By ERIC SCHELKOPF
With a new album in tow, critically acclaimed blues musician Albert Castiglia will perform at 7:30 p.m. July 23 at SPACE, 1245 Chicago Ave., Evanston.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Tickets range in price from $15 to $20, available at ticketweb.com.
Plenty of his musical friends join him on his latest solo album, "Righteous Souls," released on Gulf Coast Records on July 19. They include Joe Bonamassa, Josh Smith, Christone "Kingfish" Ingram, Gary Hoey, Popa Chubby, Ally Venable, Danielle Nicole, Kevin Burt, Monster Mike Welch, Rick Estrin, Jimmy Carpenter and Alabama Mike.
I had the chance to talk to him about the new album and the upcoming show.
Q – I guess it's kind of a coincidence that I interviewed Mike Zito a few months ago. Of course, you and Mike are part of Blood Brothers and your album, “Blood Brothers” was named by the Blues Foundation in May as being the best blues rock album. And it debuted on the Billboard Top US Blues Albums chart at #1. Were you surprised at all that the album was such a critical and commercial success?
I don't know if I was surprised. I knew we had a good team behind us.
After it was done, I had a good feeling that it was going to do well. When you have Joe Bonamassa and Josh Smith producing the record, you just get a feeling that things are going to happen.
It was such a joy being in the studio and making that record and what came out of it to me was remarkable. It was unlike any recording I've ever done.
So I was pretty confident it was going to do well.
Q – I would imagine the name Blood Brothers is about how close you are to each other and that you are almost brothers. Why do you think you work so well together?
We've been friends for a long time and he's always looked out for me. He's like my older brother, although I'm about a year and a half, two years older than he is.
He's like the brother I never had, to be honest with you. He's the closest thing to a brother I've ever had.
Q – And he suggested that you do another solo album, although you were a little hesitant because you hadn't worked on your own material for a while.
We were touring so much that I really didn't have a lot of material. I didn't have a lot to work with at the time when he told me it was time to make another album.
I was worried that we weren't going to have a good concept for the album and then he suggested that we make it a special guest record and have my friends play on it.
And I wasn't sure how that was going to work out because a lot of our friends are very successful and very busy and I didn't know if they were going to have time to contribute to it. But boy, they all stepped up.
Q – "Righteous Souls” came out on July 19 on Gulf Coast Records, which Zito co-owns. It does seems like there's a who’s who in blues music on the album.
How did you go about choosing the guest stars on the album and did some of them come up to you and say they wanted to appear on the album?
Well, we had to approach them. They didn't know we were planning this.
We made a list and we got most of who we wanted on there. There's a few I wish we could have gotten that I plan on putting on my records down the road.
Most of them stepped up. Joe Bonamassa was like the first person to step up when we asked.
It's pretty awesome to know that your friends are able to make time to play on this record. It just shows we don't do this for the money, we do this for the memories and the friendships that we make.
At least that's why I do it. This album is very symbolic in the sense that I've made a lot of really good friends in this business along the way.
Q – And your daughter, Rayne, who was the focus of your album “Masterpiece,” appears on the song “You Can’t Judge A Book By The Cover.” That must have been a treat to have your daughter on the album.
I just felt the time was right to get her on a record. I wanted her to experience a little bit of the joy of making music and hearing it being played on the radio.
She did a great job with the song, which is a Bo Diddley song. I'm very proud of her.
Q – I know she reached out to you after getting a DNA test done. Is it surprising to you, given your background, that she has a musical background?
Her mother sings. Her mother is the lead singer in a Stevie Nicks tribute band down in Florida.
So it wasn't just on my side of the family where the music ability came from. I felt really good that I was able to get her to open up and sing out in public.
She's got this confidence now that she didn't have in the beginning. I'm just really proud of her and tickled pink that she's on this record.
Having your kid on a record, there's nothing quite like it.
Q – I know that you found each other right at the same time that unfortunately you lost your grandmother.
Yeah. My grandmother was 101. It was sad that she left us, but boy, what a long life she had.
The day of her funeral was the day I found out about my daughter. I can't help but think she was the conduit to this whole thing happening.
Q – Of course you have strong connections to the Chicago blues scene. On the album, you pay tribute to your former boss and mentor, the late Junior Wells, by playing two of his songs, "Come On In This House” and “What My Mama Told Me.”
So you really wanted to thank Junior Wells on this album.
I did. I owe him a lot.
I wouldn't be where I am today without him. I wouldn't be living this life I live without him and all the blues guys in Chicago that gave me work the five years that I lived there.
But Junior was the one that opened the door for me. He hired me on in the spring of 1997 and changed my life.
Q – I understand that he taught you a lot about being a musician, including that you have to engage the audience and make them feel like they are part of the show.
Yeah, he was so good at that. Before I met him, I thought it was just about playing.
I was kind of a shy person and that kind of came out in my playing prior to joining his band. I realized from being with him that there is more to this game than just playing.
The audience has to be a part of this. And the only way you're going to do that is by engaging them and making them feel that they're a part of the show.
That might be the greatest lesson I learned from him.
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