Mike Zito – Blues For The Southside

02-04-2022

Mike Zito (born November 19, 1970) is an American guitarist, singer, record producer, and songwriter from St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Mike Zito was born on November 19, 1970. He is an American guitarist, singer, producer and songwriter from St. Louis, Missouri. Zito started singing at the age of five and it wasn't long before young Mike discovered the electric guitar. At the age of nineteen he already had a lot of name recognition in the music scene around Saint Louis. In 1998 his first album 'Blue Moon' was released, full of raw funky songs. Three years later there was the follow-up 'America's Most Wanted'. This album with lots of intense guitar work was well received by the public and with its rendition of Elton John's 'Rocket Man' it even had a minor national hit. Life as an artist, with all its temptations of drugs and alcohol, took their toll and Mike Zito's career came to a screeching halt. Zito found great love, got married and with a lot of support from his wife he recovered. He started again with a clean slate and that resulted in 2004 with the album 'Slow It Down'. Zito started playing full time again and traveled all over the country. In 2005 he performed more than 250 concerts. In 2007 Mike crossed paths with Randy Chortkoff of Delta Groove Records and a few months later he was signed to that label. In 2008 'Today' was released, an album on which many renowned musicians collaborated. Mike Zito had launched nationally and the album spent six weeks on the Billboard Blues Charts. In 2009 the top album 'Pearl River' was released, with which Mike broke through internationally. At the Blues Music Awards in 2010, 'Pearl River' won the Award for Best Song of the Year. 'Greyhound' from 2011 was Mike's last album for Electro Groove Records. In 2013, Mike signed to RUF Records and that same year, 'Gone To Texas' was released, a deeply personal album dedicated to Texas, the state that Mike believes saved his life. In 2014 the live CD/DVD 'Songs From The Road' was released. Between 2010 and 2014, Mike also played with the Royal Southern Brotherhood. His second studio album was released on RUF Records in November 2015 with 'Keep Coming Back'. 'Make Blues Not War', which was released on November 19, 2016, is still one of the best albums of 2016 for me. In 2018 Mike formed the Ruf Bluescaravan 2018 with Bernard Allison and Vanja Sky and his new album was released on May 11, 2018 ' First Class Life', which was recorded at the Marz Recording Studio in the Netherlands, Texas. On the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the debut album 'Blue Room', a remastered edition of 'Blue Room' was released on November 16, 2018 by RUF Records. Still in 2018, Mike Zito won the Award of Rock Blues Artist Of The Year at the Blues Music Awards. In 2019 he signed an agreement with Fender Musical instruments. He also co-owned the Gulf Coast Records record label. On November 1, 2019, the beautiful album 'Rock'N'Roll, A Tribute To Chuck Berry', containing twenty Chuck Berry songs, was released by RUF Records and on January 12, 2020 by Gulf Coast Records, the label Mike co-owns. is, the live album 'Live From The Top'. 'Quarantine Blues', (2020) was recorded during the heart of the coronavirus pandemic and served as a healing love letter to his fans around the world. Mike remained very active during the Covid 19 pandemic and in the summer of 2021 we received a new and beautiful studio album with 'Resurrection'. During the Covid 19 period, many of Mike's fans asked for a new live album. Mike was also won over to the idea and on November 26, 2021, his performance at The Old Rock House in St. Louis, Missouri was recorded by Jason McEntire and the result 'Blues For The Southside' has been available everywhere since February 18, 2022. It has become a double CD with fourteen songs on it. Guy Pavazza does the welcome and then it's Mike Zito and his band's turn. They start the concert with two songs from Mike's album 'First Class Life'. The opener is the raw 'Mississippi Nights', in which the Texan quickly slides the bottleneck over the neck of his guitar. In the chorus he sings that the devil is waiting at the crossroads and that you can sell your soul there for the blues. In that sense, he definitely had the deal Robert Johnson made with the devil on his mind. Drummer Matthew Johnson and bassist Doug Byrkit provide a wonderful rock groove and guitarist Mike Zito and keyboardist Lewis Stephens provide wonderful solo work. Mike Zito is still at his best when he bares his soul and sings about his own life experiences and he does that in 'First Class Life'. A story in which the singer realizes that he has been given a second chance to lead a first class life. The song has a wonderful raw groove and the razor-sharp and fat slide work touches you down to the smallest fiber of your body. The rhythm slows down for the title track 'Blues For The Southside', it is the only new track on this live album. It's a melodic song starring Mike Zito and his guitar. For six minutes Mike manages to spoil our ears with excellent and varied finger work on his six string. Beautiful song. The first cover is the blues classic 'Texas Flood', originally a twelve bar slow blues by Larry Davis from 1958, but it was Stevie Ray Vaughan who made 'Texas Flood' known around the world in 1983. Keyboardist Lewis Stephens carries the melody of 'Texas Flood' with his warm organ sounds and a masterful Mike Zito breathes new life into this great blues classic with fantastic, at times irresistible, guitar work on his Stratocaster. Then Mike takes the time to introduce drummer Matthew Johnson, bassist Doug Byrkit and keyboardist Lewis Stephens. With 'Hell On Me' we get a Texas blues shuffle with a very energetic drive and the guitar driven 'Back Problems' is a funky blues rocker. With a wonderfully funky bass line, Doug Byrkit provides a brilliant groove and Mike Zito hits you to the bone with his searing strings. Then follows a message to all world leaders and the power hungry who still haven't understood it. Listen to Mike Zito's 'Make Blues Not War', it would certainly make the world a much better place. On the studio album, Jason Ricci impressed with his blues harp during this song. Jason wasn't here, but that's no problem for Mike Zito. The Texan guitar virtuoso once again impresses with his six-string in a fantastic way. It is also the last track of CD1. Three guitarists are guests on CD2. Tony Campanella is a guest in the opener 'Highway Mama', a blues rocker with a searing groove. With Mike Zito and Tony Campanella on guitar, it's no surprise that there is blistering guitar work. Both the better finger work and the work with the bottleneck are extensively discussed. Mike's very good voice sounds powerful and that is necessary to survive in this heavenly mix of sounds. Tampa Red recorded the blues song "Love Her With A Feeling" in 1938. It also became Freddie King's first single in 1961, who immediately scored a hit with it. Mike Zito's version is much rawer and contains more rock than Freddie's version. The guitar also plays a major role in the Texas shuffle 'Wasted Time'. The razor-sharp riffs fly around your ears, while Matthew Johnson on drums and Doug Byrkit on bass provide the compelling groove. The guitar aficionados have had their fill so far, but the best is yet to come. Guitar virtuoso Eric Gales was an unexpected guest at The Old Rock House in St. Louis on November 26, 2021. He asked Mike if he could play a song and he immediately agreed. They chose the Jimi Hendrix cover 'Voodoo Chile', not the 'Slight Return' that everyone knows, but more a Muddy Waters blues version. Mike, Eric and the band turn it into a twelve-minute masterpiece. Mike Zito and Eric Gales are clearly looking forward to it and they duel with their guitars that it is a delight. Mike and Eric put their own stamp on this crazy version. In the swinging blues shuffle 'Dying Day', Zito swears eternal loyalty to his wife. This danceable song is carried by the warm organ sounds of Lewis Stephens and Mike once again shines with delicious and spicy strings. It becomes a wonderfully long version thanks to fantastic solo work by Lewis Stephens on the Hammond and Mike Zito on the guitar. The slow blues 'Life Is Hard' is a Fred James cover and here too we get a nicely drawn-out version with wonderful piano work by Lewis Stephens and sensitive and intense string work by Mike Zito. Mike co-wrote 'The Road Never Ends' with Devon Allman, which appeared on his 2013 album 'Gone To Texas'. It lasted five minutes then and seven minutes during this live performance. This is due to the excellent piano playing and sizzling solo of Lewis Stephens, the keyboardist with Freddie King in earlier days. But also the fiery guitar duel between Mike Zito and Dave Kalz. As a bis song we get pure rock'n'roll with the Chuck Berry cover 'Johnny B Goode'. Better closing is almost impossible. 'Blues For Southside' is a great live album. Fourteen songs that are all equally fascinating, without a lesser moment, you rarely if ever experience that. Guitar lovers will enjoy the blistering and searing strings of Mike Zito, Tony Campanella, Eric Gales and Dave Kalz. Plus, with bassist Doug Byrkit, drummer Matthew Johnson and keyboardist Lewis Stephens, Zito has a great band next to him on stage. For fans of Mike Zito this is definitely a must have album, but also for other blues rock, blues and rock lovers I can definitely recommend this album. With numerous Blues Music Award honors under his belt, Mike Zito, co-owner of Texas-based Gulf Coast Records (which has birthed a number of critically-acclaimed blues/rock albums since its 2018 inception), announces a February 18th release date for his new double live album set, "Blues for the Southside". Recorded on November 26, 2021 at the Old Rock House in St. Louis, Missouri, and produced by Mike Zito, Blues for the Southside features Zito (guitar and vocals) and his top-notch band in full force : Matthew Johnson (vocals, drums), Lewis Stephens (piano, organ), Doug Byrkit (vocals, bass), and special guests guitarists Tony Campanella and Dave Kalz, and guitar expert Eric Gales. The song list for this special evening included tracks from Mike's previous albums such as "First Class Life", "Gone to Texas", "Make Blues Not War" and his tribute to Chuck Berry, as well as his arrangements of songs popularized by Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Tampa Red, plus a new song, the album's title track. Now based in Nederland, Texas, Mike Zito states that "Blues for the Southside is a special album for me. I have wanted to do a live blues album playing songs from my catalog with my current band for a while now. I wanted to go back to my old neighborhood in South St. Louis to make the recording. That's where it all began for me, where I fell in love with music. I knew friends and family would fill the Old Rock House and bring the energy I was looking for in this recording. I wanted Tony Campanella and Dave Kalz to join me as guests. I grew up with both of these guys playing in the scene in St. Louis in the 1990s. They are also both Gulf Coast Records artists. I was surprised by my dear friend Eric Gales who happened to be in town for a rehearsal. He showed up and I got him onstage to do an impromptu version of the original 'Voodoo Chile,' which turned out to be 12 minutes of pure guitar bliss. I am proud of this album and my band. I'm most proud of my hometown and my neighborhood, South St. Louis." When you hear about a Mike Zito live album, it's a given there's going to be great guitar work. And he delivers on that. But the fun twists of Blues for the Southside are Zito's voice and his interplay with keyboardist Lewis Stephens. While Zito is Texas-based, he's from South St. Louis. With the album recorded November 26, 2021 at St. Louis' Old Rock House, the show represents a homecoming, reflected in his use of guests Tony Campanella and Dave Kalz, both local heroes from the St. Louis scene. Over the years, live recordings have gotten more pristine, making the listener feel like they're there at the show. Of course, most live shows don't have great sound, so the idea that a clear recording with immaculate separation between the instruments represents the actual show, is a bit of magical thinking. I often suspect the home listener is getting better sound than the people who bought the tickets. Zito's recording is delightfully throwback in that it has a bit of sludge. His guitar and voice are front and center and his tone is mud, in a good way. There's not a lot of nuance, although of course his solos sting as always. But listening you feel like his guitar is everywhere and there's no escape. Which is what you want from a live show. Zito is pure energy. His voice is also in incredible form, sounding worn and bluesy, but also strong, and capable of projecting over the wild music supporting him. In fact, hearing him sing songs like "Texas Flood" and "Voodoo Chile," I began to notice he sounds more and more like Stevie Ray Vaughan. People don't necessarily think of Zito as a singer, but more as a guitarist who sings. Blues for the Southside establishes his vocal credentials. Zito's interplay with Stephens is also special. Stephens gets a nice shout-out from Zito during the show, Zito proudly telling the audience how Stephens played with Freddie King. His organ propels songs like "First Class Life," freeing up Zito from having to maintain the rhythm. And on "Life is Hard," Stephens' piano gives the tune an elegance. He doesn't steal the spotlight, but he's right there on almost every song, pushing Zito and providing something to make the performance special. Coming in at 15 songs, Zito gives listeners a lot of bang for their buck. It also results in a few tracks that meander. For instance, "Voodoo Chile," which also features guitarist Eric Gales, clocks in at over 12 minutes, and while there's some incredible guitar interplay on it, it might not be the kind of track you turn to regularly. But the fun of an album like this, rather than the live show, is that you get to pick the moments you want to hear and re-spin, but can skip the songs that don't resonate. But for most blues rock fans, and of course, Zito aficionados, Blues for the Southside is mostly moments you're going to want to revisit.

1-1 Intro - Guy Favazza

2-1 Mississippi Nights

3-1 First Class Life

4-1 Blues For The Southside

5-1 Texas Flood

6-1 Mike Speaks

7-1 Hell On Me

8-1 Back Problems

9-1 Make Blues Not War

2-1 Highway Mama

Guitar - Tony Campanella

2-2 Love Her With A Feeling