Mike Zito

I’ve been enjoying Mike Zito’s music for a good few years now, both with his own band The Wheel and as a founder member of the Royal Southern Brotherhood.
If it is pure Blues/Rock that takes your fancy there are very few better at it.

This album was actually released a couple of months ago but it has been on my deck almost constantly and really shows the talent of the man to his fullest. Zito not only plays a wicked guitar but he has a fine voice as well – rich and with a rough edge that just takes the music a step further.

Musically, this is pretty normal fare – rollicking Blues and road songs, love songs and the rest plus a belter played with his son Zack ‘Chip Off The Block’.

I pick up hints of Johnny Winter in his songwriting and maybe in his vocals – no bad thing – but he has a certain style that points immediately at Mike Zito. Even when he was with RSB you could hear his parts clearly, alongside Devon Allman but never overshadowed by him.

The pace and style varies throughout the album with ‘Red Bird’ dense and powerful, almost Trower-esque with the rhythm section of Tom Hambridge and Tommy Macdonald driving the song on and allowing Zito all the space he could wish for to create a huge soundscape.

‘Girl Back Home’ is a lovely old style Blues with Zito playing beautiful slide while ‘Route 90’ rocks – a good old rock & roller with some great piano from Kevin McKendree, doing for Route 90 what ‘Route 66’ did for that famed road.
The mighty
Walter Trout guests on the opener ‘Road House’ and Jason Ricci delivers harmonica on the classic 12 bar title track but this is all about Mike Zito and frankly he is good enough on his own.

A well above average album, Blues at its best and it won’t be off my deck anytime soon.