Mike Zito - Gone To Texas

Singer/guitarist Mike Zito makes label debut for Ruf Records

Royal Southern Brotherhood member steps out on new solo album with special guests Delbert McClinton, Sonny Landreth, Susan Cowsill and others

180-gram special edition includes printed inner sleeve

Gone to Texas is the solo label debut album from singer/guitarist Mike Zito. Also along for the ride are special guests Delbert McClinton on vocals and harmonica, Sonny Landreth on guitar, Susan Cowsill on vocals and Lewis Stephens (Delbert McClinton, Freddie King) on keyboards. Zito expertly matches them with his core band, The Wheel: Jimmy Carpenter — sax and guitars; Rob Lee — drums; and Scot Sutherland — bass. The result effectively announces one of the most exciting and highly-anticipated new releases of the year.

Recorded at Dockside Studios in Maurice, Louisiana, Gone to Texas was produced by the Beaumont, Texas-based Zito and engineered by long-time New Orleans notable David Ferrell, giving the album's mix a decided Crescent City bent, while embracing Mike's Texas blues and roots influences. The lead-off title track is an autobiographical tale of redemption and catharsis for Zito, who literally lived the tale, with a bit of an Allman Brothers musical twinge. "Rainbow Bridge," aided and abetted by some killer Sonny Landreth guitar work and soulful Susan Cowsill vocals, sounds like a long-lost Little Feat song. On "The Road Never Ends," Zito cranks things into the stratosphere with a sonic blast of electric slide guitar and blistering vocals, accompanied on vocals and harmonica by McClinton. "Subtraction Blues" deals with a man whose dealings with his woman "just don't add up," spiced with a funky Second Line feel. "Take It Easy, "one of the two non-originals on the CD, is Zito's soothing take on the McClinton-penned ballad. The other cover is Mike's unique version of Beaumont's own Blind Willie Johnson's "Let Your Love Shine on Me," which closes the album.

Make no mistake about it, Gone to Texas IS a very special — and personal — album for Mike Zito. "Texas saved my life. Sounds a bit dramatic, but absolutely true," says Zito. "I ended up there after running away from all of my problems and mostly myself. I left on the Greyhound bus and got off in Texas, leaving my family behind. My drug addiction is no secret and Texas is where I confronted my problems and made a change that has saved my life."

Side 1

Gone to Texas

Rainbow Bridge (with Sonny Landreth)

I Never Knew a Hurricane

Voices In Dallas

Death Row

Side 2

Don’t Break A Leg

Subtraction Blues

Hell On Me

Wings Of Freedom

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