This Saturday, Tommy Castro – deemed one of the hardest working musicians in any genre – will bring his signature sound, a blend of blues, R&B and roots rock ’n’ roll, to Folsom’s Powerhouse Pub. “Castro navigates seriously funky Southern soul, gritty big city blues and scorching rock,” Carlos Santana has said. “His silvery guitar licks simultaneously sound familiar and fresh. He has the voice and the sound to touch everybody’s heart.” Castro began playing guitar at age 10, and he cites Eric Clapton, Elvin Bishop and Mike Bloomfield among his early influences and Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy and B.B. King among his later guitar influences. Soul singers like Ray Charles, Wilson Pickett and Jam

If you’re a Blues lover, you probably read the Blues Revue. Tommy Castro is featured on the cover of their 20th anniversary issue as the “most dangerous man in the Blues industry.” Last year, Castro and his Band walked off with four Blues Music Awards. Rarely, if ever, does an artist win more then two awards in the same year. Nary does a single artist win three. Four is unheard of. This staggering number can only be trumped by the fact that all four awards were among the most coveted categories: Contemporary Blues Male Artist of the Year, Contemporary Blues Album of the Year (Hard Believer/Alligator), Blues Band of the Year, and Castro earned his second "B.B. King Entertainer of the Year

Emilio Castillo had no idea his band would last 40 years. "I idolized The Spyders, a local [Oakland] soul band. They got hired to go to Sacramento and play a topless bar for a week. We were like, 'Wow, man, they're going on the road. If we could only get to Sacramento and play a topless bar, we would have made it.' " "My vision was [only] that far," added Tower of Power's co-founder and leader. "I had no idea what I could do. I just knew I loved it, and I would do it until I dropped. I far surpassed my wildest dreams." Saturday night, audiences can get a taste of the Oakland-based 10-piece band when it headlines the 17th annual Bump City Dance Party at the Radisson. Sammie-award-winning

What is Afrobeat? You might not have even heard of it five years ago, but now it's an emerging genre in the United States. It began in the late '50s when Nigerian musician Fela Kuti created the unique style. His music inspired Nigerians to move in more ways than one. The groove made people dance, but the lyrics got them to think about politics and react to government corruption. Truly a "world music," it has even inspired San Francisco band Albino. "It's West African polyrhythms, James Brown horn lines and a great vehicle for social commentary," said Albino saxophone player and co-founder Nathan Endsley. He came across the genre while at UCLA studying music education with an emphasis on