Sign up for our Newsletter
Arrow Back to all events

About

Mike Zito, a celebrated figure in contemporary blues, has built a career defined by authenticity, honesty, and perseverance. From his early days as a young guitarist in St. Louis to his rise as a chart-topping, award-winning artist, Zito has consistently delivered music rich in emotion and personal meaning. Highlights of his career include his Blues Music Award-winning song “Pearl River,” his role in the supergroup Royal Southern Brotherhood, and acclaimed albums like Make Blues Not War and Resurrection. Zito has also contributed as a producer, label co-founder of Gulf Coast Records, and collaborator with notable artists. His recent projects, such as the Chuck Berry tribute and the Blues for the Southside live album, underscore his enduring passion and influence in the blues genre.

 

Saxophonist, singer-songwriter, arranger, and Gulf Coast Records recording artist, Jimmy Carpenter is on a roll! He won the 2021 and 2022 Blues Music Award for Best Instrumentalist/Horn. And he is now a Grammy Award-winning Composer, for a composition he contributed to the New Orleans Nightcrawlers’ winning album, Atmosphere. Jimmy has toured internationally with Tinsley EllisJimmy ThackeryWalter Wolfman WashingtonEric Lindell, and Mike Zito and the Wheel. 2019’s Soul Doctor, his first album on Gulf Coast Records, was extremely well-received worldwide, and in September 2022 he released his fifth solo album, The Louisiana Record, a collection of his favorite New Orleans songs, also on Gulf Coast. He has been a working musician for over 40 years, spent many years in New Orleans, and now resides in Las Vegas, where he is the Musical Director of one of the hottest blues festivals in the world, The Big Blues Bender.

X
X