For this month’s column Andy GJones presents the style of the Missouri-born guitarist-singer who formed the Royal Southern Brotherhood.
Mike Zito is one of the co-founders of blues-rock supergroup Royal Southern Brotherhood, alongside Cyril Neville, Devon Allman, Charlie Wooton and Yonrico Scott. In this line-up he shared lead guitar duties with Devon (son of Gregg) Allman, drawing comparisons with Duane Allman and Dickey Betts’ twin-guitar assault in the Allman Brothers Band.
While the Brotherhood was a great outlet for Zito, it was only a matter of time before he struck out on his own. After leaving the band in 2014 Mike continued the upward trajectory of his solo career. He has been prolific in releasing albums full of original songs, and his wonderful singing is supported by a tasteful yet forceful lead guitar style. While rooted firmly in the blues he wears the influence of his rock guitar heroes on his sleeve, too. The sound of the great Texas guitar players has also found its way into his style, Zito having been a Texas resident for some time now.
Mike’s solo albums feature high-flying guests and stellar rhythm sections, revealing influences from Americana, rock, country, Louisiana swamp, funk and R&B. His wide ranging musical taste is demonstrated by the variety of grooves and chord progressions in his music. He has talked of the influence of Prince, Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, and even Van Halen in his early years.
Mike brings a great sense of pace and development to his solos. The maturity in his playing is obvious; he’s in no particular hurry to impress, and yet always manages to hit bullseye. Examine his style and we suspect you’ll discover many licks that are just begging to be ‘borrowed’ and made your own (just as Mike surely did).
Sound-wise, Zito uses a more saturated tone than many blues players and this seems to affect the kinds of lines he plays, too. He often sounds like a great classic rock player due to his long flowing lines and that sense of motivic development. As if this weren’t enough he’s also an accomplished slide guitar player and often uses this to create a more rootsy Southern vibe.
In the following examples I have introduced a range of approaches typ
