The Hook & Ladder welcomes the return of multi-blues music award-winner Mike Zito for the  Twin Cities release show of his new album “Life Is Hard”. 

 

Mike Zito is one of the most lauded artists in the contemporary blues arena today and rightfully so, but for him, the thing that counts the most is maintaining his honesty, authenticity and integrity. Those are the qualities that have steered Zito’s career since the beginning and continue to define every effort he’s offered since.

 

Zito recorded the new album last September at Sunset Sound Studios in Hollywood, California, with Joe Bonamassa and Josh Smith producing. Both Bonamassa and Smith were also involved in the production of Blood Brothers, the critically-acclaimed album Zito recorded with fellow label guitarist Albert Castiglia, which topped both the Billboard and iTunes blues charts after its release in March, 2023. 

 

“Life Is Hard is a complete work of art for me,” says Mike Zito about the new disc. “I believe this is the best album I’ve ever made in my life. 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 am so proud of this album and I know Laura would be proud as well.”

 

The even-dozen tracks on Life Is Hard include not only several Mike Zito originals, but also his takes on a wide variety of blues songs written by such contemporaries as Tinsley Ellis, Walter Trout, Tab Benoit and Fred James. Sprinkled in are covers from a diverse assortment of blues/roots music icons, including Little Milton (“Lonely Man”), Stevie Wonder(“Have a Talk with God”) and Reverend Gary Davis (“Death Don’t Have No Mercy”), plus the outside-the-box blues-worthy rendering of the Guess Who classic, “These Eyes.”