Ever since he first picked up a guitar and started making music, Tommy Castro believed. He believed he would not only be able to make a living playing music, but could develop his own signature sound and style. From his start playing in local Bay Area cover bands to joining the much-loved Dynatones to touring the world with his own band, Castro’s belief in himself has been rewarded. Today he is famed not only for his hard-hitting, impassioned vocals and his blues-infused, rocking R&B sound, but also for his striking, original songwriting and exhilarating stage show. Castro (winner of the 2008 Blues Music Award as Entertainer Of The Year) is recognized as one of the absolute best blues and R&B players, singers and live performers in the world.

With his Alligator Records debut, Hard Believer, Castro takes another major step forward in a career that never looks back. Hard Believer was produced by John Porter (B.B. King, Elvis Costello, Buddy Guy, Keb Mo, The Smiths, Otis Rush, Billy Bragg, Roxy Music) and recorded in Castro’s hometown of San Rafael, California. The album is anchored by Castro’s soul-baring songs, filled with profound emotion and fueled by Castro’s powerful vocals and propulsive rhythms. “If there’s no groove there,” Castro told Guitar Player, “I can’t sink my teeth into it.” On Hard Believer, there are plenty of satisfying grooves to bite down on. But what really drives the songs home is Castro’s telepathic interaction with his band. The group operates as a single engine, firing on all cylinders, sometimes pushing the pedal to the floor, other times slowing things down for a simmering ballad.

Joining Alligator Records is a new high point in Castro’s career. “I feel that in signing with Alligator I’m making a major step forward. I’m excited about the new release and grateful for the opportunity to record for a label with such a rich history in blues and American roots music.”

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(From Rolling Stone)

Jack White’s “Fly Farm Blues,” his contribution to the upcoming guitar god documentary It Might Get Loud, was released as a download at both iTunes and White’s Third Man Records music store's this week. As the story goes, White wrote and recorded the song in all of 10 minutes, with the It Might Get Loud film crew witnessing the song’s entire genesis and completion.

As Rolling Stone reported from the Los Angeles Film Festival in June, where the documentary debuted, It Might Get Loud features White, U2’s The Edge and Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page discussing the art of being a guitar slinger, culminating in a jam session together that will undoubtedly think you’ve died and gone to “rock heaven,” as Peter Travers wrote in his glowing three-and-a-half star review of the film. One scene finds each member of the trio playing wild bottleneck slide guitar on Zeppelin’s “In My Time of Dying.”

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a guitar or a sitar or a keyboard or a synthesizer. We’re getting into something better than that, deeper than that,” White told Rolling Stone at the film’s premiere. “I need to feel it. I’ve gone through things where I go onstage and the sound guy at sound check comes over and he’ll hold the decibel meter and show it to me while we’re playing — and it’s 127 decibels.”

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