Album review: MIKE ZITO– Outside Or The Eastside

March 28th, 2026 by petefeenstra

Gulf Coast Records [Release date 24^th April 2026]

Mike Zito’s ‘Outside Or The Eastside’ is a hard hitting rock-blues album with autobiographical songs and thoughtfully chosen covers.

He tells us the new album: “is an ode St. Louis and the late-night culture of the city that shaped him.”

It also marks the fact he’s moved back there after being in Texas for a number of years.

It follows on from his award winning ‘Life Is Hard’, which won him the Blues-Rock Album Of The Year Award.

The latter was a homage to his late wife and the spirit of resilience. It found him in introspective mode on 9 covers, while this album is more lyrically reflective and is framed by a conceptual theme which is based on learning through experience.

In truth, this album feels like an extended EP as there are five core self penned tracks, before he dips into the Chicago blues song book.

The opening title track is everything you might expect from a road tested rock-blues guitarist. It’s a heavy duty blue-collar shuffle with exhilarating guitar and piano interplay, topped by a wry lyrical message: “Outside on the East Side, don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here.”

His lyrics recall a time when he might not have gone home, but he’s stayed the course and brought us over 20 albums of great rocking blues since.

The lascivious ‘Kiss You All Over’ is languid blues with wah-wah and distorted guitar tones, on a growling organ driven groove with impeccable percussive support.

The autobiographical sounding ‘Downtown At Midnight’ is better still, being arguably the best track on the album.

A tale of relationship breakdown due to addiction and its consequences, the track is spun out over a cool groove with poignant lyrics: “I’m downtown and midnight nowhere to run wishing I could go back, but the damage is done.”

This song distils every facet of Zito’s ability, as he embellishes a story telling blues with emotive conversational style guitar lines, which take off where the lyrics finish.

‘Grand Avenue’ features a funky urban undertow and piecing guitar which gives the track a cinematic feel.

It provides a snap shot of street life in St. Louis, on which his spiralling and sinewy toned guitar acts as our tour guide.

His own material also includes a rip-roaring shuffle ‘Close To You’ which serves to amplify the narrator’s frustration.

All the above self penned tracks are shot through with a consistency born of crafted organic arrangements which perfectly support the feel of the song.

There’s a slight difference in the covers, which lack nothing in terms of Zito’s trademark intensity, but they do sound a little more studied, like colouring an existing outline in a picture book.

No matter; he breathes fresh life into Lonnie Brooks’s ‘Don’t Take Advantage Of Me’, a song on which he emulates the blistering guitar work of Johnny Winter’s version.

And he’s probably at his best when covering Buddy Guy’s cutely punned ‘Too Broke To Spend The Night’, on which Zito emphasizes the frustration of being broke with some screeching guitar licks akin to a cat on the roof at midnight!

There some subtle intricate guitar and rolling piano parts on Willie Dixon’s, ‘Just Like I Treat You’, a Howlin’ Wolf B-side, originally brought to UK attention by The Stones version.

He cleverly underpins the lyrical plea with rhythmic swagger and a gospel feel.

Albert King’s ‘(Down) Don’t Bother Me’ stays fairly close to the original, but in spite of being presented as a funky bass heavy groove, it feels less essential than the preceding tracks.

Zito’s cover of Nina Simone ‘Do I Move You?’ will probably bring the biggest scrutiny. He transforms the laid back original with its focus on vocal and harp, into a guitar heavy arrangement with organ and a committed vocal attack.

He rounds things off with ‘The Blues Lover’, on which incorporates his Roy Buchanan bends, swells and guitar tones into an 8+ minute ‘live in the studio’ jam, which drips with real feel and gives us valuable insight to a great live band.

‘Outside Or The East Side’ isn’t quite the conceptual whole that the title initially promises, but it’s still a vibrant showcase of Mike Zito’s road tested approach which is an integral part of keeping contemporary rock-blues alive. ****

Review by Pete Feenstra

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