Mike Zito & The Wheel

6-15-2017

You might know multiple Blues Music Award winner Mike Zito as the hot guitarist/singer with Royal Southern Brotherhood. But if Mike had a dollar for every mile of tarmac he’s burnt since his breakout in the early ’90s, they’d be piled up to his chin. Zito began touring the Midwest circuit at the age of eighteen and has since crossed twenty-plus countries as guitarist with the Brotherhood. “In my band, 'The Wheel,' if you’re not already with us, you’d better get on board,” he grins “because otherwise we’re gonna knock you down!” ??

Zito’s newest release "Make Blues Not War" is his 13th career album, and it debuted at #1 on the Billboard Blues Chart. It sounds, from the title, like it could be a politically charged answer to the mayhem that has been 2016. But far from it, the album invites us to shut down all the harrowing news of the world, and focus, instead, on some old-fashioned pleasures of great music. “We hear about everything 24/7 now,” says Zito. “The news never stops and its all become propaganda. But when you turn off the news and turn on some blues, the world is a beautiful place. I think music is the cure for all ailments. Always has been. Always will be.” 

Produced by Grammy winner Tom Hambridge and featuring Walter Trout, Jason Ricci and Zach Zito, "Make Blues Not War" is very possibly Zito's most energetic album to date. "Its a fine combination of upbeat shuffles, slow grinds and personal experience. Combined, they make the strongest case for the genre being called ‘blues rock’ and not the other way around. The blues comes first on this release, as it should." - JD Nash, American Blues Scene. 

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