Review: Albert Castiglia – Righteous Souls
Albert Castiglia – Righteous Souls
Format: CD / Label: Gulf Coast Records
Release: 2024
Text: Tom Wouters
After being on the road with The Blood Brothers for the past two years, together with fellow guitarist Mike Zito, that same Mike Zito, as boss of Gulf Coast Records, thought it was about time that guitarist/vocalist Albert Castiglia would enter the studio to record a new album.
Castiglia himself wasn’t so sure about that, because he had hardly had time to write new material due to the intensive touring with The Blood Brothers. Zito then suggested inviting a group of guest musicians to record a number of not so obvious covers and the three songs that Castiglia had written anyway.
And that idea paid off, because with ‘Righteous Souls’ Castiglia has put together a truly excellent album with a number of rock-solid US blues rock songs and a number of very nice covers.
The rock-solid US blues rock can be heard in Castiglia’s own Centerline with Popa Chubby as guest guitarist, Get Down To The Nitty Gritty, the Willie Dixon cover You Can’t Judge A Book By The Cover sung in duet with Castiglia’s daughter Rayne, the exciting Till They Take It Away, You Were Wrong carried by the tearing saxophone of Jimmy Carpenter and No Tears Left To Cry with beautiful slide guitar playing by Gary Hoey.
But ‘Righteous Souls’ also contains a number of absolute highlights, such as the somewhat obscure All Our Past Times written by Rick Danko and Eric Clapton, which is vocally interpreted very beautifully by vocalist Danielle Nicole and Castiglia himself, and the emotional Mama, I Love You, a song whose title forms the last four words of a dying man. The song was written by Castiglia, vocalist Kevin Burt and Castiglia’s bassist Jerry Jemmott.
And finally, there are three great covers of ‘good old Chicago Blues’. The Buddy Guy cover The Dollar Done Fell stands out because of the beautiful vocals of Castiglia and the background singers and culminates in a great guitar battle between Castiglia and guest guitarist Josh Smith.
Castiglia then also recorded two covers of his old boss and mentor Junior Wells. Two covers in which Rick Estrin excels on the blues harp and Castiglia’s blistering guitar sound comes into its own, Come On In This House with beautiful piano playing by Castiglia’s keyboardist Jim Pugh, and What My Mama Told Me.
With ‘Righteous Souls,’ Albert Castiglia proves to be an excellent blues singer and guitar player and produced a this year almost unparallelled blues album.
Tracks:
01. Centerline (ft. Popa Chubby – written by Albert Castiglia)
02. Get Down To The Nitty Gritty (ft. Alabama Mike – written by Luther ‘Snake Boy’ Johnson)
03. Mama, I Love You (ft. Kevin Burt – written by Albert Castiglia, Kevin Burt, and Jerry Jemmott)
04. You Can’t Judge A Book By The Cover (ft. Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram & Rayne Castiglia – written by Willie Dixon)
05. All Our Past Times (ft. Danielle Nicole & Joe Bonamassa – written by Richard Danko and Eric Clapton)
06. Till They Take It Away (ft. Ally Venable – written by Albert Castiglia)
07. Come On In This House (ft. Rick Estrin – written by Amos Blakemore)
08. You Were Wrong (ft. Jimmy Carpenter – written by Arzell Hill)
09. The Dollar Done Fell (ft. Josh Smith – written by Buddy Guy)
10. No Tears Left to Cry (ft. Gary Hoey – written by Albert Castiglia)
11. What My Mama Told Me (ft. Rick Estrin & Monster Mike Welch – written by Amos Blakemore)
THE RIGHTEOUS BAND:
Albert Castiglia – Vocals and Guitar
Jerry Jemmott – Bass
Jim Pugh – Keyboards
Derrick D’Mar Martin – Drums
Kid Andersen – Guitar, Keys, and Bass
Lisa ‘Little Baby’ Andersen – Backing Vocals
Jon Otis – Percussion
Jack Sanford – Bari Sax
Eddie Tarczy – Harpsichord
GUEST MUSICIANS – THE RIGHTEOUS SOULS:
Rayne Castiglia – Vocals
Joe Bonamassa – Guitar
Josh Smith – Guitar
Danielle Nicole – Vocals
Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram – Guitar
Popa Chubby – Guitar
Ally Venable – Guitar
Kevin Burt – Vocals
Monster Mike Welch – Guitar
Gary Hoey – Guitar
Rick Estrin – Harmonica
Jimmy Carpenter – Saxophone
Alabama Mike – Vocals