About Tommy Castro & The Painkillers

Tommy Castro picked up a guitar at ten years old in San Jose, California, and never found a reason to put it down. He cut his teeth in Bay Area clubs, watching John Lee Hooker, Albert King, and Buddy Guy play JJ's Blues Bar before joining Warner Bros. act The Dynatones in the 1980s. His debut album on Blind Pig Records in 1995 landed him the house band slot on NBC's Comedy Showcase, putting his playing in front of millions of viewers every Saturday night for three seasons.

Four-time B.B. King Entertainer of the Year. Ten Blues Music Awards. Road warrior at 150 dates a year for three decades.

He signed to Alligator Records in 2009 with "Hard Believer," produced by John Porter, and has stayed there since. The Painkillers formed in 2012 as a lean four-piece built for the road: Randy McDonald on bass, Bowen Brown on drums, Michael Emerson on keys. Albums like "The Devil You Know," "Stompin' Ground," and the concept record "A Bluesman Came to Town" kept the awards coming.

His 2025 album "Closer To The Bone," produced by Kid Andersen at Greaseland Studio, hit number one on the Living Blues radio chart and won the 2025 BMA for Blues Rock Artist of the Year. It is his most straight-ahead blues record to date.

GBJ gets Castro twice: Friday night at The Moxi Theater (9 PM to close, your GBJ ticket is admission), then Saturday afternoon on the Island Grove main stage at 4 PM.