In the span of ten years, guitarist Tommy Castro’s career has rocketed from regional guitar hero status in the San Francisco Bay Area to international acclaim. Armed with a fiery post-SRV guitar attack and a vocal style reminiscent of James Brown, Otis Redding and other classic R&B luminaries, Castro serves up a high-octane version of the blues augmented by powerful doses of soul and funk.

Born and raised in San Jose, California, Castro fist picked up the guitar in the mid-1960s at age ten. His earliest influences were the obvious blues-rock guitar heroes of the day: Eric Clapton, Mike Bloomfield, Elvin Bishop and the like. Like most kids discovering the guitar during that period, he followed the roots to their earlier sources: B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Elmore James, Muddy Waters and Freddy King. Castro’s gritty and thunderous vocal style comes directly from his affinity for soul shouters like Ray Charles, Wilson Pickett, James Brown and Otis Redding.

After earning his stripes by playing guitar in various Bay Area bands, Castro landed a gig with a San Francisco band called the Dynatones, who were then signed to Warner Bros. His two-year stint with the Dynatones introduced him to much larger audiences and created opportunities for him to back artists as diverse as Carla Thomas and Albert King.

After two years with the Dynatones, Castro returned to San Francisco and formed his own band. He released his first self-produced album, No Foolin’, in 1993, on the small Saloon label. That same year, he and his band won the Bay Area Music Award for Best Club Band (he took home the same award the following year).

Castro signed on with the Blind Pig label in the mid-1990s and released four solid recordings: Exception to the Rule (1995), Can’t Keep a Good Man Down (1997), I>Right As Rain (1999) and Live at the Fillmore (2000). During that period, his national visibility increased dramatically when he and his band landed a three-year gig in 1997 as the house band for NBC’s Comedy Showcase, a late night program that aired right after Saturday Night Live.

Castro left Blind Pig after the release of the Fillmore recording and jumped to the small 33rd Street label, where he recorded Guilty of Love in 2001. He co-founded Heart & Soul Records with manager Miki Nord, and used the fledgling label as the platform for the early 2003 release of Gratitude, a tribute to the many blues, soul and R&B giants who have inspired Castro since his earliest days.

Castro made his debut on the Telarc label with the August 2003 release of Triple Trouble, a soul-drenched set in which he shares the marquee with bluesmates Lloyd Jones and Jimmy Hall. The threesome are backed by Double Trouble (keyboardist Reese Wynans, bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer Chris Layton), the rhythm section that served as the bedrock for Stevie Ray Vaughan during his heyday in the 1980s and has since become a highly respected session unit in its own right since Vaughan’s death in 1990.