Albert Castiglia: Righteous Souls Review
When I first heard that Mike Zito and Albert Castiglia were coming out with new solo projects, I was at a Blood Brothers show at the Palladium Theater in St. Petersburg, Florida. Zito’s Life is Hard had been released a few weeks earlier. Albert commented that when Zito mentioned it might be time for him to consider a new solo project, he felt that he didn’t have enough material after two years of touring Blood Brothers. Mike suggested he ask a few ‘friends’ to help out. Albert shared a handful of names on stage that night, but holy Justice League! Joe Bonamassa, Josh Smith, Kevin Burt, Gary Hoey, Ally Venable, Popa Chubby, Rick Estrin, Alabama Mike, Jimmy Carpenter, Kingfish Ingram, Danielle Nicole, Monster Mike Welch, Jerry Jemmott, and others joined the effort. The album features a mix of originals and covers by legends like Buddy Guy, Willie Dixon, Richard Danko/Eric Clapton, Amos Blakemore, and others. “Where’s Mike Zito?” one might ask. He’s the Executive Producer for the appropriately titled Righteous Souls
New York born and Miami raised Albert Castiglia began playing guitar at 12. However, he followed his family’s wishes, went to college, and secured a regular job while honing his skills in the Miami blues circuit. Destiny came calling when Junior Wells asked Castiglia to join his band in Chicago. Albert stayed in Chicago playing blues following Wells’ passing in 1998 and released his first album Burn in 2004. A dozen releases later including Blues Music award winning Masterpiece (2019) and I Got Love (2022) Castiglia would join Zito on the Bonamassa and Smith produced, award-winning Blood Brothers released early last year. The bar for Righteous Souls has been set high! I believe it may be up to the task.
The first single “Centerline” also opens the album featuring Poppa Chubby and is definitely more rock than blues as blistering guitar delivers this inspiring message about maintaining balance and focus in the chaos and unrest that surrounds us. “Get Down to the Nitty Gritty “ with Alabama Mike lending vocals to this Chicago Blues staple by former Muddy Waters bandmate Luther ‘Snake Boy’ Johnson. “Mama, I Love You” resonates with its stirring power ballad delivery of the insensibility of racial violence. On his Facebook page, Castiglia said, “If I don’t share how I’m feeling through my music, then I’m half steppin the creative process and art itself. There was no half stepping on this song.” Fully agree as you can feel emotions emanating throughout the six-minute and change play time.
“You Can’t Judge a Book by the Cover” provides a rapid mood swing with this lively upbeat Willie Dixon cover featuring Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram and Albert’s Daughter Rayne on vocals. A mother herself, Rayne, had not had much exposure to public performances. With a little encouragement from dad, she is sharing album credits with some of the industry’s best! “All Our Past Times” features one of the best vocalists and guitarists of our time in Danielle Nicole and Joe Bonamassa. Nicole and Castiglia’s duet and Bonamassa’s guitar deliver an eyebrow raising country sound that grows on you as the song progresses. “Till They Take It Away” is a solid up-tempo blues rock tune featuring Ally Venable’s semi-psychedelic guitar work. Blues Music Award-winning Rick Estrin lends his renowned harmonica skills to a pair of covers by Castiglia’s mentor Junior Wells, “Come On In This House” and the album closer “What My Mama Told Me” where they are joined by Monster Mike Welch on guitar. They create a very fun dueling harmonica and guitar. Jimmy Carpenter lends his saxophone skills to Arzell Hill’s “You Were Wrong” to add a little bigger band sound to this incredibly entertaining album. “The Dollar Done Fell” by Buddy Guy with its sizzing guitar solos by both Castiglia and Josh Smith and the tempered “No Tears Left to Cry” featuring Gary Hoey with an acoustic element to add a little ‘Allman’ flavoring to the offering, highlight the range and diversity this album has to offer.
Righteous Souls is a testament to the growing camaraderie and collaborative spirit taking shape in today’s blues rock community. Mike and Albert’s Blood Brothers along with Samantha Fish and Jesse Dayton’s Deathwish Blues both received awards and nominations not usually seen for collaboration albums. Joe Bonamassa and Josh Smith have had their hands in producing critically acclaimed recent releases including Blood Brothers and Joanne Shaw Taylor’s The Blues Album. Ally Venable’s Real Gone has been out a year and is still in the Billboard Blues top ten. It was produced by Tom Hambridge and features appearances by Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Buddy Guy. Tab Benoit and Mike Zito are also spending time in the producer’s chair with up-and-coming artists.
What you hear in Righteous Souls is another step in the evolution of this genre that may have appeared dying in the advent of electronic, computer, and AI scripted sounds with little human originality. We’re ‘stronger together’ the saying goes. If Righteous Souls doesn’t reinforce that belief, I don’t know what does.
The Review: 9.5/10
Can’t Miss Tracks
– Mama, I Love You
– Centerline
– You Can’t Judge a Book by the Cover
– No Tears Left to Cry
– All Our Past Times
– The Dollar Done Fell
The Big Hit
– Mama, I Love You