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REVIEWS

Tommy Castro—Presents: A Bluesman Came To Town—

Alligator ASIN : B099QFMN6X

This is a concept album with the concept being the journey of a
young country boy who learns guitar and falls in love with the
blues and then becomes a bluesman himself, with its 13 original
songs written by Tommy and producer Tom Hambridge telling
the boy's story. The title track details how the boy heard a

bluesman who came to town and "He caught the bug", 'Child
Don't Go' has Terri Odabi sharing the vocals with Tommy as she
begs him not to leave, with Mike Emerson banging out some fine
boogie piano. 'You To Hold On To' is a nice soul ballad and
'Hustle' and 'I Got Burned' tell how the young bluesman struggles to make it in the music business,

while 'Blues Prisoner' is a slow blues with great lead guitar from Tommy and sympathetic
supporting piano from Kevin McKendree'. Other band members include Hambridge (drums), Rob
McNelley (guitar), Randy McDonald (bass) and Jimmy Hall (harmonica, vocals)

The story unfolds with the Chuck Berry-ish 'I Got A Break' as he gets a hit and becomes a star but
this only leads to problems described in the powerful 'Women, Drugs and Alcohol' (we've all been
there!) then the ballad 'Draw the Line' has him taking stock and considering his future. This future

includes both the old skool rock and roll of 'I Wanna Go Back Home' and the more Led Zep-style
almost heavy metal of 'Bring It On Back' before we finally get a reprise of opening track
'Somewhere'. I really liked Tommy's last studio album 'Stomping' Ground' and I'm not convinced
that this one is quite as good but it is still a fine-sounding piece of work with his usual blues and
soul elements and nice to see him trying something different with the concept album format.

Graham Harrison

Carolyn Wonderland—Tempting Fate—Alligator ASIN :

B09BWC5F7G

Although she’s performed professionally since the age of 15, for
the last three years Carolyn has been the lead guitarist with John
Mayall’s Blues Breakers but following John’s decision to stop
touring she’s now recorded this album for Alligator (her 11th solo
album) and will be embarking on a tour to promote it. The album

was produced by roots music veteran Dave Alvin, who also plays
guitar on three songs, in Stuart Sullivan’s Wire Studio in Austin,
Texas. It features her long-time road band of Bobby Perkins
(bass) and Kevin Lance (drums), together with Red Young
(keyboards) and guests including Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Cindy Cashdollar, Marcia Ball, Shelley King

and Jan Flemming. The album has five original songs and five covers of songs by Bob Dylan, Jimmie
Dale Gilmore, the Grateful Dead, Billy Joe Shaver and old boss Mr.Mayall.

The first track ‘Fragile Peace and Certain War’ is a hill country blues with Carolyn on lap steel, then
‘Texas Girl and Her Boots’ is a rocking song that describes her collection of boots (!?) - with some
pounding piano and a nice slide solo, while ‘Broken Hearted Blues’ is a blues featuring her lead