Mike Zito, Resurrection Review

Mike Zito is a contemporary blues artist that has built his career on honesty, authenticity, and integrity.  Zito has multiple wins for Blues-Rock Artist of the Year and Blues-Rock Album of the Year at the BMAs. When he signed with Ruf Records and released Gone to Texas, the story of how he gained his sobriety, he began gaining an avid fan base. Zito’s album, Quarantine Blues, was recorded during the heart of the coronavirus pandemic and was a healing love letter to his fans around the world. His album prior to that was a tribute to fellow St. Louis native and rock ‘n’ roll legend, Chuck Berry, and featured an array of guest guitarists ranging from Joe Bonamassa, Walter Trout and Eric Gales to Robben Ford, Luther Dickinson and Sonny Landreth, as well as Berry’s own grandson. Zito is now releasing his sixteenth album and his first full band studio album via his own Gulf Coast Records. The album is titled Resurrection.

Bottom Line:  With Resurrection, Zito brought in Grammy-winner David Z to fill the producer chair and Zito wrote eight of the eleven tracks. The band is Matthew Johnson on guitar, bassist Doug Byrkit, Lewis Stephens on keyboard, Zito’s son, Zach Zito, on acoustic guitar; with guest Lisa Andersen (backing vocals), Eric Demmer on saxophone, and Fernando Castillo on trumpet. Zito’s cover of JJ Cale’s “I’ll Make Love to You,” is the opening song, and features Zito’s bluesy vocals and Johnson’s solid slide guitar work.  Eric Clapton’s “Presence of the Lord,” and Willie Dixon’s “Evil” are the other cover tunes on the album. “Dreaming of You” is a Zito original with a relaxed steady pulse and soulful, bluesy guitar playing by Johnson. His singing is expressive, and the song has a natural song form and development. Lisa Andersen joins Zito on “In My Blood” to create a stirring male/female vocal sound. “When It Rains” brings in a rock/blues sound with Zito’s vocals having an abundance of reverb. The horns add character and Johnson again brings tasty and bluesy guitar playing. “Damned If I Do” is another strong moment with Andersen joining again and a fine guitar solo by Johnson. In general, Resurrection contains outstanding songwriting, arrangements, playing, and singing. Sometimes the amount of reverb on Zito’s vocals is a little too much, but that is a small item and mainly a personal preference. Of Zito’s sixteen albums, Resurrection, is undoubtedly in the top five. That’s the short of it!

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