Review: Markus Hagner!
Mike Zito is a most electrifiying solo-artist, songwriter and virtuoso guitarist and has an enchanting voice besides being a member of the Royal Southern Brotherhood.
He is and was permanently on the road to spread his loving music!
Live Mike Zito And The Wheel are at their best, so it is a great thing that Ruf Records are publishing in their “Songs From The Road” series the shows from Dosey Doe, a fine Texas music club, on CD and DVD!
CD and DVD feature complete different set-lists, so both are a delight to be played loud.
The show started by “Don’t Break A Leg”, a hooky funk-blues. Mike succeeded to hex his fans immediately by his guitar virtuosity and his powerful voice. Jimmy Carpenter , the saxophonist, blows the roof off by his chili-hot solos. The cd has a superb recording-sound quality. “Little Red Corvette” a love-song definitely drawed the devotees into its ban by the charming voice and the warm-blooded sax-extravaganzas. “Rainbow Bridge” is like a homecoming song. When he returns from gigs somewhere in Louisiana and crosses the Neches River in Port Arthur he knows “Not Far Anymore To His Sacred Home”! Mike loves to be in New Orleans, so “Subtraction Blues” was his devotion-song to the town of Mardi Gras, spreading “Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler” atmosphere with steamy honky-tonk piano-solos by Lewis Stephens. By the title-track from his latest studio-output “Gone To Texas” Mike Zito And The Wheels conclude the fervid cd-gig and send home the happy freaks in loving spirituality.
For fans of Mike Zito And The Wheels in live motion the dvd is the real deal. The show was captured by hd-cameras and the sound is in excellent pcm-stereo quality. By looking at it you are hooked visually and can see what extraordinary musicians Mike has gathered around him. Mike and Jimmy duel on guitars and sax. The second song intensifies what extraordinary rhythm guys Scot Sutherland on bass and Rob Lee on drums are. “I Never Knew A Hurricane” is a stormy rocker that filled the fans at Dosey Doe with enthousiasm. “Hell On Me” is a fine blues-rock with a highly energetic drive, Texas style if you see what I mean.
MZ proves that he is also versatile in playin’ the Chicago blues by “Dirty Blonde”. “Subtraction Blues” rocked the house to the rhythms of the “Big Easy”. The regular set was concluded by “Gone To Texas”.
Mike re-entered the intimate stage solo with a beautiful semi-acoustic black six-strings for “Let Your Light Shine On Me” , he was escorted by a loveable cutie admiring him. For the swamp-boogie “Natural Born Lover”, The Wheel returned and Mike made this song so spicy showing extravagant slide-rides with his bottleneck. Then he made the fans funky-rollin’and tumblin’ with “Texas Flyer” ending in a fantastic eye and ear blowing jam.
Mike Zito And The Wheel live – Hotter Than Hell!
As bonus there are fan-interviews and storyteller’s videos for the songs “Dead Of Night”, “Death Row” and “Gone To Texas”.
Track List:
CD DVD
Introduction Dont’ Break A Leg
Don’t Break A Leg Greyhound
Greyhound I Never Knew A Hurricane
Little Red Corvette Hell On Me
Rainbow Bridge Pearl River
Pearl River Dirty Blonde
Hell On Me One Step At A Time
C’mon Baby Subtraction Blues
Judgment Day Judgment Day
Dirty Blonde Gone To Texas
Subtraction Blues Let Your Light Shine On Me
Gone To Texas
Texas Flyer Natural Born Lover
Markus Hagner