| February 15, 2018 | |||||||||
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Lyrics: Lady luck she never looks my way Never had much luck with the dice
I’m so lucky Tried to turn a buck I got nothin’ to show I don’t need to play the horses So lucky, yea It comes to lovin’ I’m no beginner I got a roof that leaks, a floor that squeaks I’m lucky now, baby Get It: Get your very own copy of Right as Rain at Amazon: Exception to the Rule is available here: Can’t Keep a Good Man Down is available here:
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Here at the Dances with Bass nuclear blast–proof underground silo, we are serious blues fans. In fact, we have several playlists solely devoted to the blues, and when we’re slipping along a quiet lake fishing for bass, the blues are the musical backdrop to our fish-catching glee. Sadly, blues music is a musical art form that is dying before our very eyes. Blues greats like John Lee Hooker, BB King, Luther Allison, and Johnny Copeland have died in recent years; blues artists are dying faster than new ones come around. Thankfully, there are still true blues artists out there who are churning out high-quality, though criminally unknown blues masterwork. One of those artists—San Jose, California’s Tommy Castro—has been cranking out top-notch blues rock since the 1990s, and we think it’s high time he gets some real love (not that love from the curators at Dances with Bass Radio, is, you know, important, but it’s love all the same). Mrs. Dances with Bass and I had the pleasure of seeing Castro perform live at Indiana’s oldest tavern and blues club, The Slippery Noodle, in about 2008. Between sets, we I got to meet Mr. Castro, and he signed my copy of Right as Rain. He was easygoing, extremely friendly, and man, can that guy play guitar. Castro’s music blends blues, rock, and soul in a way that is guaranteed to put some juice in your caboose. His music is high-energy, full of hooks, and the perfect complement to a hardwood bar floor and a cold beer.  Castro first picked up the guitar at age 10 and by the 1970s, he was playing professionally in Bay area bands. He broke big in 1996 with the release of Exception to the Rule (another DWB staff fave). During a three-year stint in the mid-1990s, The Tommy Castro Band was the official house band for NBC’s Comedy Showcase, which aired after Saturday Night Live. This gig put Castro’s ax-work in front of millions of fans each week. In his career, Castro has released 13 albums, 2 live records, and 2 compilations. While Castro has received numerous accolades in the blues community, he has yet to break into mainstream relevance. As a lifelong lover of music, on one hand, I am sad that artists like Castro don’t become household names when trash performers like Justin Bieber do, but on the other hand, I am happy to have musical gems like Castro tucked away all to myself (in a manner of speaking). I simply love sharing an artist of Castro’s talent with the world and hearing people marvel at his talent. Video: No official video for Lucky in Love was produced, but I did find both an excellent live version and a studio audio version. First, we have the live version, which was recorded at San Francisco’s venerable Fillmore Auditorium:
Here is the studio version (audio only) from the Right as Rain album. How this guy isn’t a household name is beyond me:
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