favorite songwrit- ers. His lyrics have a way of con- necting with the working class, and the music to which they are de- livered is a splen- did dose of rock,
blues, and Americana. The Wheel consists of a stellar group of musicians: bassist Scot Sutherland, pianist Lewis Stephens, saxo- phonist Jimmy Carpenter, and drummer Rob Lee. Keep Coming Back contains ten magnifi- cently written and performed originals along with a ripping cover of Bob Seger’s “Out of Denver” and a funky take on CCR’s “Bootleg”. Stephens and Carpenter dole out tasty bar-
relhouse piano and rocking sax on title track “Keep Coming Back” as Zito kicks out the jams on guitar. This one is one big ball of bluesy fun. I love easing into the day, listening to
“Early in the Morning” on my way to work. Zito’s raspy vocals remind me a lot of Rod Stewart's. A true master at telling stories through this
music, Zito delivers the goods with “Girl From Liberty”, which takes a closer look at the grim underbelly of dysfunctional family life. This song sits atop my list of favorites. Zito then digs deep inside his soul to share the destruction and aftermath resulting from his battles with addiction, in the heart wrenching “I Was Drunk”. There’s an anx- ious energy surrounding “Cross the Border”, a chaotic tale of reckless abandon. It surely leaves me hanging on the edge of my seat as the story unfolds. Whether he’s performing his own songs, or
one of the covers, Zito keeps it real and keeps it interesting. That’s what I love about his music.
-Phillip Smith
Royal Johnson
Belly Full (
royaljohnsonband.com) I can’t express
how happy I was when I played this record for the first time. Something fresh. Something out of the South
that isn’t Southern Rock. An absolutely origi- nal Americana tinged sound that had me at “hello.” Chance Royal is a great Georgia born guitarist who also picks banjo. Also out of Georgia, Andy Johnson is the lead singer, and his voice falls on the ear very easily. He doesn’t sound like anyone in particular, yet you feel like you already know his music. The same can be said for the band as a whole, with Kevin Vines a “master of bass grooves,” a native of Washington, DC and drummer Joannie Ferguson, she of Atlanta by way of Michigan, who completes the “tight as Dick’s hat band” rhythm section of Royal Johnson. This could be the most “politically correct
band” I have seen or heard lately- two old southern white boys with a girl and a black guy in the band. I love it. I am stumped when it comes to describing
the band’s sound, mostly because it employs influences of old timey music, pickin’, Ameri- cana, folk, funk and blues. No kiddin.’ They open up with a banjo based instrumental statement that sounds like it is right off a movie soundtrack, with tasty lead guitar winding around and in and out of the banjo line. On “Plow,” Kevin lays down a funky bass line and Chance’s lead runs ride the bass groove like a surf board shooting the pipeline. The groove is undeniable. I like “Sister Car- rie” a lot too. The music, the melody, the lyrics. All good. “Ballad of Birmingham” is another stand-
out track, mostly because the music sounds quite a lot like “House of the Rising Sun,” not
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