Mike Zito Blue Room CD

It's back. The debut album that blew up the '90s blues scene. The songs that announced the touchdown of a major new talent. 

In modern times, as an established solo star and former member of the globally acclaimed Royal Southern Brotherhood, Mike Zito's reputation precedes him. But turn back the clocks. Rewind the film reels. Slip through the wormhole to 1998, when a 27-year-old punk kid took his first shot in the studio. "Blue Room," he reflects, "is the beginning of me becoming an artist."

By 1998, Zito had been around the block. Raised at the sharp end in St. Louis, Missouri, he'd witnessed the lean years of the '70s, as his father – a union employee at the local Anheuser-Busch brewery – grafted to support five kids in a cramped apartment. Music was a way out, with Zito learning his craft at a downtown guitar store, then seizing any live work that fell his way. As he told the Blues Mag: "I've played with country bands, dance bands, rock bands, alternative bands..."

Blue Room was the moment of clarity, when Zito realised he was burning to be more than a roadhouse-filling covers band. In 1997, he assembled a dedicated lineup and announced his new mission statement: original songs written from the heart. But artistic integrity didn't come cheap. With just $1000 for studio bills, Zito knew he had one shot. "I have many great memories of the Blue Room sessions," he says. "It was recorded in the basement of a house outside of St. Louis. We recorded the whole album in one day and all the tracks are live with no overdubs – except the vocals. We had played the night before until 6am at an all-night club in St. Louis and went to the studio at 9am. We brought beer with us and basically did not sleep."