About Me
Equipped with a 'rode hard and put away wet,' whiskey-soaked rasp and a deep bag of keyboard chops that echoes some of the greats of country, rhythm & blues and gut-bucket rock, David Zollo brings to The Big Night the kind of savvy, trans-genre synthesis you might expect from a grizzled road warrior twenty or more years his senior.Precocious from jump street, Zollo has always been ahead of the curve. He began playing the piano at the age of four and, steeped in his writer/journalist daddy's eclectic record collection (jump blues, whorehouse jazz, folk, vintage rock, soul and Golden Era countryyou name it), the kid with an "old soul" was regaling family house parties with knockout Ray Charles and Huey "Piano" Smith covers by his early teens.Zollo founded High and Lonesomea hell-raising quintet that fused the Stones, Southern rock and alt-rock'n'countryin the early '90s. Over the next five years, the band careened across the Midwest, playing over 200 gigs per annum and releasing three discs (plus David's first solo effort) on his own Iowa City-based Trailer Records label along the way.The ravages of time, travel arid, well, just too much of 'too much' took their toll on "Hi & Lo," particularly on the band's hard-charging leader. A career-threatening throat condition was remedied by surgery, extensive therapy and no small amount of luck, but as Zollo & Co. readied for more studio time, it was clear that they had reached an impasse.The band dissolved, and what began as the fourth High & Lonesome recording became Zollo's second solo discthe earthy, rustic and decidedly more stylistically diverse Uneasy Street.Throughout these formative years, complex, give-and-take relationships were developed between Zollo and the previous generation of Eastern Iowa's roots-music heavyweights.The flexible keyboardist was mentored by (and picked up regular gigs/session work with) celebrated singer/songwriter Greg Brown and guitarist/producer Bo Ramsey (Brown, Lucinda Williams, Dave Moore, Kevin Gordon, Teddy Morgan, Joan Baez, etc.).Meanwhile, David's Trailer imprint has issued acclaimed discs by Ramsey, Brown and extraordinary, ghost-channeling bluesman Joe Price, as well other stellar Iowa roots musicians.Zollo's brand-new The Big Night burns out of the gate with the steamy bump-and-grinder "While You Undress," a swank little number that conjures up the dangerous, halcyon days of the Mick Taylor-era Rolling Stones.The artist's gift for seamless cross-pollination of musical forms is evident everywhere. "Eye Of The Needle" welds fire-and-brimstone gospel imagery to soaring country rock, "Why Don't You Stop Me Now" slaps The Band's in-bred harmonies and music hall ethos atop an inebriated hip-shake worthy of The Faces, and the title track pours a lacy, Charlie Rich-styled piano line over rolling Hammond organ in a dreamy, melancholy waltz.The disc's only song not penned by Zollo is Bo Ramsey and Kevin Gordon's criminally-overlooked "Get Away," a rollicking, 'Loserville' anthem whose chorus ("Oh, get awaythis old town is like a ball-and-chain/Gotta run, gotta run like a fast freight train") will have folks all over the planet swearing it was written specifically for their own miserable burgs (and it was).The alchemy continues. "You're Gonna Get What You Wanted" is a loopy, sassy floor-burner in which Lynyrd Skynyrd serendipitously mind-melds with NRBQ (yoiks!), "Lonesome Childhood" is a sweet, closing-time weeper with Bo Ramsey (who also plays on "Eye Of The Needle") adding atmospheric guitar textures, "Respect (Ain't A One-Way Street)" intersects with high-stepping country-rock, and the heartbreak country of "Take Me Away" gets a gorgeous, three-hankie treatment from Iowa legend Dale Thomas' pedal steel guitar.The Big Night closes with "Driftwood From Kerry," a swirling, wrenching rock anthem that manages to draw all of the disparate facets of this sprawling, ambitious opus together.Zollo's gifts as a singer, songwriter and musician are impossible to miss; his abilities as an arranger and bandleader are more subtle. Produced by David (along with Tom Tatman), The Big Night allows ample room for drummer Brad Engeldinger, bassist Stevie Howard and guitarists Eric Straumanis and Chris Winters to flesh out and wrap around the songsin short, to be A BAND.David Zollo has covered a lot of turf in a relatively short time; the proof is in the listening. The Big Night is the sound of a major artist hitting his stride.--Jim Musser--..Partial Discography for David Zollo:As a member of High and Lonesome: Alackaday (1992), livefromgabes (1994), For Sale or Rent (1996)As solo act: The Morning is a Long Way From Home (1995)
Uneasy Street(1999), The Big Night (2002)As keyboard player: Todd Snider, "The Devil You Know," (2006), Bo Ramsey, "In the Weeds," (1997), Greg Brown, "Over and Under," (2000), Dave Moore, "Breaking Down To Three," (1999), Kevin Gordon, "Illinois 5.00 A.M., (1997), Joe Price, "Designated Driver," (2001).As producer: The Pines, "The Pines," (2005), Brother Trucker, "Something Simple" (2004),
"Regulars," (2003), "Brother Trucker," (2001), BeJae Fleming, "Navigating Limbo" (2005)
