Guitarist Mike Zito was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on November 19, 1970, singing at local events as a kid and picking up the guitar as a teenager, playing regularly around his hometown. By 2008 he was releasing records on his own label and touring the U.S. — and that same year he signed with Eclecto Groove Records and released Today. Pearl River followed in 2009, and its title track won Song of the Year at the 2010 Blues Music Awards. His final Eclecto Groove session, Greyhound (2011), yielded “Roll On,” which was featured on TV's Sons of Anarchy.
Biography
A Road Warrior's Road
In 2011 Zito formed Royal Southern Brotherhood with Cyril Neville, Devon Allman (son of Gregg Allman), bassist Charlie Wooton, and Yonrico Scott (formerly of the Derek Trucks Band), releasing their self-titled debut on Ruf Records in 2012. Two years later he launched his own backing band, The Wheel, debuting with Gone to Texas (2013) — a Blues Music Award nominee for Rock Blues Album of the Year — followed by Songs from the Road (2014) and Keep Coming Back (2015). The Tom Hambridge-produced Make Blues Not War (2016) and First Class Life (2018) cemented his solo standing; the latter debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Top Blues Albums chart.
His solo career includes six Blues Music Awards, including a win and another nomination for his powerful song ‘Pearl River.’
— Musical Instrument MuseumZito has kept a relentless pace since: the star-studded Chuck Berry tribute Rock ‘n’ Roll (2019) with guests including Sonny Landreth, Joe Bonamassa, and Walter Trout; the Gulf Coast Records run of Quarantine Blues (2020), Resurrection (2021), and Blues for the Southside (2022); and a fruitful partnership with Albert Castiglia on Blood Brothers (2023) and Help Yourself (2025). In 2025 he collected his sixth Blues Music Award, winning Blues Rock Album of the Year for Life Is Hard.
