Event

The Tommy Castro Band - Blues on the Coast 2010

Arena Theater presents Tommy Castro and band on Saturday February 20, 2010 at 8:00 PM to open the annual, five-part Blues on the Coast series sponsored by Gualala Chevron and the Pier Chowder House and Tap Room.

R&B singer, songwriter and guitarist Tommy Castro is one of the most popular and creative roots artists to emerge in recent years. Castro, winner of the 2008 Blues Music Award for Entertainer of the Year, is famed not only for his hard-hitting, impassioned vocals, soaring guitar work and his blues-infused, rocking R&B sound, but also for his striking, original songwriting and exhilarating stage show.
Born in San Jose, California in 1955, Castro first picked up a guitar at age 10. He came under the spell of Eric Clapton, Elvin Bishop, Mike Bloomfield and other blues rock players early on. As he got older, Castro explored the past, falling in love with the blues guitar work of Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Freddie King, Buddy Guy, Elmore James and singers like Ray Charles, Wilson Pickett and James Brown.

By his late 20s he was playing in a variety of San Francisco area blues and soul bands and in 1991 he formed The Tommy Castro Band, winning the Bay Area Music Award for Best Club Band in 1993 and 1994. In 1996, Tommy's first major release, Exception to the Rule on Blind Pig, garnered near unanimous raves from blues and mainstream publications. The latest CD in Castro's long list of acclaimed recordings is Hard Believer, released in 2009.

Tommy Castro and his band have captured a hold on legions of fans and critics alike around the world with their mesmerizing blend of rock, blues and Memphis soul.