received an e-mail shortly after "Soul Shaker" was released complaining about the sound. "It said, 'Your new record (stinks). You used to sound like B.B. King and Buddy Guy,'" Castro says, laughing. "'What happened?'." What happened is Castro finally shed his influences and became Tommy Castro. That he's not strictly a blues artist anymore doesn't bother him in the least, even though that's the genre in which he's most often cast.

"I like to use the Rolling Stones as an analogy," he says. "They started out as a really good blues band, and we started out as good blues band. The same thing happened to me as happened to them: Someone said, boys, you need to start writing some songs. ... They started writing songs and they came out the Stones, and that's kind of what happened to me."

Regis Behe can be reached at rbehe@tribweb.com or (412)320-7990.