Artist: Mike Zito
Album: First Class Life
Label: Ruf
Release Date: 05/11/2018
Mike Zito is a blues rocker at heart, balancing a heavy rock sound against a conventional blues approach. His balancing act can be a bit confounding at times. He left the super group Royal Southern Brotherhood because they had moved too far away from the blues. His band, The Wheel, was a little more blues oriented but, in the end, he didn’t feel they were completely devoted to the blues either. So, his last album, 2016’s Make Blues Not War, seemingly set up to be more blues focused, turned out to be his most aggressive blues-rock assault yet. So, what does he have in store for us this time?
Zito feels this push and pull, too. He says, “Make Blues was pretty extreme and rocking. This time I was definitely thinking more blues.” The album title and first track are a nod to Zito’s triumphant life story, conquering addiction and rising from a poor family to be the proud father who can provide for his wife and five children. He remains humble and forever grateful for his current place. The journey to this, his 15th album, First Class Life, has certainly not been easy. Zito takes it on directly, singing, “Second chance at a first class life.”
Beside the autobiographical nature of the album, there’s both social commentary and Zito’s renowned wit too. Zito’s soulful vocals come across packed with conviction—jJust listen to the one cover, “I Wouldn’t Treat a Dog (The Way You Treat Me)” or the way he channels B.B. King in the Memphis-styled “The World We Live In.” He wrestles with today’s tensions in the hard-hitting “Time For A Change” and takes a tongue-in-cheek, anything but serious approach to “Back Problems.”
“Mama Don’t Like No Wah Wah” is another light moment with a story behind it. Zito wrote the tune with labelmate Bernard Allison about the late Koko Taylor. “Bernard told me about his first gig as a guitarist for Taylor,” laughs Mike. “Koko didn’t like any effect on the guitar, she wanted it to sound natural. When Bernard made an attempt to use an effect on his guitar after playing with her for months, he got caught. ‘Mama don’t like no wah wah’ is what he was told. That’s a song to me!” Allison and Zito trade licks on the tune and indeed Allison bursts forth with a wah wah solo.
Playing with his road band of Lewis Stephens (keys), Terry Dry (bass), and Matt Johnson (drums), Zito tackles slow haunting blues, using his slide to accentuate the final resting place for a bluesman in “Old Black Graveyard.” “Damn Shame” takes the traditional slow blues approach as well, but “Dying Day,” an ode to his wife, has an exuberant, up-tempo style and the closer, “Tryin’ to Make a Living” ratchets it up even more.
Zito’s been recognized with several Blues Music Awards, winning once for Song of the Year. His career is very much on an upward trajectory and he’s earned plenty of respect from his peers. Anders Osborne, for example, says, “I love Mike Zito! He’s got that rare kinda voice that resonates in your soul. All his hardship, life experiences and kind heart oozes out of every note his sings. His guitar playing dances delicately between a contemporary blues virtuoso and an old-fashioned soul man. Mike continues to impress me with his straightforward and honest songwriting. His joy and grace shine through every record he makes.”
While it seems that Zito has very little left to prove, he wanted to address that “push and pull” between blues and rock with this effort. He says, “I had this idea of ‘stepping up’. I want the world to know I can play this music with conviction and style. I think it’s really the next step…” Keep on playing and singing, Mike. You connected again.
—Jim Hynes
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