Our Mission
To provide low income and emerging musicians access to recording studio time to further the growth of music and music education.
Broken Rocks will support artists in the creation of their craft. We will provide state of the art technology where industry expertise is surpassed only by personal integrity. Acclaimed professionals will offer mentorship and guidance to emerging artists' success and further the growth of music.
Our Directors
Mark McGraw
Director
Mark McGraw is retired from a career in mountain rescue and avalanche control on Mt Hood in Oregon. His philanthropic work started 24 years ago with Ukandu, a non-profit organization helping families impacted by pediatric cancer. He is currently a program volunteer, donor, as well as the board chair for Ukandu. Following in the esteemed footsteps of his family, starting with the example set by his Grandparents and Parents , Mark is starting Broken Rocks to give back to the artists and reflect the joy they have given him throughout his life. In his spare time he likes to play a little golf and restore vintage bicycles.
Tony Braunagel
Director
Tony Braunagel grew up in Houston Texas, where he started playing drums professionally at the age of 15. In 1971 he moved to New York to try to expand his horizons as a musician. This led to an opportunity to move to London to work for Island Records as a studio musician. He then started traveling and touring with bands from England and into Europe. Moving back to the United States in 1979 he found himself planted in Los Angeles, where he has been ever since. He has toured extensively with many well-known artists such as Ricky Lee Jones, Eric Burdon, Bette Midler, Bonnie Raitt, The Blues Brothers, Robert Cray and Taj Mahal. He also became very involved in the recording scene in Los Angeles playing on film and TV scores as well as many albums.. He’s been on several Grammy award winning records. He started producing in the late 90s and as of today has produced over 40 albums one of which also won a Grammy for his dedicated work. At this point in Tony‘s life he’s just looking for good things to do for others. This opportunity with Broken Rocks, with his production knowledge and experience, will help artists achieve their dreams which aligns perfectly with Tony’s life intention..
Mike Zito
Executive Director
Mike Zito grew up in St. Louis Missouri and began playing music professionally by the age of 18. He played every club the city had to offer for the next dozen years honing his craft as a singer, songwriter and guitarist.
Mike moved to Southeast Texas in 2002 to work for Fender Musical Instruments and began playing his music in the Lone Star State.
He signed his first recording contract in 2007 with Eclecto Groove Records in Los Angeles. Mike began touring the world playing his music and singing his songs. He started producing records professionally in 2010, working for Ruf Records in Germany. He signed and worked for Ruf Records for the next decade. He recorded and produced over 25 albums for Ruf Records. In 2018, Mike and his partner Guy Hale started their own record label, Gulf Coast Records. Six years later, Gulf Coast Records is now an internationally known record label with over 30 releases and 23 artists to date.
Mike has had 5 number one Billboard Blues charting albums and has won 9 Blues Music Awards.
The idea and concept of Broken Rocks is very important to Mike. Helping musicians get their start and make their musical dreams become a reality is a lifelong goal. Most musicians do not understand the business and work ethic it takes to work professionally. Broken Rocks will not only help musicians record their music, but help them to get a head start in a very competitive field. Mike is excited to share his experience with artists to help them not only create new music but reach their goals as artists.
A letter from our Executive Director
We are thrilled to start building our dream studio and musical getaway that is Broken Rocks in Wildwood, Mo. What started as an idea between Mark McGraw and myself years ago has become an exciting reality.
As a career musician and artist, I know first hand the hustle and grind of making a living and building an audience playing music. It is not glamorous, to say the least. But, it is a very rewarding experience to write songs and music, record that music, and then see people enjoying your creative endeavors. Most people confuse "fame" with success when it comes to an art form, especially music. They only know the most famous musicians, actors, and artists. They don't realize there is a world of artists that are working, thriving, and creating that are not "famous". Success as an artist is making a living by doing something you love. This is the goal of Broken Rocks. Most young musicians are not sure where to begin. They have music and songs they need to record but the cost of studio time, engineers, mixing, and mastering is completely out of their budget. Most record using laptops and digital electronic instruments to cut costs and make demos of their music. These demos are not the same as a real studio recording with professional musicians. They're not sure what to do with the final product either. How to get heard or seen by fans and industry people can be a mystery for young artists.
Broken Rocks will help young artists record their music and teach them in the process. With the help of Grammy Award Winning Producer/Drummer Tony Braunagel and myself, we have access to hundreds of industry professionals that would love to give back to young artists.
These artists will not only record their music, they will learn the recording process by working with state of the art recording equipment and technology. They will learn about publishing their music, distributing their music, signing recording contracts and more. Our plan is to get a young artist ready for a career in music.
Broken Rocks will not own any intellectual rights or make any monies from the music recorded by these artists. We will not publish or distribute any of this music for a profit.
The sole purpose of Broken Rocks is to help emerging artists record their music and get started on their musical path.
We are very excited for all things musical in 2025.
Mike Zito
Join Us
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Contact us.
info@brokenrocks.org