COEUR d'ALENE - Scorching, note-bending guitars, soulful vocals, and some good ole' roadhouse-style, rockin' romps.

They're all on tap this weekend at the Coeur d'Alene Blues Festival which kicks off tonight at The Coeur d'Alene Resort.

"I like going places I've never been and playing for new audiences," said Tommy Castro, one of the event's headliners. "Coeur d'Alene Blues Festival looks like big fun."

Castro and his band have been touring furiously throughout the nation, riding the momentum of Castro's most recent album, "Hard Believer."

The album helped Castro and his band sweep the 2010 Blues Music Awards in Memphis last May. They went home with the Band of the Year Award and the award for Contemporary Blues Album of the Year.

Castro was named Contemporary Blues Male Artist of the Year, and he was given the B.B. King Entertainer of the Year award.

With a professional career that goes back to the early '80s, Castro's voice and guitar chops are well-honed and tight.

Castro proved he's a bluesman's bluesman when B.B. King asked Castro to open for him during King's summer concert tours in 2001 and 2002. Castro was invited on stage to play with King for the nightly finale.

"Hard Believer" is Castro's 10th solo album, and is lauded by seasoned rock and blues reviewers as his best. The disc's tracks offer a mix of searing, mellow Memphis ballads with raucous, foot-stomping, gritty city blues.

One reviewer said "Trimmin' the Fat," Castro's anthem about unemployment,"satisfies like an ice cold Lone Star on a hot day."

The three-day Coeur d'Alene Blues Festival at The Resort also brings together some of the Pacific Northwest's biggest names on the blues scene.

Other blues artists scheduled to hit the stage Saturday night in The Resort Convention Center include Big Mumbo, winners of the 2010 Best Blues Band of the Inland Empire Blues Society.

The Seattle-based Too Slim and the Taildraggers will also be on hand, with a preview of music from their soon-to-be released album, "Shiver."

The Ty Curtis Band, from Salem, Ore., and a finalist in the 2009 International Blues Challenge, will also perform.

The Saturday night show begins at 7 p.m. Tickets are $20 each and can be purchased at The Coeur d'Alene Resort Business Center, (208) 765-4000 ext. 21.

The event sold out last year, and is expected to sell out again.

The festival kicks off tonight with a Blues Cruise that has already sold out. But it's not too late to enjoy some live blues on land tonight, and again tomorrow night, at The Resort.

Nu Jack City will be performing in the Shore Lounge from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday nights. Jeff Akers will perform in the Whispers Lounge from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. both days. There is no cover charge for the lounge performances.

A Gospel Sunday Brunch featuring blues vocalist Max Daniels takes place Sunday at The Resort's Dockside Restaurant from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Reservations are recommended, (208) 765-4000, ext. 24.