Maui Beat

Tommy Castro and The Painkillers

Perform Saturday at the BBQ Bluesfest

One of the most popular blues and roots music artists performing today, Tommy Castro is looking forward to teaming up again with Willie K at the BBQ Bluesfest on Friday and Saturday in Lahaina.

"I saw his show at a festival in Colorado," says Castro. "What a talent, what a voice. He's incredible."

Set to perform on Maui with his band The Painkillers, this acclaimed guitarist/singer has been igniting audiences for more than 30 years. A six-time Blues Music Award winner, Castro artfully fuses elements of classic soul and R&B on his latest CD, "Method to My Madness," with some tracks recalling greats from the Stax Records' days.

"My formula, if there is one, is a combination of Memphis soul and blues and rock 'n' roll," he explains. "I've never been just a straight-up blues artist, though I'm crazy about that stuff. I'm a lover of the great soul singers especially the magic that happened at Stax."

Born in San Jose, Calif., in 1955, Castro started playing guitar when he was 10 years old, initially gravitating to the music of blues-rockers such as Eric Clapton, Elvin Bishop and Mike Bloomfield. Later, he immersed himself in the music of Muddy Waters and the other blues masters.

"I loved (blues) for the feeling," he says. "I like a good song and a heart-felt performance. The stuff that appealed to me was the simplest, groovy hooks and soulful performance. I was listening to the Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton as a kid. I didn't find out about the deep blues stuff til later on."

Castro played in a number of Bay Area blues and soul bands in his 20s before joining The Dynatones in the late 1980s. He formed the first incarnation of The Tommy Castro Band in 1991.

In time, he would collaborate and play with blues legends like B.B. King, John Lee Hooker and Buddy Guy, along with Dr. John, Elvin Bishop and Carlos Santana. In praising Castro, Santana once proclaimed: "The blues is in good hands. This is the person who has the voice, the sound and the intentions to touch everybody's heart."

In 2001 and 2002, King invited Castro to open his summer concert tours, with the Bay Area musician joining in during the nightly finale. "I couldn't believe anything like that could happen to me," he says. "I really was in heaven. Watching B.B. up close every night and having a chat backstage, he was such an amazing, kind and good-hearted person."

Friends joining him on records have included guitarist Joe Bonamassa and singer Marcia Ball, and on his 2001 album "Guilty of Love," blues icon John Lee Hooker performed his last recording session before his death.

"John Lee lived here in Northern California and we got to be friends," he notes. "My drummer (Bowen Brown) played with him for seven years. We asked him to sing on our album and it turned out to be the last vocal performance of his life."

Besides Brown, Castro's band The Painkillers features bassists Randy McDonald and keyboard player Michael Emerson, who has worked with Elvin Bishop, Carlene Carter and Percy Sledge.

Mostly performing original material, when Castro takes on a cover, they're smoking hot from Bob Dylan's "Gotta Serve Somebody" and the Righteous Brothers' "My Babe," to James Brown's "Sex Machine."

On "Method to My Madness," he includes two terrific covers, B.B. King's swinging "Bad Luck," and Otas Clay's soul classic "I'm Qualified."

As far as standout originals on the album, the opening, "Common Ground," recalls Little Feat's swampy funk. "Ride's" guitar and keyboard groove leans into Doors' territory, and the rockabilly of "Got a Lot" could have graced a Sun Records compilation.

"The San Rafael blues man fearlessly puts his impassioned vocals and gutsy Stratocaster work front and center, beginning with the rousing original 'Common Ground' that kicks off this collection of a dozen tunes that are like a primer of blues and R&B styles," praised the Marin Independent Journal.

For Eric Sardinas, also performing at the Uncle Willie K's BBQ Bluesfest, seeing Elvis Presley as a 6-year-old sparked a lifelong love for music. "It left a powerful impression," he says. "Music became a big part of my life."

An acclaimed musician who specializes in playing acoustic and electrified resonator guitars, Sardinas is known for his incendiary blues/rock style. "I've had such a deep respect for soul and funk and blues," he continues. "I was listening to Blind Lemon Jefferson, Charley Patton and Robert Johnson. It was the emotional connection and the complexity in the simplicity."

Resonator guitars were originally designed to be louder than regular acoustic guitars. They became popular in the late 1920s attracting blues, bluegrass and Hawaiian musicians.

"It's a guitar that looks like its got a hub cap on it," he explains. "The slide element of it is very human and emotionally packed for me. I've pushed it into the electric side and also use it acoustic. If you don't have your own voice with blues then you're not really saying anything. I'm fortunate that I have found my own voice within the music because I definitely have something to say."

Over the years, this virtuoso guitarist has had opportunities to jam with idols like B.B. King, Johnny Winter and Steve Vai. His most recent album, "Boomerang," was praised by The Rocktologist as "gritty, rootsy blues rock played with a bellyful of fire and vigor."

The Fifth Annual Uncle Willie K's BBQ Bluesfest is presented today through Saturday. Sardinas and Big Motor and Castro and The Painkillers will perform at the Lahaina Civic Center on Saturday. The concert also features Willie K and The Warehouse Blues Band, with special guests Mick Fleetwood, Tavana, (the "Piano Prince of New Orleans") Davell Crawford and Gretchen Rhodes, plus Bob Seger saxophonist Alto Reed, Kapena, Larry Dupio and Kings of Spade.

A party with the fest headliners will be held at Fleetwood's on Front St. on Friday at 7:30 p.m. It also features Fleetwood, Rhodes, Crawford and Deborah Vial. And a free concert will be presented today from 6 to 8 p.m. under the Banyan tree with the Lahainaluna Hawaii Club, the Deborah Vial Band and the Mike Carroll Blues Band.

* Tommy Castro and The Painkillers perform at the Uncle Willie K's BBQ Bluesfest on Saturday at the Lahaina Civic Center. Tickets for the Lahaina Civic Center are $40 for adults and $10 for kids 5 to 11 years old. Tickets are available at www.williekbluesfest.com. A portion of proceeds will benefit the Lahainaluna Parent Teacher Student Association. Show starts at 4 and closes at 10 p.m. Tickets for the Fleetwood's on Front St. VIP event ranges from $50 for basic rooftop video live feed to $300 for restaurant "Meet and Greet" package. Call 669-MICK.

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Bonnie Raitt returns to the Maui Arts & Cultural Center's A&B Amphitheater at 7 p.m. Friday; gates open at 5 p.m. For more than four decades this unique artist has consistently produced spellbinding music, an infectious amalgam of blues, funk, rootsy rock and gorgeous balladry that has earned her widespread adoration.

The California Honeydrops will open.

* Tickets are $49, $69, $89, and a limited number of $129 premium seats (plus applicable fees). For ticket information, call 242-7469 or visit online www.mauiarts.org

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Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real will return to Maui for shows at Charley's Restaurant & Saloon in Paia on March 31 with Pat Simmons Jr. opening, and on April 1 with Lily Meola and Tom Conway opening. The band is currently completing a new album

"We've got basically the next three records recorded already and have narrowed it down to about 13 to 14 songs," Lukas told the Santa Barbara Independent. "It's more a country soul record. This is truly the best songwriting I've ever been able to put out and the best sounds we've put out. The music keeps getting better. These songs are really going to make an impact."

* Shows at 9 p.m. Tickets are $30. For more information call 579-8085.

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HAPA's Barry Flanagan was stunned a couple of weeks back when he discovered his beloved guitar had been stolen from the trunk of his car in Waikiki. The cherished instrument had been with him for 36 years and was heard on all of HAPA's Hoku-winning albums.

The very distinctive guitar (with a hole in it) passed through several hands before being handed back to Barry after he appealed for its return on social media and local TV. He was able to play it at last weekend's HAPA concert with the Maui Pops Orchestra at the MACC.

"Someone had popped the trunk and I didn't even notice until the next day when I was about to fly to Maui for a Women Helping Women event, and the guitar was gone," he explains. "It was quite the episode, but what a great happy ending."