CD Review: Albert Castiglia, Grits & Glory

When Albert Castiglia’s new album Grits & Glory drops this Friday, it may well be his most direct and politically unguarded record yet. This is blues-rock with its sleeves rolled up, and across all eleven tracks it never lets go. Grits & Glory may well be the record that firmly establishes Castiglia as one of the genre’s most compelling contemporary voices.

Albert Castiglia has spent two decades building his reputation the hard way — through years touring with Junior Wells, a string of well-reviewed albums on Blues Leaf and Ruf, and, since 2019, a run on Gulf Coast Records that has taken him to the top of the Billboard blues charts and onto festival stages as a headliner in his own right. Grits & Glory draws on the 1960s British blues-rock that first pulled a young Castiglia to the guitar, but filters it through an unmistakably American lens and a sharply contemporary political outlook.

The album’s advance single, “In My America,” is the clearest signal of intent. It opens on several seconds of held silence before breaking into something raw and lyrically pointed, more interested in unease than in slogans. Listeners can find the track now on our Barroom Blues playlist, and it is a useful preview of the record’s temperature: hard-edged, socially alert, and unwilling to soften its own discomfort for the sake of radio ease. “Michigan Avenue,” the second advance track, works a looser groove and gives a clearer sense of the road band’s chemistry, with Ray Hangen and Cliff Moore locking into a rhythmic language that never feels like it is chasing the guitar.

Deeper into the sequence, “Slum Lord Billionaire” is where the album’s musical ambition and its lyrical bite line up most convincingly. The groove sits low and heavy, and Castiglia’s phrasing on the solos is more patient and more considered than on much of his earlier catalogue, favouring tension and release over sheer volume. “I’m Afraid to Fall Asleep” and “Uncertainty” pull back into slower, more confessional territory, and the dynamic range between these tracks and the album’s harder-edged material is one of the record’s real strengths — this is not a one-tempo, one-mood set.

Two covers close out the sequencing, and both earn their place rather than functioning as filler. A reworking of “Afro Blue” is the record’s most interesting swerve, folding modal jazz harmony into a blues-rock frame without losing the integrity of either side, and it is a genuine highlight rather than a novelty. “Yer Blues,” cut within earshot of where the Beatles originally recorded it, is grimy and direct, and it plays as a hard-won tribute rather than a reverential one.

Production throughout is unfussy — close, live-sounding, with none of the studio gloss that can flatten a blues-rock record’s edges. That choice suits the material: this is a band record in the truest sense, built on interplay rather than any single showcase moment, and the mix reflects that balance.

Grits & Glory will set a high bar for blues-rock releases this year, and it does so on conviction as much as craft. It is not a flawless record — a couple of the mid-album tracks sag slightly against the strength of the singles and the two covers — but the highs here are genuinely high, and the record’s willingness to say something with its lyrics gives it a weight that a lot of contemporary blues-rock avoids. Recommended, and worth clearing space for well ahead of release day.

Personnel:
Albert Castiglia, vocals, guitar | Ray Hangen, drums | Cliff Moore, bass

Release Date: 31 July 2026
Format: CD | LP | Digital Streaming & Download
Label: Gulf Coast Records

New Release Spotify Playlist

Our Blues & Whiskey Nights playlist features tracks from the new releases reviewed on Jazz In Europe and tracks selected by our curators. Updated weekly, it is the best place to discover music selected by our editors — not algorithms. Follow the playlist to keep up with the kind of records we believe deserve attention and to stay ahead of the curve.