What do you do when you’re in a jam and running out of time? Call your friends, of course.
That’s exactly what guitarist Albert Castiglia did when Mike Zito, president of Castiglia’s record label Gulf Coast Records (and a badass guitarist in his own right) advised him that new product was needed. The only problem was that Castiglia had been on the road for the past two years, which didn’t leave much time for writing songs.
“When Mike told me last year that it was time to make a record, I didn’t know what to do,” Castiglia recalls from his home in Florida. “He springs it on you, man, he doesn’t give you any notice. I didn’t have a lot of material. And Mike suggested that we have guests on the record. He said, ‘Why don’t we put your friends on it? I’ll round up everybody. Just make a list of who you want.’”
The list of friends turned out to be one containing many of the best contemporary blues artists, with Popa Chubby, Kevin Burt, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Danielle Nicole, Joe Bonamassa, Ally Venable, Rick Estrin, Jimmy Carpenter, Josh Smith, Gary Hoey and Monster Mike Welch all pitching in on Castiglia’s new album, entitled Righteous Souls.
“Kevin Burt, one of the guests on the record, it was his idea for the title,” Castiglia says. “He said, ‘What about, Bad Decisions with Good People?’ And I said, ‘That’s an awesome title!’ But he said, ‘Nah, that’s my title. I’m keeping it.’ And then he said, ‘What about Righteous Souls?’ And I said, ‘You know what? That’s a good one.’ All of these people who meant so much to me, I just felt really overwhelmed by their willingness to do this. I consider each and every one of those people righteous. Just righteous people.”
While there are several songs written by Castiglia on the album, a healthy selection of covers fills out the record. “They came from artists that really meant a lot to me,” Castiglia explains.
“Two of the songs were by Junior Wells, who was my old boss. He’s the one who opened the door for me to do this for a living. Buddy Guy is my favorite living blues guitarist. He might be my favorite blues guitarist of all time. He recorded a song on the Live from the Checkboard Lounge album called “The Dollar Done Fell,” and it just grabbed me, it was really funky. It all kind of fell into place. A lot of Chicago blues in there. People have been nagging me to do more traditional material. Because that’s how I started out, playing post-war Chicago blues. That was my passion when I was younger.”
One of the most special guests on Righteous Souls is Castiglia’s daughter, Rayne Castiglia. The two met several years ago when she found Castiglia, who was surprised and delighted to discover that he not only had a daughter, but two grandchildren. Rayne has joined Albert onstage as a vocalist many times since then, and he says that making music with her is something of a unique experience.
“When we started to harmonize, that’s when it occurred to me that the genetics thing is very powerful. The harmonies seem sweeter when it’s family doing it together.”
“When we were getting to know each other, I asked her, ‘Did you inherit any of your parents’ musical ability?’ Because her mom and I, when we were kids, we used to jam together. She’s a great singer. And [Rayne] said, ‘I do sing, but I don’t sing in public. I only sing to the kids at night when I put them to bed.’ It took some time, but after a number of living room duets, Albert was able to persuade Rayne to get onstage with him.
“When we started to harmonize, that’s when it occurred to me that the genetics thing is very powerful. The harmonies seem sweeter when it’s family doing it together. It’s weird. The Carter Family, the Everly Brothers, Mumford and Sons. There’s something about family harmony.”
The Castiglias had been performing Led Zeppelin and Nirvana songs when Rayne would sit in at Albert’s gigs, but when it came time to work on Righteous Souls, a change in repertoire was necessary. “When this opportunity to record came, I told her, ‘I want you to sing on this album, but it has to be a blues song. We can’t do the stuff that you like. I can’t do no Miley Cyrus. That’s not my bag, it needs to be blues. And she picked out a good one, ‘You Can’t Judge a Book by the Cover’ by Bo Diddley. And she slayed it.”
Castiglia’s relationship with Mike Zito is lengthy and deep. They play together in the band Blood Brothers, and it seems that the name is more than just a catchy and alliterative handle. “We’re definitely brothers,” Castiglia says, “more brothers than friends, I would say. Because I let him get away with stuff that a friend wouldn’t allow! We’re very close, and he’s always looked out for me.”
Case in point: In 2017, Castiglia and Zito began work on an album, later to be released as Masterpiece, on which the two of them played all the instruments. Unfortunately, Castiglia’s label at the time, Ruf Records, was not pleased with the final product and wanted him to make substantial changes to the record that he had turned in.
“I had gotten to the point with Ruf Records where I didn’t feel like compromising, so we were at a stalemate on whether this album was going to be released,” Castiglia says. “And it was upsetting me, because I really believed in this album as it was. I was on tour in L.A., and I got a call from Mike. He said, ‘I have an idea. I just started my label. I’ll buy the record from Ruf, and we’ll put it out on Gulf Coast.
“I said, ‘OK.’ He said, ‘Don’t you want to know the terms?’ And I said, ‘No, I trust you.’ And you should never do that! Most any record label, you should never do that. Except with Mike. Mike was the exception. I was willing to take a chance on him, and he was willing to take a chance on me. So I said, ‘Let’s do it.’ I won my first Blues Music Award with that album. And nothing’s really changed since then.”
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
