No Punches Pulled

Mike Zito is a rocker at heart, influenced by his AOR heroes and the music he grew up with living from St. Louis to Texas. There's a distinct blues element present on this, his fifth CD, but it is subsumed by the Southern-style rock & roll songs he has developed and refined. Playing tunes that define his life, Zito's music needs little explanation or embellishment – he's as straightforward as they come, with no punches pulled. He's prone to get funky on occasion, or go into acoustic unplugged mode, but for the most part, he sticks to tried-and-true upbeat rock songs such as "Love Like This" and "Universe," which define where he's at.