Interview: The Blues With Mike Zito

Interview: The Blues With Mike Zito

By Martine Ehrenclou

Multi Blues Music Award-winner Mike Zito is one of the most lauded artists in the contemporary blues arena today. Singer, songwriter, and guitarist, Zito is also the co-owner of Texas-based Gulf Coast Records, which has birthed a number of critically-acclaimed blues/rock albums since its 2018 inception.

Originally a co-founder of Royal Southern Brotherhood that included Cyril Neville, Devon Allman and more, Zito moved on to a solo career which boasts 17 albums. His Blood Brothers project sees him partnering with award-winning blues-rock artist Albert Castiglia, and together as the Blood Brothers, they released two albums so far.

A critically acclaimed artist, Mike Zito, just released his newest album and most personal, Life Is Hard, produced by Joe Bonamassa and Josh Smith. The 12 tracks include originals by Zito and variety of blues songs written by such contemporaries as Tinsley Ellis, Walter Trout, Tab Benoit and Fred James. It’s a scorcher.

I spoke to Mike Zito by phone from his home in Texas.

Rock & Blues Muse
Your wife, Laura, and you talked about the idea of you pouring your heart out into the music. Can you tell me about your album Life Is Hard and what that was about?

Mike Zito
Well, she was given a crappy diagnosis from the get-go. It’s pancreatic cancer, and the bottom line is you just don’t know until it’s way too late. She started getting sick in 2022, and then a few months later they gave her nine to 12 months to live. It was like everything was fine, and they said she probably had it for five to 10 years and had no idea.

By the end of the year of 2022, that was really the worst time for me was when she was diagnosed that summer and then through the end of that year. Those six months, that was my worst grieving. It was terrible, just earth-shattering. But sometime around the first of the year, last year, I just got this really strong desire that, “Okay, you need to pick yourself up. You need to brush yourself off. You need to get in shape because you’re going to be alive. You got to take care of these people, be available for your wife and family, and you need to do something productive.”

One morning in early January, I said something like, “Hey, maybe I need to make a record or something about this.” Laura was always kind of a smart-ass, and she was like, “Well, you think? You’ve been saying you didn’t have anything to write about anymore. Well, here you go.” And it was just kind of like, “Yeah, right?” So that was that. But I kept thinking, “But how do you do that? I don’t know how to do this. How do you make it? This is too much. I can’t write a whole record. I don’t even know how I feel. It’s too difficult.”

I thought, “Well, this is not going to work.” But I had been playing the song, “’Life Is Hard’,” which is written by a great songwriter named Fred James, who lives in Nashville. Johnny Winter had recorded it with Dr. John back in the early ’90s, and we played it on my live album. It’s just a song I’ve loved ever since I first heard it back in the ’90s. It occurred to me, “Hey, maybe you don’t have to write the whole record. Maybe it could be a blues record.

“I don’t really think I’m completely a blues artist. I mean, I’m a white guy from South St. Louis who listened to rock and roll who just loves blues. But it was kind of like I gave myself permission. It would be appropriate that you made a blues album. And it could be life is hard. And once I got that idea in my head kind of like, “Oh, the album could be called Life is Hard.” I could pick a bunch of blues songs that are about life is hard because, look, it’s terrible what’s happening for us and what’s going on here, but there’s just as bad as shit if not worse shit going on for people all over the world right now. It’s not like our horrible situation is the only thing that’s terrible. Life is just hard all around. And then it became more doable.

Every song doesn’t have to be about my wife dying of cancer. It can just be about, life is hard. And then I thought, “Well, maybe then you can just write a song or two.” That made it much easier to wrap my head around.

A day or two later, I told Laura and she said, “Well, I think that’s a great idea. I think you should do it.” Plus, she was really… We both knew that she was… We prayed and hoped and prayed, but we knew that… She never got a good report. And by January of last year, it was like, “We’ll just see because they said you’re going to die this summer.” They told us that last summer. She said, “Well, either way, it’ll be good thing for you to do.”

People were so supportive of our family during all of it.

Rock & Blues Muse
Your new single. I listened to it and thought, “This is so good. He’s really on the edge,” if that’s the right term.

Mike
Yeah, that’s perfect. Thank you.

Rock & Blues Muse
How did you decide to bring in Joe Bonamassa and Josh Smith?

Mike
It was right there when I come up with the idea because we had just done the Blood Brothers album and they did a great job. (Bonamassa and Smith produced.)

They came to Louisiana. I got Joe out of his comfort zone. We brought in our band–not the way they normally do things, but he made every effort to come in and do things the way we were doing it.

What they did do was, which I appreciate as an artist, was make us work harder than maybe we would have made ourselves work. Like, “That’s good, but you can do better. Come on, let’s try harder.” I really do look at both of them (Josh) when I think of Joe–I just always think of excellence. One of our heroes, Danny Gatton, he’s been dead for years, he was known for this driving excellence. He’s just always pushing. And I’m not always like that. I’m pretty forgiving. And I’ll get in there and go, “Oh, that sounds pretty good. That’s fine,” or, “It’s got a good feel to it.” But they don’t. They’re like, “No, come on. No, come on.” And I liked getting pushed.

Rock & Blues Muse
Did they do that with your vocals too?

Mike
Not as much. I think the vocals are probably my strongest point that I bring to any situation. And I don’t mean this the wrong way–Joe’s a great singer, but they’re always very complimentary on my vocals, and I know that’s what I do best. But I know I can play guitar well. I just need to get kicked in the ass a little because I’m just laid back sometimes.

Rock & Blues Muse
Tell me about “Forever My Love”.

Mike
Well, it’s at the top of my range, for sure. The chord that I played on the guitar, that was just the chord I played when I sang it. I had no idea what was going to come out of my mouth. I was just sitting at the kitchen table just like I am now. And I played the chord and sang that line, which I’ve been lucky enough to do with songs like “Going to Texas” or “Greyhound.” There’s a lot of songs where I just pick the guitar up, strum a chord, and then go, “Okay, here’s the song. This is what we’re going to do.”

When I recorded it, they’re like, “Let’s go. You got to give it everything you got.”

I had been singing that song. I said, “Okay, maybe I can’t write every song on the album, but I did write the best song on the album.” I knew it. This is the best song on the album. This is probably the best song I’ve ever written. It’s the most powerful. And this one is for you. Maybe the whole album can’t be this tribute to you, but this song is. And so I just sat there and played it and sang it from January to September.

When we got in there to do it (in the recording studio), I just nailed it, sang it, maybe just a couple times. And Joe was really complimentary. He was like, “Man, Zito, that is some A+… I don’t remember what, a top tier or whatever word he used. That is as good as it gets.

Plus we know each other well enough that he’ll give me shit. I’ll go, “Man, you’re going to make me do this more times?” And he’s like, “Well, if you get it right the first time, you wouldn’t have to.” We joke and laugh and so it’s never weird because we’ve been friends for a long time.

Rock & Blues Muse
It seems like there was so much vulnerability on this album.

Mike
They all knew, every musician. We were on the cruise last March, and my wife came with us. And we went and saw Joe, and I mean, she could barely get out of bed the entire cruise, but we did go up to his suite in his cabin, and we met him and hung out, and he gave her a big hug, and everybody was so sweet to her. So they all knew…
When we got to the studio, this was very serious. They weren’t messing around. They realized a couple things–that this was very important, not just to me, but to everybody. And I think they looked at it like who gets to do this?

Rock & Blues Muse
I’m sure they looked at it as kind of an honor.

Mike
It is an honor. It’s an artistic opportunity of great integrity. You’re constantly trying to think of shit to make a record about. You got to concoct stories. This is like a ‘give me,’ like “Hey, you want to make a record about my wife that just died of cancer?” Artistically, it’s like, “Yes, I do,” because it’s a big undertaking. They know this has got to count. But again, on “Forever My Love,” I played that guitar solo one time in the studio, that’s the one we used. I’ve been playing it at the kitchen table. I knew I was playing this kind of melodic Gary Moore style-thing that I had in mind, and I didn’t know all the licks, but I knew the melody that I would play.

When we got to do it, I played his half a million dollar ’59 Les Paul that I would not normally play, and just played that solo and closed my eyes. And I’m playing in front of Josh Smith and Joe Bonamassa. Obviously, they could play guitar better than me in different ways, but I know that I can play and I can play with feeling and I’m good enough. I’m not nervous. I just played.

Rock & Blues Muse
I wondered on a few of these guitar solos who it was because I heard the Les Paul. Now I know that was you. Amazing solos.

Mike
Joe and Josh did not play any lead guitar. They both play rhythm guitar on every song. And I never play rhythm on any song. I play the licks and sing lead. That’s it.

Having that band and that top tier group and just the whole thing, it really elevates it. I have a great band of wonderful musicians, but I learned early on when I was young from great musicians that came before me that would give me advice, that if you want to get better or you want to rise to the occasion, you need to be surrounded by people that are better than you. You can’t be the best guy in the band and then expect to get better. So when you’re surrounded by all these great musicians playing this music, and it just lifts everything. I give them all the credit. It just really put me in a position to sound good, kind of really play the way I wanted to play.

Rock & Blues Muse
You’re so humble. Considering what you brought to the table, so vulnerable and on the edge, it was incredibly moving.

Mike
Thank you.

Rock & Blues Muse
How did you all pick the covers and the originals? Did you have all this mapped out before you met with Joe and Josh?

Mike
We did that together. I had written the song “Forever My Love,” and that was it. And I just said, “I got an idea for an album, ‘Life is Hard.’ This is the name of the album. This is what I want to do. You need to help me pick out the right songs.” And then we just worked on it from January and February. And maybe every month we sent an email, “What about this one?” And then in the meantime, my wife is getting sicker and sicker, and then things get put on the back burner.

And then some point in June, at the end of June, I’m going home, she’s going to go into hospice. And I texted Joe and I was like, “Man, I know we got the studio held in September. I don’t know what’s going to happen.” I don’t know if this hospice is going to go on for six months, and I just don’t know. And he was like, “Just don’t worry about it.”

And then unfortunately, they were spot on with their diagnosis to the T. They were absolutely correct, and she died at the end of July.

And then we had to go back and go, “Okay, what songs are we doing?” I got it in my head, “Hey, hold on. Who are some people I always looked up to that I love their music. Walter Trout, Tinsley Ellis, Tab Benoit. ” And then it just started to fall into place.

I called Tab and I go, “Did you write ‘Darkness’?” I’ve always loved that song. He said, “I wrote it when my brother died.” He goes, “Why? You want to record it, don’t you?” I said, “Yeah, I do.” He goes, “Well, you got my blessing. I see why you want to record it.” Then I called Walter and said, “Hey, can I record ‘Nobody Moves Me Like You Do’?” And he started crying and told me, “I wrote that song when I thought I was going to die and I wouldn’t see Marie anymore.” I just started to put things together that way.

The other thing I would always say to her is, “What am I going to do?” That’s the only other song I wrote on the album. “With all this love I have for you,” I said, “What am I going to do without you?” But she’d say, “Well, you’re going to go record this album and play that song, and everybody’s going to love this album and this song, and it’s going to be great for our family. It’s going to be a big success. You watch. You’re going to go do this and you’re going to keep helping our family play music. And everyone’s going to love this album.” She would always tell me that. Hopefully that comes true.

Rock & Blues Muse
She was a big supporter of your music.

Mike
She was. My wife was always like, “This is going to be good because this record’s going to do really good and it’s going to help our family. You’ll be able to continue to play music and pay for everybody.”

Rock & Blues Muse
Do you think she knew how good it was going to be?

Mike
Yeah, she did. Look, if nothing else ever happens and we get a few good reviews and people like it, then it doesn’t matter. If the fans are happy and they really like the music, it’s great. And I got to pour my heart out in the music and then I get to go play it live. I mean, who gets to do these things? I mean, most people have to sit home and go to their job and sit at home and cry and deal with their grief, and I get to go wear my heart on my sleeve and pour it out every night. It makes things a lot easier.

Purchase the album ‘Life Is Hard’ see HERE

“Forever My Love”