Alligator Records, in collaboration with NPR and public radio stations, released a free, downloadable 17-song sampler to help celebrate Public Radio Music Month last week (4/11).

Alligator Records Presents Blues & Roots features songs selected from throughout the label’s storied 42-year history. The sampler was personally curated and annotated by Alligator president and founder Bruce Iglauer, and is available through Alligator’s Records Facebook page. It will remain available until May 11. Alligator is the only label with which Public Radio Music Month is collaborating on a sampler.

Artists include Marcia Ball, James Cotton, JJ Grey & Mofro, Curtis Salgado, Janiva Magness, Joe Louis Walker, Tommy Castro & The Painkillers, Koko Taylor, Roomful Of Blues, Saffire–The Uppity Blues Women, Jesse Dee, Rick Estrin & The Nightcats, Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials, Anders Osborne, The Holmes Brothers, Charlie Musselwhite, and Albert Collins, Robert Cray, and Johnny Copeland (together).

Public Radio Music Month, held during April, is a tribute to the impact of public radio in music. The Public Radio Music Month website states, “The national initiative brings together local public radio stations, artists and music to recognize the work and importance of these cultural institutions.”

To see the sampler, go to http://tinyurl.com/AlligSampler

Tommy Castro‘s latest project, Tommy Castro & The Painkillers, will release their first recording with Alligator Records on November 4, 2012. Greedy / That’s All I Got is a two-song 45rpm vinyl that initially will only be available for sale at live performances and as a download. The record, featuring original bassist, Randy McDonald, and new members Byron Cage on drums and James Pace on keyboards, precedes their full-length debut album set for release in 2013.

Formed in February of 2012, Tommy Castro & The Painkillers have been touring extensively across the U.S. and abroad. With his band dubbed “The Painkillers,” Castro explains his future plans for performing across the globe in stating, “a lot of folks are having hard times these days, and they need something to lift them up and make them smile. Our music kills the pain.”

Order includes a free digital download card.

A Healthy Dose of
Tommy Castro and the Painkillers
“They’ve got the cure.”

Even after more than two decades on the road, 14 boundary bending recordings and collaborations, multiple Blues Music Awards, personal and professional breakthroughs Tommy Castro, a veteran road warrior – and one of the most successful blues musicians in the world – takes nothing for granted.

In 2012 Castro will weigh in heavily again and turn yet another corner.  Still inspired by his blues guitar and R & B vocal contemporaries and a strong desire to push the boundaries of today’s roots music Castro has brought together an all new band he calls “The Painkillers” to do exactly that.

Foregoing the horns this time out Castro returns to a more stripped-down lineup that recalls the earlier days of the band and even features original bassist Randy McDonald along with new band mates Byron Cage on drums and James Pace on keyboards. The leaner unit allows Castro’s versatile guitar work to come to the fore and his soulful voice to tell the story in every song.

Take caution, these Painkillers could be habit forming…