In July of this past year, Mike Zito lost his wife Laura after a long battle with cancer. His new album Life is Hard will be released tomorrow, February 23rd, and features several songs that she and Mike discussed during the months leading up to her death. You might rightly expect the new recording to be a dirge but it is not! It is an anthem to the time they shared together and full of great contemporary blues!

Life is Hard was recorded this past September in California and was produced by one of great tandems of the contemporary blues Joe Bonamassa and Josh Smith. Joe and Josh produced the hit Blood Brothers album featuring Mike and Albert Castiglia (which opened at #1 on the Billboard Blues charts) and once again brought their talents to bear on the new recording. Mike provides all the vocals and gets contributions on guitar from both Joe and Josh. Reese Wynans plays the keyboards and once again shows a mastery of the ivories that has been evident since his days with Stevie Ray Vaughan. Calvin Turner lays down the bass riffs and Lemar Carter drives the beat on the drums.

Of the dozen songs on the recording, Mike penned two: Forever My Love and Without Loving You. Both are jewels of the blues. Forever My Love is a beautiful ballad with Mike belting out his emotion in every syllable. Without Loving You deals with his loss and how to go forward. It has a catchy beat and a cool repetitive guitar riff that I love.

A song choice for the album that surprised me was Mike’s rendition of These Eyes that was originally performed by the Guess Who back when I was teenager in the late 1960’s. And Mike’s cover of Walter Trout’s Nobody Moves Me Like You Do is absolutely spectacular. The title cut of the album, Life Is Hard, features some fantastic guitar playing and gut wrenching vocals from Mike and I enjoyed the upbeat tune Lonely Man that opens the album.

One of the last songs on the recording is a Reverend Gary Davis song, Death Don’t Have No Mercy. It starts out with Mike singing acapella. He is soon joined for some fabulous backing vocals by Jade Macrae, Dannielle Deandrea, and Steve Ray Ladson. It is an emotional tune with a jarring finality to it that shook me to my core!!

When the blues as an emotional state melds with blues as a musical form, it can produce beautiful and memorable music. Such is the case with Mike Zito’s new album LIFE IS HARD. It has all the ingredients of the very best blues music: raw emotional vocals, powerful lyrical content, and superb musicianship. Mike’s life is indeed hard right now. But I hope his outpouring of emotions (and talent) on this record helped begin the healing process. And I am sure Laura is smilin’ down on him from above for a job well done!!

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Ben Vee started out spinning songs on terrestrial radio and at nightclubs back in the 1970’s in his home state of Louisiana. After a career in the construction business, he returned to DJing in 2011. He now hosts two shows each week on http://www.bluesmusicfan.com and writes about the blues at http://www.benveeblues.com from his home in Connecticut. He also has a personal 24 hour stream devoted to the Roadhouse Blues… WRHB as well as a Youtube channel.