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REVIEWS

Bex Marshal—Fortuna—Dixie Frog Records

It’s twelve years since the release of Bex’s last album “House of
Mercy” and this new one kicks off with ‘Preaching to the Choir’ a
gospel banger based on rolling piano and organ with Bex trading
vocals with Shola Adegorove. The Buddy Miller song ‘Dirty Wa-
ter’ is a lowdown and dirty blues with Bex’s voice sounding just

fabulous but the rocker ‘I Can’t Look You in the Eyes’ is an original
co-written with Scott Coopwood who also provides the guitar
solo alongside Bex’s slide. ‘5 AM’ is another original a moody
late-night blues ballad but ‘Jungle’ picks up the pace with boogie
piano (Toby Baker) and electric slide guitar from Bex and ‘Table
for One’ is funky with bass from Robert Eugene Daniels (aka Red Bass) – “I hope you like your
meat bloody, because I’m sticking my steak knife in…”

The title track is a fast-paced, slightly jazzy instrumental featuring Bex’s guitar and driven by
Richie Stevens’ drums and ‘Lay Down and Die’ is a riff-y rocker. ‘Scrapyard Dog’ is a delicious
easy-rolling tale about a fearless animal in a dangerous world and closer, ‘When It’s Gone’ is a
poignant tribute to the late Robert Eugene Daniels who died during lockdown but was able to
record bass for five of the tracks here (the remaining songs have Aurora Manola on bass). The
song has B.J. Cole playing melodic dobro throughout alongside Bex’s heartfelt vocals. The album
was recorded at London’s Snakepit Studios and was co-produced by Bex and Nick Hunt and it
sounds great – listening blind you’d swear this was an American recording with American
musicians and song-writing but for me it’s Bex’s voice that is the real star here, real soulful
singing and NOT shouting!

Graham Harrison

Mike Zito—Life is Hard—Gulf Coast Records ASIN‏:
B0CRH8ZJHL

One of the things I like most about blues artists is how they
express emotion through their music – BB King, Peter Green and
Shemekia Copeland were/are all masters at it – and while I’m not
really a fan of blues-rock I’ve always admired Mike Zito’s ability
to produce emotionally-drenched work.

His new album was recorded after the death of his wife Laura
from cancer in 2023 and Mike planned the album with Laura
before she died so as you can imagine there is an incredible
emotional charge in many of these songs, The album was pro-
duced by Joe Bonamassa and Josh Smith who both also play guitar here but it’s Mike who
contributes all the solos. Also involved are Reese Wynans (keyboards), Calvin Turner (bass),
Lemar Carter (drums), Paulie Cerra, Jennifer Kumma and Anna Spina (horns) and Jade Macrae
and Dannielle Deandrea (background vocals).