G'day Mate

Hope all is well in your blue world.
The Royal Southern Brotherhood is on tour in Australia this week. Pretty amazing to be here and living this dream come true. It's a beautiful country, so green and so vibrant. The cities are bustling with people walking faster than I have ever seen. Everyone is friendly and warm and the food has been outstanding. We have only played one show so far at a club called The Basement in Sydney. It was a packed house and they were most definitely fired up and ready to go. The posters on the wall of shows gone by were nothing short of great: Prince, Bela Fleck, Isaac Hayes, Bob James, Taj Mahal, Mike Stern, the list goes on.
The audience was very enthusiastic and on their feet within a few tunes.
As a group, we couldn't be more grateful for the love and support so far from home. The band continues to get tighter on and off the stage and the music is beginning to truly bond into one strong note. We play tonight at a club in Melbourne and onto the Byron Bay Blues Fest tomorrow and Monday.
We will have the pleasure of sharing the audience with Bonnie Raitt and Paul Simon tomorrow night.....
That is amazing to me!
I'll do my best to take as many photos as possible and make many mental notes to share with you next week.
We hit the road again next month to play at the Tampa Bay Blues Fest.
Please check online for tour details:
www.royalsouthernbrotherhood.com
Peace, Love, Zito

Rolling Down Under

Hope all is well in your blue world.....

What a great weekend with my kids and wife in Texas.
We had what I call a vacation gig trip. I played locally in Beaumont on Friday night
at The Gig on Crockett Street. Great crowd of friends and family and we were able
to talk Maw-Maw into watching the girls and Lu got a night out!
Up early on Saturday to drive to Austin to pick up Riley and Sam (my son and daughter!)
for a fun night out with the family. Then we all wore it out at Gruene Hall yesterday!
This is probably one of my favorite places to play in the world.
Gruene Hall is the oldest continually run dance hall in Texas, built in 1878 by Richard Gruene.
It is a very famous place to play in Texas and an honor for me.
Willie Nelson plays there yearly , as well as BB King, Asleep at the Wheel and many others.
But on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, it's old style Texas dance hall.
The band sets up on the dance floor in front of the picnic benches. Their is no cover charge,
and its an open air all wooden barn, which means you get an influx of people walking in off the street
all afternoon long. The trick here is simple: If you're good, they'll take a seat and stay.
It's always fun for me, because Gruene Hall is a family affair.
We put everyone to work. Lu sets up shop and sells all the merchandise, Riley and Sam usually help
me load in all the gear, and we send the little girls, Josie and Sophie out into the crowd with the huge bucket tip jars. (it works every time!) We play 3 sets over 4 hours, lots of blues and originals,
and at any given time we will have about 250 people or more in for the show.
It's just a great atmosphere, with a wonderfully warm feeling in that hall.
Thanks to everyone for coming out and making it a fantastic Sunday in Texas.

I am home for a few days, just enough to get my shit in order and then we roll out with The Wheel
this week for a 17 day tour of the US.
We will make our mark in Florida once again, then across the gulf coast, and finally up north
to the midwest. For more details please check online: www.mikezito.com
This band is a must see, very talented, and really has a unique sound together.
I am very proud to play with these gentlemen.
The tour finishes on March 24th, and I immediately fly out the next day to meet up with the RSB
boys in Australia!
We are very excited to be playing the Byron Bay Blues Fest.
The tour down under includes a few club dates around the country and ends with 2 festival shows
in Byron Bay.  www.royalsouthernbrotherhood.com

All in all, it should make for a very exciting March!
Peace, Love, Zito