LIFE IS HARD Mike Zito (Gulf Coast Records) *****
A disc of scorching, heartfelt blues from one hell of a guitar player. Life Is Hard, releasing February 23rd, is an emotional set with powerful lyrics and super-human guitar playing. Zito says “I believe this is the best album I’ve ever made in my life”, and with 8 or 9 of his albums in my collection plus stuff from his ‘side groups’ The Wheel and Royal Southern Brotherhood, I can say with confidence that he ain’t lying… this is a superior record.
Produced by Joe Bonamassa and Josh Smith, Life Is Hard will shred your heart in more ways than one. “(This) is a complete work of art for me” Mike says. “My wife Laura and I planned this idea of pouring my heart out in music after her death from cancer. Joe, Josh and the incredible musicians were fully aware of the task at hand. They brought a lot of emotion to the music. I’m so proud of this album and I know Laura would be proud as well.” Take a look at what else he says about this on his website. I can relate; through the death of my parents and a couple of divorces, immersing yourself in work that means something to you (radio and writing for me) can be very cathartic.
There are 12 tracks on Life Is Hard, some Zito originals as well as tunes written by the likes of Tinsley Ellis, Walter Trout, Tab Benoit and Fred James. He also takes on stuff from icons like Little Milton, Stevie Wonder and Reverend Gary Davis. A big surprise is a blues-worthy reading of The Guess Who’s These Eyes, surely sung with Laura in mind. My first run through Life Is Hard was before knowing the backstory to the record and it still knocked me out. Knowing now the emotional circumstances under which it was made gets you right inside the songs. Hell, the guitar solo on Forever My Love damn near made me weep- and I’m not a crier.
Mike Zito is already an award winning blues performer and the maker of many fine records, with his friends as well as being a solo artist, but Life Is Hard stands head and shoulders above them all. This is one of the best blues albums I’ve ever heard, and I mean EVER.
HOT TRACKS: Forever My Love, Having A Talk With God, These Eyes
KEEPING TIME Sue Decker (independent) ****
KEEPING TIME Decker follows up her 2019 debut The Outskirts Of Love with another bundle of rustic, heartfelt ruminations on life and love. Midwest Record once commented that “we have proof here that Ry Cooder and Lucinda Williams once hooked up”, and in listening to Keeping Time that feels right. These 7 songs feel well lived as many of them hit close to home.
Sue Decker learned her first guitar chords at a blue grass jam at the age of 35. Since then she’s been writing and singing truthful songs about people we may know. That first album garnered international acclaim, so it’s hardly a surprise that roots producer Steve Dawson was willing to work with her at his Henhouse Studios in Nashville. Keeping Time is a powerful, soulful, intimate record yet playful at times too. Backing up Sue are Steve on guitars and pedal steel along with noted Nashville session cats Dave Jacques on bass and Justin Amaral on drums. The recording process was mostly live off the floor, playing these songs in real time. As I’ve noted many times before there’s just no replicating the vibe you can achieve this way, the push and pull and energy exchange between the musicians creating on the go. Nothing mechanical about these performances, the give-and-take is a big part of KT’s charm.
Dawson’s pedal steel work gives much of Keeping Time a country flavor, but calling this a country record is limiting. The Lucinda Williams comparison feels particularly accurate, and I’m feeling some Michelle Malone-liness here too. It’s been said that these days Decker’s music inhabits the borderland where blues, funk, country and soul meet, and that’s a deep place to be. I’m a fan of Steve Dawson, not just his production abilities but I have 5 of his own albums as well. To say that Sue and Steve are on the same wavelength here is an understatement; being familiar with both artists I can’t imagine a more simpatico relationship.
As Keeping Time plays for the 3rd time on my stereo today I’m even beginning to visualize the people Sue is singing about, getting familiar with them… or maybe they’re folks I already know.
HOT TRACKS: Love Made For A Lifetime, The Lost Ones, Nobody’s Mother
GARDENS OLD, FLOWERS NEW Tom Rush (Appleseed Recordings) *****
GARDENS OLD, FLOWERS NEW Tom Rush’s first album in 5 years is a beauty. Gardens Old, Flowers New is a warm acoustic record powered by Rush’s lively strumming and gentle voice. Of it Tom says “ as always with my record projects, the songs run the gamut from light-hearted and cheerful to sad and lonely. I’ve been accused of seeking emotional whiplash- I deny everything. I was never indicted!”
Tom Rush was at the vanguard of the 60’s folk movement, James Taylor names him as an influence. Tom, who just turned 83, sounds vital and weathered at the same time. As you listen to the 14 songs on Gardens Old you’ll get the unmistakable feeling of hearing the voice of experience, even though his vocals are smooth and gentle as opposed to cracked and ragged. He was credited by Rolling Stone as having ushered in the singer/ songwriter era, with his 1968 song No Regrets being recorded by artists ranging from Midge Ure to Olivia Newton-John and Waylon Jennings to name a few… even Tom himself recorded 2 very different versions.
The best way to describe Gardens Old, Flowers New is sparse and intimate. And that title? “(It’s) a line that appears in two of the songs here” Tom explains. I mean to convey the idea that many things in life- watching your children learn about the world, or falling in love- have happened millions on millions of times through the eons, but each time is always fresh and different.” I’m sure that’s something you’ve noticed too. This is a fresh, honest open look at life and what it could possibly mean from a few different angles- maybe it can help you re-examine the things you’ve been through in a similar way. Like he says in the opening line (and chorus) of one of the songs here, “it all comes down to love/ if you ain’t got any well you ain’t got much.” Truer words were never spoken.
Gardens Old was produced by Matt Nakoa, who also provided keyboards, trombone, guitars, harmonies and bass. The album has a lively, spacious sound that fits the songs like a glove. When I need to rest and be told everything will be okay, this is the record I’ll reach for.
HOT TRACKS: One More Time Around The Sun, Siena’s Song, If You Love Me/ Lullaby In E
A SHOT OF THE BLUES Lonestar Mojo (independent) ****
A SHOT OF THE BLUES A solid second effort here from Lonestar Mojo. A Shot Of The Blues is a lively set that hits like a cross between Powder Blues and Deep Purple with the interplay between guitar and Hammond B3 recalling the best of Purp’s work with Steve Morse and Jon Lord. This is a big pile of fun!
Lonestar Mojo is a blues/ rock band, and though they only came together during Covid, each player brings decades of experience with him. Joe Splawn, legally blind since birth, rocks the B3 as well as singing lead and bg vocals- music is his lifelong passion. Mark Snyder plays guitars, sings lead and bg too, as does bassist Tim Maloney. Drummer Barry Sloan must be the shy one, he only sings backups. OH- Snyder is a left-handed player who, like Albert King, Eric Gales and Coco Montoya, plays an inverted right handed guitar, and he WAILS.
A Shot Of Blues lives up to its title, a variety of blues explorations from up-tempo stuff to down n dirty slow, grinding blues- though with Thoughts Of You, you get both. The track that follows it on the cd, What Do You Feel, has a good-natured reggae vibe. The band hasn’t been together all that long, but they play like well-seasoned road warriors that have been sharing the same van for a couple of decades. Not sure who produced- the band, I’m assuming- but it’s a good and clear mix, though the vocals sometimes feel a little buried. Guests with these Mojo men include former member Scott Biggs on slide guitar (he’s physically unable to tour anymore, Doc Louie Luton on acoustic guitar, and Vanity Washington livening things up on backup vocals.
From the lively opening track Good Blues Travels Fast to the only real political track at the other end, America’s Got The Blues, A Shot Of Blues is an engaging representation of how wide-ranging this music can be. The playing is mighty tasty and, as with any good song blues or otherwise, the tales they tell draw you in without a whole lot of arm twisting. Honest, direct, well played… my kind of blues.
HOT TRACKS: Good Blues Travels Fast, Your Blues Give My Blues The Blues, America’s Got The Blues
