Mike Zito Releases New CD, 'First Class Life'

The life and times of a professional musician are full of experiences, stories, good and bad times. They tend to get better with the telling, and one thing you learn if you're around long enough, is that playing is not always going to be enough. That's to stretch your creativity and growth, and also pay the bills.

Mike Zito has been through all of these, and is ready face any new challenges head-on. His 15th album, First Class Life is out on Ruf Records, and that's where we started during my recent talk with him. "People reviewing it have been kind," Zito says, "and more importantly the core fans, people that have been supporting me for years like the record. For me, it's been a lot of fun, because it's just added a breath of fresh air to the live shows."

For those who did not listen as critically, this is a step back in what Zito considers the right direction for him now. "I built my own recording studio behind my house," he tells me, "it was the very first record I recorded in my studio. What I like about it is it sounds great, but to me, it was a lot more loose. I had my band with me; I was in my element, I was finding my way in this new studio that I loved. I could take my time, but we recorded the record in two days. It's a little more blues-based, it's a little more raw in the approach.

"The record before (Make Blues Not War) was recorded in Nashville with (producer/musician/songwriter extraordinaire) Tom Hambridge," he continues. "Buddy Guy's studio band came in and played. I loved making it, but it was kinda like getting back to being Mike Zito on this record. I'm really into the first couple of takes kind of a thing, so it works out for me that way. The other thing is, just feeling confident enough with my choices in my music has been a big step forward."

Zito elaborates further: "Going between phases of the Royal Southern Brotherhood, I had this bigger band called the Wheel, where I had all these other elements. I was kind of in the band; and it was time to go back to really being the frontman, playing my guitar and singing. I needed coaching, I needed someone to write songs I needed someone to help me feel confident to just be Mike Zito again."

The ongoing argument of what is blues and what is not in today's music world is one that will not likely be resolved. When asked about how concerned he is about perception, Zito replies, "It matters and it doesn't matter. I certainly did not go to the studio saying to myself that I'm going to make a blues record, that's a terrible idea. I'm not thinking, 'I need to write this type of genre.'

"The kind of music that comes to me can be labeled blues sometimes," he continues. "When I wrote the songs for the record it usually takes about a year of going through a lot of songs and what I noticed about nine months in, is, 'Wow, there's a lot of blues songs. 'There has to be something genuinely attractive about it, it can't be mundane, and I just noticed, 'This is okay, you got this.' But still, when I'm putting the record together I'm thinking of a period that goes from beginning to end it's like a story. Maybe there's a spot in the story where there's like a throwback to a really classic fifties blues song, or a dark, smoky jazz club but then there's something else that's a little more rock n' roll. So I don't ever think about the genre, I'm really thinking about how do I tell this story and how do I make this interesting album that you'll want to hear from beginning to end."

Zito has no problem just being known as a blues artist. "I have such affection and faith in the genre," he said, "it means the world to me, and to take part in it means everything to me. At the same time, I know how I am, I'm a white kid that was born in 1970 in South St. Louis, and I grew up listening to big band music and rock n' roll, and somewhere in high school I found B.B. King, and it sounded like the guitar that I liked, and the big band that my dad liked.

"I do consider myself an avid lover of the blues and at the same time, I just need to write my music and play my music it's what I do best. So if I have a song that turns out to be a blues song that's fabulous, but there are plenty of songs I have that a lot of people would not consider blues, so I guess that comes down to your definition. To this point, modern blues to me is emotional music, but it's sincere and honest and tells a story and has a feeling to it, then I guess I am."

Zito's career has moved through the genres, such as the aforementioned Wheel, and the supergroup Royal Southern Brotherhood, which he started with Cyril Neville. That, Zito said led him down a different path. "Cyril and I had won an award at the (2010) Blues Music Awards for a song called 'Pearl River.'" It was a huge break in my career, and I found a writing partner in Cyril. I think I thought Cyril and I are starting a blues band, and it was so much more than that and very creative.

"I don't know that I've ever learned more than I did when I was in the (RSB), because you had all these different styles and genres, people that were not coming from blues at all. It was confusing and exciting, and so I look back at it and think it was amazing, probably the most amazing thing I'll ever do in that respect and it was famous very fast. But along the way, I just know I did not always feel comfortable."

Zito chuckles when he recalls, "What are we doing I don't know what we're doing in the middle of a song. I'm very uneducated," Zito goes on, "I just play what I know, and I've always just written my own music. And so I was at times confused, and maybe over my head or frustrated, but not with the guys, it was just what is my place here. How do I fit in? What I do know is when I got further away from the blues, I don't like it."

It took a blues legend to give Zito the talking-to, and perhaps the spark that re-established Zito's confidence. "At one point Johnny Winter, one of my all-time heroes, someone I just adored and I had gotten to be friends with," Zito says,, "asked me, 'Why are you in this band I thought you were a blues musician. Why are you playing this music?'

"When Johnny said that to me," Zito noted, "he wasn't saying anything necessarily negative about the band. He was very supportive of me, and was like, 'You say you're a blues player, I've heard you, we need more blues players, we need you,' more or less."

Zito still sounds like he's going over that moment. "I did not take that lightly; how did that happen? Who else tells you this story? The guy I was listening to when I was eighteen, he's just been everything, you know, to me, and he's telling me this. This all started twenty years ago with me and a guitar, and loving Johnny Winter, Buddy Guy, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Albert King, Muddy Waters, Tommy Castro, Tab Benoit," Zito goes on. "They were playing guitar writing their own songs, doing their own thing. I was not confident enough yet, and finally in 2016 I made Make Blues Not War, and I said 'Man, I gotta become Mike Zito.' It sounds so self-centered, but I gotta get comfortable being myself again."

That brought Zito to his new studio and First Class Life. "We made a real rocking guitar record," Zito says, "and it gave me a boost of confidence to get back out with a trio or a four-piece, and it's been the best thing I've ever done, 'cause how I've made first class life, and it's the next step forward. I feel like okay, whatever this music is, I'm doing what I think Johnny Winter would say, 'That's what I'm talking about.'"

The album does remind of earlier releases, and a blues-based sound that seems in line with Ruf's catalog. The kickoff track, "Mississippi Nights" takes listeners down south, and a semi-true story of a road trip Zito took with his wife from Memphis to Clarksdale. The title track is a more serious tune, beneath what Zito admits are more humorous lyrics.

"It's an old recovery phrase," Zito explains. "I've been sober going on fifteen years, and I heard that a long time ago. A guy told me, 'Look at you, you're getting a second chance at living a first class life, we should all be that lucky'. It's just kind of funny because most people might think first class, they might think you sit in first class in the airplane, you live in the mansion, and you have a Rolls Royce, and blah blah blah and whatever that bulls is that image of America being uber-wealthy or whatever. But after you've been through the hell of drugs and alcohol and then on the streets like me, and you get back to this, and you realize you can have a home and a family, this is a first-class life. I had no idea before that this is first class living, to have a warm bed and someone that really cares about you and kids. As corny as all that sounds, a lot of people can relate, when you've been through what I've been through, and a lot of people have been through, it makes you really appreciate this life. And that's why the song's not so serious.

'Addiction is not fun or funny," Zito stresses, "but it's nice at this point we can laugh at it, I can look back and say that's crazy, and look where I am now. Once you lose everything, when you get it all back, it's like with a different personality and state of mind you treasure it, it means a lot. When I got sober, I didn't own a guitar; I didn't own no musical equipment at all, and I didn't think I'd ever play guitar again, and I thought, 'Well, if I can't play music anymore that's fine, as long as I don't have to drink anymore.' And today I have too many guitars!" He exclaims with a laugh.

Zito has toured part of the year with Bernard Allison and Croatian newcomer Vanja Sky as part of the Blues Caravan, an annual event that Ruf puts on. "It's their seventeenth year of doing this," Zito says, "every year the label takes out three artists. I've been asked to do it before, but I decided to do it this time with Bernard, and we're celebrating twenty years of his father's passing."

Side note: A Legend Never Dies is an award-winning seven CD, four DVD collection of Luther Allison's work put out by Ruf. While Bernard has followed in his father's footsteps, he has also carved out his own musical path. "We each play a little (on tour)," Zito explains, "we play together, and most importantly, we play several of his father's songs, and we get to celebrate with Luther, and it's fantastic."

Ruf and Alligator Records remain the premier blues labels, with the historic Delmark and others, such as Provogue and Vizz-Tone making names for themselves. For the former pair, Zito says, "They have a core fan base that's really into their music."

He also adds that as noted before, it's not just about music any longer. "It's easier than ever to put records out now," Zito says, "and harder than ever, because there's so much content and so much competition. It still matters, you need money, marketing, press, interviews, and all of it counts. And most of all you need an artist. Being good is not the most important thing, in fact being good should just be given. If you're to the point where you're gonna make a record or work with a record label we've got to assume you're good to a certain level. Being the best is not a possible thing; it's working hard. Look at Joe Bonamassa," Zito goes, on, "he's extremely talented by far, but his business plan, his work ethic is why he's where he's at. He's been working nonstop for over twenty years; it's the B.B. King way, you've got to put yourself in front of people over and over.

"A good example for us is Samantha Fish and Ruf," Zito goes on. "The combination of the two along with good management and everything else has made an extremely successful artist. A label that's done their job and an artist that's gone to the ends of the earth to let people know who she is and work her butt off, that's all there is to it. You could write the greatest songs, and make the best recording the world but if you don't go play it doesn't really matter."

Mike Zito is currently on the First Class Life tour, and the Blues Caravan resumes in September with shows in Denmark, the Netherlands, the UK, and Belgium, then comes to the US in October. He'll also set sail on the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise in late October, then join with Tommy Castro for the Six Strings Down Tour in late November.

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