"LIFE IS HARD" CD

Mike Zito -"Life is Hard" CD Pre-Order
Release Date: February 23, 2024

Gulf Coast Records announces a February 23, 2024, release date for the new disc from multi-Blues Music Award-winner Mike Zito, Life Is Hard. Zito recorded the new album in September at Sunset Sound Studios in Hollywood, California, with Joe Bonamassa and Josh Smith producing. Both Bonamassa and Smith were 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.”

Mike Zito - Life is Hard Track Listing and Credits
Produced by Joe Bonamassa and Josh Smith
Mixed by Alan Hertz; Engineered by Austin Atwood; Asst. Engineer Nate Haessly
Mastered by Eric Boulanger at the Bakery Mastering
Recorded at Sunset Sound Studio Los Angeles, Additional recording at Ocean Way Studios Nashville

Mike Zito - Guitar and Vocals
Joe Bonamassa – Additional Guitar
Josh Smith – Additional Guitar
Reese Wynans - Keyboards
Calvin Turner - Bass
Lemar Carter - Drums
Paulie Cerra - Saxophone on "Lonely Man"
Jennifer Kumma and Anna Spina - French Horn on "Forever My Love" and "These Eyes"
Jade Macrae - Background Vocals
Dannielle Deandrea - Background Vocals
Steve Ray Ladson - Background Vocals on "Death Don't Have No Mercy"
French Horn Arrangements by Calvin Turner

TRACKS
Lonely Man - Milton Campbell, Bob Lyons
Life Is Hard - Fred James
Have a Talk with God - Calvin Hardaway, Stevie Wonder
Forever My Love - Mike Zito
No One to Talk to (But the Blues) - George Sherry, Wayne P Walker
Dying to Do Wrong - Tinsley Ellis
These Eyes - Randall Charles Bachman, Burton Cummings
Darkness - Tab Benoit
Without Loving You - Mike Zito
Nobody Moves Me Like You Do - Walter Trout
Death Don’t Have No Mercy - Gary Davis
Forever My Love (radio edit) - Mike Zito