The Ghetto Cowboy Tour
Mike Zito
From his childhood in St. Louis to the global blues-rock circuit, Mike Zito has always kept it real. He began playing guitar at age five and by his late teens was a fixture on the St. Louis music scene. For Zito, honesty, authenticity, and integrity aren’t just part of the brand—they’re the foundation. “I have nothing to hide; it seems my honesty is what people relate to most,” he once told Vintage Guitar. Zito is a powerhouse in modern blues rock. He’s an artist whose gritty guitar work, deeply human songwriting, and magnetic stage presence have made him a defining force in the genre. From smoke-filled bars in St. Louis to major festival stages around the world, he has built a career on emotional honesty, fearless playing, and an unshakable commitment to the song. In 2025, Zito claimed the Blues Music Award for Blues Rock Album of the Year with Life Is Hard, a deeply personal and sonically bold record that cements his place among the genre’s elite. The win followed his 2024 sweep, where he was honored with Blues Rock Album of the Year and Blues Rock Artist of the Year, reflecting both his creative output and his relentless touring schedule. A lifelong road warrior, Zito has spent decades sharpening his craft onstage, channeling the sounds of classic blues, rock, soul, and Americana into something unmistakably his own. His live shows are equal parts fire and heart: searing solos, powerhouse grooves, and storytelling that invites audiences straight into his world. Zito also plays a major role behind the scenes as a respected producer and co-founder of Gulf Coast Records, championing fellow artists and helping shape some of the most exciting new music in today’s blues landscape. Onstage and on record, Zito currently moves through three distinct but connected lanes. Under his own name, Mike Zito delivers the raw, personal, guitar-driven blues rock that fans across the world have come to love. He also co-leads Blood Brothers with Albert Castiglia, a high-energy, guitar-slinging band built on friendship, shared history, and a near-telepathic musical connection. Their chemistry has earned praise from some of the biggest names in blues: as Joe Bonamassa put it, “Mike and Albert have a special chemistry together when they plug in and play that few have. They finish each other’s sentences musically… Great tunes, great people, great hang!” Albert himself adds, “Mike is the hardest working man in show business and a force as a singer, guitarist, producer, and songwriter. There’s nothing the man can’t do. He’s also got a heart of gold, raising money for countless causes. He’s a credit to the blues rock genre!” And then there’s Bill Murray & His Blood Brothers, a more theatrical, humor-driven extension of the Blood Brothers universe letting Zito and the band lean into joy, storytelling, and over-the-top rock ’n’ roll while staying anchored in the same serious musical fire. Whether he’s fronting his own band, locking in with Albert in Blood Brothers, or steering the wild heart of Bill Murray & His Blood Brothers, Mike Zito is always chasing the same thing: real connection. The songs are honest, the guitar is loud, and the heart is wide open—and that’s exactly how he intends to keep it.
Summer Camp ’96 with The Tale Untold
HYPOCRISY
Hypocrisy has over 30-year history with 12 albums, hundreds of gigs all over the world, and thousands of fans. This influential Swedish death metal band started from the will of one person, and this person’s name was (and is) Peter Tägtgren (Hypocrisy, The Abyss, PAIN, ex-Lindemann). Having made the first demos all by himself, after getting an offer from Nuclear Blast, he invited musicians to form an actual band. Since then, Hypocrisy gained success with their records and rocking live performances and evolved musically and conceptually. Heavy and rich sound with catchy melodic riffs, crushing drum fills, obscure lyrics and versatile vocal parts became a signature style of the band. Its discography from debut ‘Penetralia’ to the last for the moment ‘Worship’, through such legendary albums as ‘The Fourth Dimension’, ‘Abducted’, and ‘Virus’, is indeed a thrilling metal journey. A journey that continues. Today, apart from Peter, the band consists of Mikael Hedlund (bass), who joined Hypocrisy back in 1991, guitarist Tomas Eloffson is a session member since 2013. Henrik Axelsson (drums) joined the band as a session member in 2022. Don’t let the name ‘Hypocrisy’ trick you: Peter Tägtgren stays true to himself, to the music and the fans, never stops creating, and never settles for less than perfect.
TJS
Emerging in 2024 from Bellevue Nebraska , United States, TJS blends rock, indie rock, alternative rock, dance pop, synth pop, indie pop, pop and singer songwriter into a genre-defying sound. TJS is a Boston-based artist from Nebraska who blends synth pop energy with the emotion of folk pop. His sound combines electronic textures with an intimate, storytelling approach that captures both nostalgia and modern life. A student at Berklee College of Music, TJS brings a thoughtful sense of musicianship and sincerity to his performances, creating music that resonates with authenticity and heart.
Ghostlike
TERRAIN
Under the leadership of vocalist/guitarist Randall Mentzos, TERRAIN has spent the last decade-plus morphing from a scrappy pop-punk band to a solo acoustic project to its current form as a bombastic, charismatic prog-punk powerhouse. Fans of Proper., Bartees Strange, and Honey and Salt would enjoy TERRAIN’s sound. The band will tour the East Coast and Midwest this autumn to promote its upcoming album Chasm, which will be released this year.
Secret Formula
Cornfields aren’t the only things in Nebraska… Based in Omaha, Secret Formula is a 4-Piece Progressive Groove Rock band that emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic. From playing shows in bars and clubs, to their first theatre performance within a year of gigging, they have quickly become a staple in their local scene. With a formula of storytelling lyrics and free-flowing riffs and grooves, the band’s eclectic style and ever-expanding catalog of songs keeps audiences on their toes. After quickly finding their niche, Secret Formula has continued to connect with fans through music and blissful moments in time one can only experience by SEEKING FORM.
Surely Tempo
Surely Tempo is a 5-piece indie rock band from Santa Ana, California, known for their melodic sound, energetic live shows, and steady organic growth. Since forming in 2020, the band has built a strong following through consistent releases, touring, and viral content. They’ve accumulated millions of streams across platforms and sold out notable Southern California venues including The Glasshouse in Pomona and The El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles. Surely Tempo has also supported Enjambre on two national tours. Their latest album, Against All Odds, reflects themes of ambition, frustration, and pushing forward despite setbacks, capturing the band’s current momentum as they continue expanding their reach. They are currently in the works on their next full album “Mr.Metronome” which is set to release later in 2026.
Giovannie and the Hired Guns
Since their inception in 2015, Giovannie and The Hired Guns have made a blockbuster career out of wildly defying expectations. With a visceral sound that merges alt-metal, Red Dirt country, Latin pop, Americana, and much more, the Stephenville, Texas-based five piece have ascended from playing local honky-tonks to taking the stage at major festivals and arenas across the country, drawing an ardent crowd ranging from cowboys to metalheads to skate punks. As they continue their colossal rise—a journey that’s included scoring a No. 1 radio hit with their smash single “Ramon Ayala” and winning the 2023 iHeartRadio Music Award for Best New Artist in Alternative & Rock—Giovannie and The Hired Guns now return with their new album Quitter: a body of work that pushes the boundaries with even more intensity, matching its explosive riVs and unforgettable hooks with the band’s most brutally honest songwriting to date. Produced by Johnny K (Megadeth, Sevendust, Plain White T’s), Quitter marks the fourth full length from Giovannie and The Hired Guns (frontman Giovannie Yanez, guitarists Carlos Villa and Jerrod Flusche, bassist/tuba player Alex Trejo, and drummer/pianist Milton Toles) and second LP since signing with Warner Music Nashville through a first-of-its-kind partnership with Warner Music Latina. While the band have always brought a powerful emotionality to their lyrics, the album embodies an unfiltered urgency that has much to do with Yanez’s processing a number of life-altering troubles in real-time, including the death of a close friend and his own relapse into addiction. The follow-up to 2022’s Tejano Punk Boyz, Quitter finds Giovannie and The Hired Guns doubling down on the freewheeling attitude they first embraced in their earliest days as a band, back when Yanez was working the counter at a nearby pawnshop. “From the beginning I told the guys not to worry about sounding too rock or too country on this record,” Yanez recalls. “We just went in there and had fun and didn’t let anything hold us back, and because of that the album shows the full range of what we can do as a band.” Immediately delivering on that promise, Quitter opens on the galvanizing rhythms and throat-shredding vocals of “Cheap Tequila”: a ferocious yet fun-loving track that speaks an unvarnished truth about their shared life experience. “I wrote that song thinking about us in our younger days, when we were all broke and working these mid-paying jobs,” says Yanez. Looking back on the making of Giovannie and The Hired Guns’ most personal album yet, Yanez reveals that Quitter helped to clarify his overall mission and vision for the band. “This record made me want to keep putting out songs that are fun and serious at the same time,” he says. “I want to show everyone that it’s okay to feel sad and out of place, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a good time—it’s all a part of being human. We just want to be real with our fans and let them know we’re all diVerent and a little oV-the-wall too. And when they come out to the shows, I try to make them feel like they’re just as much a part of the band as my guys are. We’re all connected, and without them we’d never be where we are now.”