Mike Johnson, Country Music's No.1 Black Yodeler

Mike Johnson . . .

Recording for Roughshod Records since 1987
1996 Traditional Music Association "Songwriter" Nominee
1997 Traditional Music Association "Publication" Nominee
(Top-Rail Chatter Independent Country Music Magazine)
1998 Traditional Music Association "Male Artist" Nominee
2002 Old-Time Country Music Hall of Fame Inductee

Mike Johnson is Country Music's No. 1 Black Yodeler. His Yodel Song Archives, containing 114 yodeling songs written and composed by him, and related material, was inducted into the Recorded Sound Reference Center's permanent music collection in the Library of Congress on 27 April 2007.

Mike Johnson's song "Black Yodel No.1" is the background music for this homepage.

There have been other Black Yodelers among the numerous Minstrel and Stringband acts between 1880 and 1925, like the famous Monroe Tabor, Beulah Henderson, Charles Anderson, and The Mississippi Sheiks. Then came Mike's personal friend, U.S. Army Korean War Veteran & Bronze Star recipient, McDonald Craig of Linden, Tennessee, who recorded briefly on Nashville's Gold Standard label during the mid-1960s and is the only Black Yodeler to win First Place at an Annual [1978] Jimmie Rodgers Yodeling Championship hosted by the Jimmie Rodgers Museum in Meridian, Mississippi. Others along the way include Linda Martell, Stoney Edwards, and Slim Gaillard. None of them, however, have demonstrated Mike Johnson's unique versatility in combining the Jimmie Rodgers and Swiss yodeling styles.

COMMENTS ON MIKE'S YODELING:
   COUNTRY BOY EDDIE introduced Mike in September of 1982 to his Birmingham, Alabama Channel-6 TV viewers as "...sounding like Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and Jimmie Rodgers, all rolled into one!"
   ART RUSH, Roy Rogers personal manager, wrote in part in a 4 May 1982 letter to Mike, "I listened to your cassette, songs and heard your yodeling. Although you do not perform your yodels exactly like Roy, you do handle a fast yodel. I am returning your cassette and lyrics of your song- I CAN YODEL SONGS LIKE THEM ALL. We are not permitted legally to keep any song material unless it is published because both Roy and Dale are composers. I want to wish you the best success possible with your songwriting. My advice to you, Micheal, "keep writin', singin' and yodelin' and one day we'll all be reading about you."
   P.J. PRICE wrote in the 1995 September/October Issue of Country Note Connection magazine, "Spoke to Mike Johnson of Roughshod Records here recently. He's a singer/songwriter/graphic artist/truck driver, etc. ... Mike is known as "Black Yodeler No.1" and I promise you, he CAN yodel! He has a unique voice and writing style. He's very "traditional" and if any of you publishers would be interested in reviewing his material, write to Mike Johnson..."
   BOB EVERHART wrote in his 1996 January/February Issue of Tradition magazine, "FINALLY, a new tape of good yodeling. This guy not only yodels, he double yodels and triple yodels! He's also a darn good songwriter and singer and guitarist."
   ALLEN FOSTER wrote in his 1999 January Issue of Songwriters Monthly, "Johnson has a real talent for producing some incredible yodels. If you like the sound of good ol' country and yodeling, Mike Johnson is one of the best in the field. His album will be sure to please you."
   BART PLANTENGA stated at his 7 May 2005 yodel-book lecture at the Bowery Poetry Club in New York City, "Mike Johnson, Virginia long-haul trucker and Country Music's No.1 Black Yodeler is a gifted Yodeler who easily switches from Hillbilly to Swiss-style yodeling... and became a bit of an Interstate legend when he began selling his recordings at truck stops along his long-distance routes..."
   DAVE SICHAK, owner of the Hillbilly Music web-site stated in a 4 February 2006 email to Mike, "I picked up your CD the other day on the way home... And after listening to the first tune I thought Elton Britt and Roy Rogers were in the car... I haven't heard a yodel song all the way through like that since I heard Elton Britt do it on a Skater's Yodel tune I have on 78 or on CD... Ain't no mistaking what's on that CD - 100% pure Country... thanks for sending it along."
To be compared with Elton Britt is about as high a compliment that a Yodeler can receive, and Dave included Mike in the Artist Section on his Hillbilly Music site.

BRIEF BACKGROUND:
Mike Johnson was born in 1946 in Washington DC to Margaret and Joseph Johnson. He is the first born of his mother's generation, and has two younger sisters, Renee and Gail. Margaret Bell [maiden name] was born in June 1929 in Seneca, South Carolina and died in September 2004. Around 1936, Margaret's half-Cherokee mother, Thomasina V. Bell, packed up her young girls, Margaret Jeanette and twin Mary Jean, and Johnnie Lou, and moved north to Washington, DC. Charles Sr. would follow later, and the youngest Bell, Charles, Jr. would be born in Washington, DC. After a little more than a year of apartment living and pinching pennies, Thomasina eventually found and purchased a three bedroom house on Vermont Avenue in a quiet, middle class colored neighborhood in the North West section of the city. It was a modest wood framed affair, complete with a bay window, front and back yard, outhouse, icebox [had to buy ice from the local Ice House], a potbellied stove for "central heating" and a ringer-washing machine that got young Mike's butt whipped. Like many during that era, Mike remembers his grandma literally ironing the bed sheets on cold winter nights before they turned in. Modern convinences like a gas stove, radiator heat, and a indoor bathroom would be added as her financial condition improved. Ms. Bell supported her young family by working as a beautician at Katie's Beauty Shop on 14th Street NW, during the day and attending night classes to obtain her own beautician's license. Her income was supplemented with some occasional help from her older sister, Gladys Hill, who breezed through DC to New Jersey for a brief spell before settling down in the Bronx, in New York City. When she obtained her operator's license Thomasina found a building a block north of Katie's and opened her own shop, Beauty Charm, which she ran until her death on 12 May 1973. Mike's high school was about a mile north of the shop and during his senior year he would stop by after school to sweep and mop up. Incidentally, up until Mike was born, his grandmother was affectionalty called Mama Dear by her family. Mike couldn't quite get the words right and called her Doppa Dear, a name by which she was called from then on. Such is the power of a first-born...

Joseph Johnson was born in born in April 1929 in Washington DC and died in February 1972 in the Veteran's Hospital. Joseph's mother, Elizabeth L. Johnson, was born and raised in the small farming community of Olney, Maryland, and was the subject of much speculation because of her "sudden" appearance in Washington and her reluctance to talk about her family background. Joseph, like Margaret, attended and graduated from Garrison Elementary and Cardoza public High Schools. The ambitious high school sweethearts married after graduation. They saved and pooled their money and eventually bought a small house in Washington's South West section, and later on, a second house that they rented out. Joseph owned a small newpaper business and Margaret worked nights as a box clerk in a local department store. Home ownership was short-lived because greedy developers saw this waterfront area, once deemed "worthless" as profitable and through government contracts swooped in and forced out the homeowners who wouldn't sell. Joseph was Honorably discharged from the US Army and worked a number of jobs afterwards, including as a truck driver and as a warehouse meat packer before his death.

Margaret Johnson, on the other hand, took the Civil Service examination and was hired as a stenographer by the Government Accounting Office. She moved steadily up the ladder from there to the Federal Trade Commission, The Bureau of Textiles & Furs, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission, from which she would retire. In 1973 she received her Associates in Applied Science Degree from Washington Technical Institute. [Mike would attend WTI after his military service] She also took classes in Business Law and Consumer Regulations at Federal City College, The American University, and the Para-Legal Program at the University during the 1980s. She eventually purchased another house in 1973 and paid it off in 15 years! It should be noted that Mike has never lived with his mother again after graduating high school and joining the Navy. She raised her children to be independent, and in that regard, Mike definitely took after his mother.

Young Mike was an inquisitive, energetic child with a vivid imagination who loved to read, write, and draw pictures. He was intrigued by the outdoors and all things wild and longed for the day that he would be able to do some of those things. Mike attended Catholic schools, starting with St. Augustine's all-colored school, from Kindergarten to the 5th grade. His parents had separated about this time and Margaret, secure in her new government job, moved her family to Capitol Hill in 1957 where he started the 6th grade at St. Peter's predominately white school, about three blocks from the US Capitol. It was here that his first doorway to the adventures he craved opened. He joined St. Peter's very active Boy Scout Troop, and achieved the rank of Eagle Scout in 1960, and about a year later, the Bronze, Gold, and Silver Eagle Palms about a year later. During this period, Mike also became involved with summer camp programs and a independent camping group sponsored by Family called the Trail Blazers, sponsored by Family & Child Services. He was also an Altar Boy and graduated from St. Peter's in June 1961. [Photo: Mike is 2nd from right on top row] He then attended Mackin Catholic High School, a small school of about 350 students, with a substantial international population. Mike fondly admits that meeting and knowing people from so many different cultures and countries made Mackin his best school years. Too small for a football team, Mackin High was a Basketball super-power to be reckoned with during the 1960s. Mike didn't play ball, but he was active on the Track & Field Team, Cross Country Team, Rifle Team [until mom found out and made him quit], Weight Lifting Team, and the Dramatics Club. In the latter, he had the lead part during his Senior Year presentation of "The Twelve Angry Men." He was also the Art Editor on his Senior Yearbook Staff and did the cover drawing, as well as some of the frontpiece art for the different sections.

Mike graduated from Mackin in June 1965 with his sights set on becoming a Veterinarian. He got a draft notice from the Selective Service that summer and in the September of that same year he joined the U.S. Navy. He was assigned to a Navy Security Group and after Boot Camp at the Great Lakes Naval Training Facility in Illinois, he was eventually sent to the Navy's Communitaion A-School in Bainbridge, Maryland. In January 1967 he was assigned to the Navy Air Station across the river from the Washington Navy Yard, to await orders for his active duty station. Some of this down time was spent by Mike dragging racing his 1958 Mercury Montclair nicknamed "Tarzan" [above] against some of his Navy buddies' cars on Bolling Air Force Base's abandoned airstrip which was adjacent to their In-Transit Navy quarters. In February 1967 he was shipped out to San Diego, California and served two Vietnam tours attached to the Attack Aircraft Carrier USS Constellation, CVA-64 from 1967 to 1969. Afterwards his Honorable Discharge he worked as a Bus Boy, Motorcycle Courier, Park Police Officer, Freelance Photographer, and Driving Instructor. He enrolled at Washington Technical Institute with his GI Bill, this time focusing on becoming a Forest Ranger. However, he couldn't get back into the study routine and dropped out almost two years later. In September 1981 he became a long-distance trucker with Newlon's Transfer of Arlington, Virginia and drove for them until December 1995 when they closed down their operation. This first of three trucking companies, would play a major role in establishing him on the Independent Country Music circuit.

His early influences, the Singing Movie Cowboys like Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Tex Ritter, and Herb Jeffries, the first and only Black Movie Singing Cowboy, and the sound of the Steel Guitar paved his way to Country Music. He later honed himself on the music of Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, and his songwriting idol, Roger Miller. Mike says Roger Miller gave him the songwriting bug.
"I just wanted to be a songwriter! But I've had to do everything else along the way to get there!"

And just how did Mike learn to yodel? "Johnny Weissmueller," he quickly acknowledges. "I grew up during the 1950s and 1960s, a period when adventure movies and cliff-hangers ruled the Silver Screen. Westerns, Gladiators, The Phantom, Flash Gordon, and my all-time favorite, Tarzan! I had also read all of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan novels and the summer camps and Boy Scout camping trips set the stage for many of us to imitate him. I wore out that Tarzan yodel, morning, noon, and night! At one point my mother threatened to ship me off to Africa, much to my youthful delight! So, I was actually yodeling before I even realized it and when I got into Country Music, I already had a major head-start with the yodeling. Without a doubt, it was my yodeling that paved my early music road."

In fact, one of Mike's yodeling songs paints a humorous picture of that. From the main stage at the 2000 Avoca Old Time Country Music Festival, Bob Everhart, President of the National Traditional Country Music Association was handing out awards. Suddenly he turned to Mike, who was video taping the event, and asked him "How did you get into yodeling, Mike..." To which he replied, "Johnny Weissmueller." Bob scratched his head a puzzled moment and then exclaimed, "Johnny Weissmueller. Oh, he played Tarzan! Yeah, I guess that is a yodel..." On 25 July 2001 Mike wrote the amusing yodel song, "Tarzan Did!" under the working title of "The Bob Everhart Song."

Although Mike wrote his first song "Screamin Eagle's Anthem" for his Boy Scout Patrol, in 1957, it was his love of drawing, reading, writing stories, and camping that occupied most of his youthful time. A large number of his artwork was done specifically for his literary works. His art was very popular among his high school classmates.
The mid-1950s and 1960s were exciting times for young Mike. Frank Price taught him how to shoot rifles and how to ride bareback on his mare, Old Bay, at Ivakota Farm in Clifton, Virginia. Sam Buckmaster, a barn builder and waterman in Prince Frederick, Maryland taught him about the river, while Sam's sons Keith, Kevin and Danny taught him crabbing and fishing, and how to handle a canoe and scull a row boat. Primitive camping and back packing was a big deal in his Boy Scout Troop #380.

   Mike, a self-taught swimmer, earned his One-Mile Swim Badge in the Boy Scouts, but had to learn to swim all over when he took the rigorous Red Cross Senior Lifesaving course to qualify as a Lifeguard Assistant at summer camps he worked at.  Good love, bad love and lost love also touched his life, particularly after his return from Vietnam. The death of his father, a best friend, a foster-son, his favorite grandmother shortly after, and his breakup with a childhood sweetheart set the tone for many of the songs he wrote and would write.
   Mike began performing in local bars and honky-tonks in the mid-1960s. The Songsmith, The Shamrock, Southwest Tavern, The Tune Inn, Tucson Café, The Hoffbraugh, Food For Thought, and Lee-Hi's Bar & Grill in Washington, DC. Dawson's Pool Hall in Clinton Maryland; Iler's Store in Ripley, Maryland; Boozie's, Club Stabil, and the Tee-Pee Restaurant in Baltimore, Maryland; and Hillbilly Heaven in Lorton, Virginia, just across the Woodbridge County line.
   After his active duty discharge from the USS Constellation in February 1969, Mike packed up his 1968 Kawasaki A7SS Avenger with his Winchester Model-94 and zipped out of San Diego, California for the East Coast.  He recalls that the weather from California to East Texas was extremly cold, with continuous head-winds pounding him on the open plains. Once home he landed a bus boy job at Mike Palm's Restuarant on Capitol Hill and shortly afterwards, a motorycycle courier job with Mar-Sid's Courier Service. Mar-Sid was also the first official Kawasaki dealership on the East Coast and quickly utilized Mike's coast to coast trip to draw customers to his morotcycle dealership. Mike picked up his music where he left off at some of the former places that he had played. Juggling his time between his regular work, [he always had a day job] camping, shooting, motorcycle, and horseback riding, he began recording some of his rehearsals, and even had a few demos made of some of his favorite songs at Omgea Recording Studio up in Rockville, Maryland. He found a song-demo ad by Globe Recording Studio in the back of a country music magazine  and had them do a couple of his songs. He was slowly trying to convince himself, with encouragemnt from some of his friends, that maybe doing a full studio session wasn't as far-fetched as it had seemed.

   During this time, a chance encounter with a retired Mediterranian Cruise ship singer name Joe Capalbi, would play a major role in Mike's music developement. Known as "Sicilian Soul" during his heyday, Capalbi owned and operated ARDIS MUSIC, a combination music store and gift shop that was located on Connecticut Avenue in Northwest Washington DC. He and his oldest daughter also gave music lessons and had a small stage in the back of the main shop. Mike was working as a Freelance Photographer between regular jobs and often passed by the shop, which incidentally was a couple of doors down from FOOD FOR THOUGHT, a local music hangout, which was next to the old Boy Scout National Headquarters. One day Mike decided to stop in and browse, and Joe, sitting behind the counter playing a guitar, readily engaged him in a conversation.
   "When Joe found out that I was writing songs and that I sang some, he became more interested. He encouraged me to come back and bring some of my own material. For some reason I made special trips to his shop. I would play my Roger Miller, Hank Williams, and Johnny Cash songs. He enjoyed them, but he made it obvious that he was more interested in my songs. I'd been generally reluctant to sing my own songs, mainly because I wasn't that good of a guitarist. Joe was determined, and he began practicing some of my songs with me and giving me music assignments! He'd give me sheet music to other songs and had me practice them. I wasn't sure what was going on, but I kept coming back. Then after awhile he had me up on his little stage in the back. He'd listen patiently and offer his critique, telling me how to stand, how to adjust the mic, and use body language. He'd sometimes invite others to drop in while I was performing. But he was adamant about me singing my own songs. Then one day several months later, he sat me down and looked me square in the eyes, grinning like a tomcat and said to me, "I knew there was a Mike Johnson in there somewhere."
   "I was kinda puzzled. Then he told me that he thought that my songs were just as good as anyone else's out there but that I was short-changing myself by neglecting them to imitate Roger Miller, Hank, Johnny Cash, and others. That was okay to get started he said, but it was time for me to be 'Mike Johnson' and not just another singing clone.
   "It wasn't long after that, that I realized what he had been doing. He had subtly built up my confidence and helped me turn my minor stage fright into a real stage presence. I'll never forget that big proud grin on his face when I returned from my very first Nashville recording session and presented him with a copy of my first 45rpm. He put some of them in his music bins for sale, and even carried some of my sheet music. Joe had very subtly made me get into my songs and discover my own musical self.
   "Wow! When I think back, it's pretty obvious that you don't always know when or where a geniune gift will come from. Joe was truly one of them!"

   This new-found confidence prompted an enthusiastic Mike to extend his music range from 1978 on. Places that would include The Thirsty Camel and Silver Saddle in Norfolk, Virginia; The Covered Wagon, Tex-Mex, Key Hole Inn, Whitey's, and Royal Lee's Deli, in Arlington, Virginia; JVs Bar in Annandale, Virginia. Tiffany Tavern and Cowboy Café South in Alexandria, Virginia, and the Coffee House Of Occoquan in Occoquan, Virginia.
   Heading south he performed at Cap'n Darrell's in Daytona Beach, Florida. The Bowery [former home-base for the ALABAMA Band] and JW's Lil Café in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The Flyin' Dutchmann in Charleston, South Carolina. Johnny Hornes and Pappa Joe's in New Orleans, Lousiana, where he met Rooster, a popular Bourbon Street musician. Two appearances on the Country Boy Eddie Show on Channel-6 TV in Birmingham, Alabama when his truck blew its engine. The Merchant's, Dusty Roads, The Rhinestone Cowboy, Millie & Al's, Tootsie's Orchid Lounge, Squire's, Music City Lounge, Nashboro, Mama Joe's, The Say When-II, The Wagonburner, The Bluegrass Inn, The Ranch House, Lawrence Record Store, and Ernest Tubb's Midnight Jamboree in Nashville, Tennessee.
   Texas included The Holiday Terrace in Killeen, Carmen's in El Paso, the Alvin Opry in Alvin, the Manvel Opry in Manvel, the Pearland Orpy in Pearland, and the Cowboy Museum in San Antonio, Texas.
   The 1860 Saloon in St. Louis, Missouri; The Michigan Jamboree in Hillsdale, Michigan; Suzie Rowles' Country Music Showcase in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and the Traditional Music Association Awards Show, Orrstown, Pennsylvania. The Eastern Shore Opry in Crisfield, Maryland and The John Henry Festival in Morgantown, West Virginia. Avoca's Old-Time Country Music Festivals in Avoca, Iowa, and Missouri Valley's Old-Time Country Music Festival in Missouri Valley, Iowa, to mention a select few, along with numerous truck stops and motel lobbies.
   In 1981 Mike took his Easter vacation and went to Nashville, Tennessee for his first professional recording session at Jim Maxwell's Globe Recording Studio on Dickerson Road. He booked a two-hour session and recorded five songs.
1.King Of The Fish
2.Please Don't Squeeze The Charmin
3.Just A Nobody
4.A Singing Star
5.Little Boys And Doggies.
   From that sprang his first 45rpm single, "King of the Fish" [A-side] and "Please Don't Squeeze the Charmin" [B-side] released on his MAJJ Productions literary banner.
   "I still regard this session as the best one I ever did!" Mike maintains.

   During his week long Easter vacation, Mike frequented Ernest Tubb's Record Shop and their friendly competition, Lawrence Record Shop, a couple of doors down at 409 Broadway in downtown Nashville. For some reason the senior Lawrences took a liking to Mike and they enthusiastically became the first retailer to stock his new 45s. They have been carrying Mike's releases ever since, with the same verbal agreement passing down to the oldest son, Jack, then to the younger son and current proprietor, Paul Lawrence, who sometimes receives a little help from Mike's old mid-1980s drinking buddy, Ted Lawrence, the middle brother. Mike received a email from Paul in early October 2008 informing him that Ted was currently undergoing treatment for a serious medical condition. When you're in Nashville, drop by Lawrence Record Shop and see photos and posters of Mike and numerous other Country artists past and present on their Photo Wall of Fame.
Mike quickly became a regular on Nashville's lower Broadway during the 1980s. He made his first Nashville appearances at The Merchant's, a combination "greasy spoon" bar & grille/flophouse motel, with a stage in the rear. He also appeared on Ernest Tubb's Midnight Jamboree on Broadway and eventually you could find him hanging out with music regulars John & Lois Shepherd, Ronnie Root, Tommy Boyles and Robert Moore, owner of "The Rhinestone Cowboy" bar. He frequented Norma's famous Dusty Roads Bar and hung out with a fella going by the name of Jack "Pop" Stoneman, and his friend, Owen McCarthy when the bar was still on Woodland Street. It was while doing his Globe recording session that he also met Shelby Singleton and Paul Martin over at Sun Records.
   Clifford Abernathy, a local Nashville singer-photographer became a good friend and at times he followed Mike around and photographed him when he was in town. Mike's own photographic skills began to expand during the 1980s as he began photo-documenting as much of his musical exploits as he could, which has resulted in a very sizable collection.
   When Globe Studio relocated to White House, Tennessee in 1983, Mike wished to continue recording in Nashville, so Maxwell sent him over to his friend Jim Stanton at Champ Recording Studio on Church Street, where Mike met and mentored under the founder and owner of the legendary Rich-R-Tone Records and continued to record his songs at Champ Studio until Jim's untimely death in 1989.
   "Jim taught me how Nashville clique thought and worked..." Mike acknowledges.
   It was here that Mike also met one of Stanton's Rich-R-Tone artists, Frank Hunter, The Lonesome Yodeler. They became friends and Frank encouraged Mike to keep up the yodeling and gave him additional pointers. Mike still has one of several of Frank's Rich-R-Tone cassettes and one of two of Hunter's Rich-R-Tone 45's from their music swaps. He donated the other 45rpm to Ken Harrison's Jim Stanton museum project in Johnson City Tennessee around 2006.

Mike joined ASCAP in 1982 and became a full writer member in December 1988, and after song registration and royalty disputes he switched to BMI in July 1994. As Mike's songs gained airplay he inquired about royalties and ASCAP suddenly dropped his membership claiming that they had no record of any of his songs being registered with them! Odd, since Mike has copies of all his stamped and approved ASCAP song registrations! In 1983 he produced "Mike Johnson's Guitar Songs Vol.1", a Cassette Album featuring solo performances on his Kingston guitar. This release also came with a songbook. In June 1983 Mike formed Pata del Lobo Music Publishing and in 1985 released his 2nd 45rpm [left] under that banner with "Hooked On Rodeo/I Hear Her Words Ringing," two of the four songs from his first session at Champ Studio. In 1987 he formed Roughshod Records as his official country label, and You and Me Publishing for his Gospel and non-country songs. Mike has always published and produced his own music and has never been signed to, or recorded for, any label but his own.
"I got a lot of compliments and lip-service, but no one was willing to sign me, record, or produce any of my songs!"

It should also be noted that Mike has never played guitar or any instrument on any of his Nashville sessions. He'll very quickly tell you "I'm not a musician. I'm a half-ass guitar strummer, average singer, and a very good Yodeler!" A proclamation that led to the writing of "I Never Really Learned To Play Guitar," song #2 on the "Black Yodel No.1" album.
   While he started out singing the country standards and yodeling songs like "T For Texas," "Cattle Call," "Sue City Sue" and "Back in the Saddle Again" Mike quickly realized that there were numerous combinations of these yodels that could become distinctly unique on their own. He began experimenting with non-yodel songs like "Jambalaya" which quickly became his signature song, "Oh Lonesome Me," "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer," "Waltz Across Texas," "Happy Trails," and others to test the possibilities.
   This led to writing his own yodeling songs like "Just A Nobody"[18 Mar.71] "I Can Yodel Songs Like Them All!"[23 Jul.81] and "Your Old Lady,"[22 Feb.82] a crowd favorite at Royal Lee's Deli & Whitey's in Arlington, Va. during the 1980s that demonstrated his uniqueness and ability to handle a fast yodel. "Your Old Lady" is a yodel lesson story on how the yodel was born. He hasn't performed it since but has often threatened to re-learn the 5-minute song. The song is, however, on his 1983 "Mike Johnson's Guitar Songs Vol.1" featuring a fledgling Mike Johnson, performing solo on his Kingston Electric Guitar.
   "When I listen to that album, my skin tingles and I realize just how far I've come! I'd sure like a word with the person that let that kid have a guitar and told'em he could sing?" Mike chuckles. "Yeah, we all had to start somewhere!"
Around February of 1983 Mike was with some friends at Michael's Country bar in Virginia Beach. One of them slipped his business card into the tip-jar and the Lead Singer, misinterpreting the "Black Yodel No.1" on the card as a song, invited a startled Mike to the stage to sing it! Mike pretended he had a sore throat and promised that on his next visit he would. Knowing that he couldn't return to the popular night-spot without singing, on 1 April 1983, Mike wrote "Black Yodel No.1," his first wordless yodeling song! It would later be followed by other wordless yodel songs like "Coyote Yodel," "Wild Horse Yodel," and "Black Yodel No.2." These would vie for position with some of his other popular yodeling songs like, "The Yodel," "Yeah I'm A Cowboy,"  "Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven," "I Aim To Be The Best," "Hooked On Rodeo," and the ever-popular "T-Shirt Yodel." Of the 20 or so wordless "black yodel" songs, only Nos.1 and 2 were deliberate. The rest were the result of not being able to come up with a good title. And yes, he did go back to Michael's not long afterwards and performed Black Yodel No.1 to a very receptive crowd.

TAKING IT DOWN THE ROAD:
Mike's local popularity was at an all time high during the 1980s. He was hanging out with the likes of Bob Ellis, Kenny Haddaway, Rick Franklin, and Mary Chapin Carpenter at a number of the local watering holes like Whitey's, The Deli, the Covered Wagon, and the Keyhole Inn, to mention a few. Bill Kirchen, and local singer-songwriter Bill Monroe were also part of that active music scene. With his "I Believe In Roy Rogers" cassette album being sold in nearly a dozen Union-76 truck stops from Alabama and Louisiana to Chicago, Mike Johnson was on a music roll!
Quickly overwhelmed by his busy trucking schedules, neglected art, literary, and photographic projects, Mike dropped out of the performing circuit in September of 1987 and went on a songwriting spree. He returned to the stage in April 1993 with more than 600 new songs and released the Cassette Album, "Black Yodel No. 1, The Song The Songwriter" in September of that year. Mike has since written more than 1200 songs.

   In 1994, his ballad "Did You Hug Your Mother Today?" from a same-titled Cassette Album became his first radio hit. It was the most listener-requested song, playing for three weeks surrounding Mother's Day on Big John Baldry's Michigan Jamboree Radio Show, WBYW-FM 89.9. Big John phoned Mike and sent him a postcard telling him "I can't even have a show! Every time I play it I get calls and they wanna hear it again..." A direct result was the song being picked up by DJ Trudy Burke and becoming a consistent year-round player for several years on her "Make Mine Country" 88.9FM Radio Show in Melbourne/Victoria, Australia.
Big John Baldry hosted the 1994 First Annual Michigan Jamboree for Independent Country performers at the Sugarbush Campground in Hillsdale, Michigan. Owners Kenny and Sharon Sherrill provided the campground. Kenny's band, "The Country Kin" also provided backup for the solo artists. Mike drove his Newlon rig up to the Jamboree because he had a shipment to deliver not to far from there following the weekend event. During that busy weekend he met Ed & Ellie, Singin' Bill Winter, and Johnny "J" Johnston, for whom the Nevada town was named after his song "Puckerbrush." He also met and became good friends with Nashville's Terry Smith, author of the famous song "Far Side Banks of Jordan." Early in his career, Terry Smith had also used Jim Stanton's Champ Recording Studio and at least one of the musician's that Mike had, Billy D. Johnson. Billy has since been co-producing some of Terry's material. Terry and Mike have swapped music tips on many occasions and Mike has bunked at Terry's home on many occasions during his trucking trips through the area.
At the Michigan Jamboree Mike also met Mike Preston of Limington, Maine, a 16-year old fantastic Yodeler who had won virtually every Country Award there was for his age group in the New England states. Preston's mentor and personal friend was none other than Yodelin' Slim Clark. Hearing Preston perform made Mike realize that he himself was getting yodel-lazy. He had been relegating himself to the less strenuous, laid-back double yodels and young Preston's skills made him realize he was slouching on the job. Mike Johnson and Mike Preston received a standing ovation-encore for their yodeling duet of Hank Williams "Jambalaya" which incidentally, is not a yodeling song.

   "Jambalaya" has been Johnson's signature song and ice-breaker since he started performing. During the 1990s Mike's trucking runs again took him through Nashville on a regular basis. Though the face of downtown had changed some, his buddy John Shepherd was still there and often had Mike sit-in with him. Mike met and sometimes sat in with super-picker Zack Taylor, a big crowd pleaser at Tootsie's. He frequented the Wagonburner [now the Bluegrass Inn], Mama Joe's on Dickerson Road, and Legends on Broadway. He did impromptu performances at the Lawrence Record Shop, the Gibson Guitar Cafe, and also sat-in with musicians Steve & Idela Ruby, Jason Capps, Laurie Cannan, and Jimmy Synder. A number of these and others were also featured in his Top-Rail Chatter magazine.

   The 1990s opened more doors for Mike. A resurgence of popularity on the homefront came with meeting more local musicians like Rocky Guttmann, Jeff Seidel, Raccoon, Alan Byrd, Brenda Weitzel, Bill Gibson, Ken Smith, and Al and Starr. Up in Pennsylvania he met the one and only Suzie Rowles and performed on her Country Music Showcase. In 1997 Suzie's Show hosted the Traditional Music Awards and Mike got to meet and rub shoulders with the original Oscar Sullivan of the Lonzo & Oscar duo. And he got a delighted Oscar to autograph one of his Lonzo & Oscar albums that he had purchased in the 1960s! There is a video of this show available and Mike's interview with Oscar. It was at Suzie's Country Showcase on 27 July 1998 at the Capitol Theater in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, that Mike's mother, Margaret Johnson, saw him perform on stage for her very first, and sadly, last time.
   Over on Maryland's Eastern Shore, Mike became a member of the Pat Costello Family's Eastern Shore Opry. [Pat, Patrick, and Trudy Costello] He performed at the 20 April 2006 Show and met the Ray Lewis house band, Blue Daze, and the Larry Stephenson band. Also at that show was Rhinestone Rooster recording artist, Lonnie Lynn LaCour, a longtime friend of "Cousin Ray" Woolfenden, the famous traditional country music DJ from Dumfires, Virginia. When Mike was a teenager working at one of the summer camps in Triangle, Virginia in the late 1950s he listened to Cousin Ray's shows [only local broadcast]and got to meet him. Both Lonnie Lynn, and Mike [many years later] were members of Cousin Ray's C.E.M.B.A. group, and had performed at several of their local music events.
   Mike was selected to M/C the 14 September 1996 Eastern Shore Opry Show, where he met the headliner, Charlie Sizemore, and John Donaldson and his Low Profile band. His friends Terry Smith, the second featured act, and Lonnie Lynn LaCour also performed on this Show.
   Just south of Houston, Texas Mike met and became friends with Ed King and Barbara Dunn in Santa Fe, Texas. They own the Entertainment News music magazine and BJD Wishing Away Records, a radio compilation CD label. A constant weekend guest at their home when traveling through Houston, Mike was introduced to several of the Oprys, including Pam's kitchen, along Texas Route-6. The Alvin and Manvel Oprys where he met and became friends with Smokey Stover, Richard Garza, Ron Eldred, Tim McCoy, and the Ron and Linda Cook band. Even though he was a paid subscriber, he was the only one who provided some up front seed money for Mike's fledgling publication.
   Up north of Houston in Huntsville, Texas he met and became good friends with PJ Price and her family in Huntsville, Texas. PJ was the hottest voice on Independent Country radio during the 1990s until family matters demanded her attention. Mike states that the world lost a great artist when she quit. They have always kept in touch even after Mike quit trucking. She was also one of those friends who rallied to help Mike after his neck injury.
"The greatest news I got was when she called me this past October 2006 to say that she was going back into the studio!" Mike says. "Take Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, and Reba McIntire and mix them in a blender and you've got PJ Price, a super version of Brenda Lee! When PJ sings, she owns the song and she owns you! I'm so glad she's back into her music!"

In January 1995 Mike's Top-Rail Chatter Country Music magazine was born and garnered him another solid following. The Quarterly magazine catered strictly to the Independent singers, songwriters, musicians, and their music, and each issue provided them with useful information about copyrighting, publishing, recording rights, music scams, and the music business in general. The Top-Rail Chatter also swapped information and articles with Allen Foster's Songwriters Monthly and Virgie Warren's Bluebird Country News. Generally printed in black & white, special full color cover issues were printed for special events; such as the passing of Big John Baldry and Ron Eldred, and the 1999 Avoca Old Time Country Music Festival Issue. The publication ran until December 2002, when Mike's busy trucking schedule and his mother's stroke reduced it to a mere newsletter format before publication ceased. Much to the dismay of his long-time subscribers, many of whom had become personal friends. One major highlight of Mike's trucking was that he actually got to meet a lot of his subscribers and other Country Music folk during his trucking runs. Something that he most definitely misses.

During the mid-1990s Virgie Warrenof Flushing Michigan, a virtual "Who's Who" in Country Music was also responsible for some of Mike's expanded exposure through her Bluebird Country News and articles that she wrote for Ralph Compton's Hard Country Beat magazine and Rural Music News. This busy individual had Mike appearing in little independent publications that he never knew existed, including the April 1997 issue of a non-music Flint, Michigan magazine called "The Forum."

In 1998 the "Mike Johnson Country Songbook" [MG069801] was published featuring easy-to-read arrangements to five of his popular songs;
1. Let's Take It Easy
2. Sammy
3. Heaven's Gold Shore
4. Pigtails And Bubblegum [lyric co-writer Leo Maimone]
5. Did You Hug Your Mother Today?"

In February 1998, after performing at the Ranch House Restaurant with Terry Smith, Mike was introduced to Joe Country, the Caribbean American Cowboy from Grenada. They've been friends since, and Mike has done a number of small projects for Joe, including getting him a spot on the Jimmy Kimmel TV Show's comedy sketch, "The Search for America's Greatest Black Yodeler" in 2007. The Kimmel Show execs had contacted Mike expressing their excitement that there were Black Yodelers and asked if he'd like to participate in a yodeling spoof on their show. He turned down the offer because he didn't want his yodeling status and craft portrayed in a comedic and negative light. In response to their request for Black Yodelers who might be interested he gave them contact information for his friends, McDonald Craig and Joe Country. He then called Mac and Joe told them to expect a call so that they would know it wasn't a hoax.

Mike had had a questionable experience with the Steve Harvey TV Show a couple of years earlier. The execs wanted him to teach Steve Harvey how to yodel on a country music themed show they were developing. In response to their request for some background material, they were sent Mike's music biography, the "Black Yodel No.1" CD, and the "Mike Johnson Live!" video, which included his Hall of Fame Induction. After about three weeks preparing releases and travel arrangements [Mike does not fly] the production execs called Mike to question his "country credentials!" The next day they called to postpone his appearance because they had a "scat singer" scheduled they didn't want two performers doing the same thing? The following week Randy Travis appeared as Steve Harvey's country music guest! In response to a possible future appearance, Mike politely told them don't call him and he won't call them. Undaunted by this, Mike continued business as usual. Early on he had learned not to jump on every appearance opportunity offered to him, especially if the venue was not a country music one.

In December 1998, while in New Orleans, Mike met Ian Hoyle, a promising young Jazz Musician with great finger-picking versatility. The two teamed up for several months and Ian worked for Mike on his truck runs. In between they played some local gigs before a family emergency called Ian back home to the mid-west. For the past several years Ian has been working as a session musician and finally relocated to Phoenix, Arizona in April 2007.

In 1999 Mike re-mastered his "Black Yodel No.1" Cassette and released it as his first CD. The last week in August 1999 Mike took a vacation from his trucking schedule went to the week-long Avoca Old Time Country Music Festival in Avoca, Iowa, where he met Sonny Rodgers, a first cousin and the last living relative of Jimmie Rodgers, "The Blue Yodeler." Mike participated in Sonny's 1999 and 2000 Yodelers' Paradise Shows, and would drop in on his new friend whenever his trucking runs took him through Columbia, South Carolina. He was also among the last people to see Sonny alive before he passed away on 1 July 2001.

It was also during this period from 1999 to 2003 that Mike met and became friends with a number of world famous Yodelers at the Avoca Old Time Country Music Festivals held annually in Avoca, Iowa. Most of them them were friends of Sonny Rodgers and performed on many of the Yodelers Paradise Shows that he hosted at different festivals around the country. McDonald Craig, Tom Wills, Janet McBride, Buzz Geortzen, Joyce Leonard, Roy Harper, the Hammer Sisters, Rick McWilliams, Stew & Juanita Clayton, Chris Schurmann, Greta Elkins, and Ben Steneker, to mention a select few. Also at Avoca, he finally got to meet his long time yodeling pen-pal, Donna Hyland from Michigan, and Lou Stebner from Tucson, Arizona. Lou was also a subscriber and a ardent supporter of Mike's Top-Rail Chatter magazine. In 2003, the Avoca Festival moved to Missouri Valley Iowa, where Mike got to meet Jett Williams, the daughter of Hank Williams, Sr. On Sunday, the last day of the festival, Jett and her father, along with several others, were inducted into the Old Time Country Music Hall of Fame. She also gave a very rousing performance to a highly enthusiastic crowd of traditional country music lovers. Juggling several cameras and jockeying for position with other photographers, Mike also captured Jett's Hall of Fame Induction and performance on his camcorder.

    Over the years, Mike has been a member of a number of singer-songwriter groups, including The Country Entertainers & Musicians Benevolent Association [C.E.M.B.A.], The Eastern Shore Opry, The Songwriters Guild, Louisiana Songwriter's Association, The Tennessee Songwriters Association, The Traditional Music Association, The Black Country Music Association, and is still a member of The National Traditional Country Music Association. In April 1996 he was commissioned by the Governor of the State of Kentucky as a Honorary Kentucky Colonel.
   His songs have aired internationally on numerous Independent Country Radio Stations, including, Cousin Ray's WPWC-1480-AM, Dumfries, Virginia; Big John Baldry's WBYW-89.9FM, Grand Rapids, Michigan; Ed & Jolene Bullard's KHKC 103.1-FM, Tupelo, Oklahoma; Trudy Burke's WYN-88.9-FM, Australia; Alex Pijen's 107.9FM, Holland; J.E. Pratos' 106.8FM, France; Bente Kyed's 105-FM, Denmark; Ron Miller's 88.1FM, New Zealand; Rein Wortelboer's 102.6FM, The Netherlands; Dan Hansen's 90.6FM, Denmark; Buddy Max's WKIQ-FM, Lecanto, Florida, and Bart Plantenga's "Wreck This Mess" 88.3 Radio Patapoe, Amsterdam, and Meredith Beal's KCLW-AM in Hamilton, Texas to mention a select few.
   His press coverage has ranged from the smallest Country Music Newsletters to a half-page color article in the Washington Post. Other articles have appeared in Hard Country Beat, Bluebird Country News, Songwriters Monthly, Entertainment News, Tradition, The Forum, Country Tradition, Rural Music News, Country Illustrated, Sharing & Caring, Alabama Songwriters Guild, Country Plus, Manvel Opry Newsletter, The Alvin Advertiser, Country Note Connection, Artists & Writers Fellowship, Country Music Trails Less Traveled, The Old Towne Crier, Lorton Valley Star, the questionable Marquis' Who's Who? and various internet sites. And a video interview for the Down Neck Gazette magazine, owned and operated by the Eastern Shore Opry Costellos.

RECOGNITION:
A major musical highlight for Mike was his inclusion in two of Pamela E. Foster's anthologies about African American involvement in Country Music. He can be found on page 146 of her 1998 "My Country, The African Diaspora's Country Music Heritage" [ISBN-0-9662680-0-8 hardback] [ISBN-0-9662680-1-6 soft cover] and is mentioned in her 2000 "My Country Too, The Other Black Music." [ISBN-0-9662680-2-4 paperback] These most definitive studies, each with a detailed discography chronicle African-American involvement in Country Music from its origins and development to the present, in active roles as singers, writers, musicians, music producers and publishers. Ms. Foster is a Pulitzer Prize Nominee and one of Nashville's well-known and respected Award-winning Journalists. She also teaches at the University of Tennessee and her books are also part of the Recorded Sound Reference Division's music collection at the Library of Congress.

On 1 September 2002 at the Old Time Country Music Festival in Avoca, Iwoa, the National Traditional Country Music Association recognized Mike's contributions to the cause of Independent Country Music by inducting him into America's Old Time Country Music Hall of Fame. Bob Everhart, President of the then 27-year old music preservation organization officiated, presenting Mike to the crowd on the Grand Stage and his photo taken as his plaque was presented. Mike donated a guitar of his that he had written nearly 400 songs with to the NTCMA Musuem. Mike's friend, Terry Smith [songwriter of "Far Side Banks of Jordan"] was also inducted that day, making it a very special occassion indeed.

In the spring of 2003 Mike's song "Hank Sang Mostly Sad Songs" debuted on Dustin Hunt's CD Album "The Man, The Music, The Legend, A Tribute To Hank." [#TMTM1170] This was in return for Mike's mastering to CD, the analog tracks of Dustin Hunt's 1997 "An Echo From The Past...A Tribute To Hank" Cassette Album. [#DHW1170]

In September 2003, Michael T. Wall, the Singing Newfoundlander called upon Mike to master six of his cassette albums to CD:
1."The Singing Newfoundlander, 20 Greatest Hits"
2."Introducing Michael T. Wall"
3."On Stage With Molly And Me"
4."More Michael T. Wall"
5."Sing Along With Michael T. Wall"
6."500 Years Ago, Michael T. Wall."

In late November 2003 everything came to a sudden halt when three of his neck vertebrae, C-3, C-4, and C-5, collapsed on his spinal cord. He and a helper were carrying a dresser out to the trailer he suddenly collapsed and went unconscious briefly. He was treated at the Veterans Hospital in Washington D.C. and underwent surgery in January 2004 at the Veterans Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. On 27 September 2004, Mike's mother died at the age of 75, following a two-year bout with brain tumors.
After almost two years of immobility and rehabilitation, Mike began showing physical signs of improvement. Warned by his Neurologists that his nerve damage will repair at it's own pace and not his, he has been coping.

   On the 5th of January 2005, Mike received a surprise email fromBart Plantenga, author of the 2004 Best Seller "Yodel-Ay-Ee-Oooo, The Secret History of Yodeling Around The World," [ISBN-0-415-93990-9]. In it he requested some biographical information on Mike's yodeling and expressed regret at not having known about him until after the book was published. He was however, working on a follow-up book called "Yodel In Hi-Fi" and wanted to include him, as well as a chapter on America's neglected Black Cowboys. Bart's work is the most definitive study on the subject of yodeling to date, because it traces the yodel's origins to many cultures around the globe, and forever lays to rest the long miss-held Swiss origins myth. Bart is a native of The Netherlands, a DJ, and music researcher. Mike has an autographed copy and is anxiously awaiting the release of Bart's new book.
   On 7 May 2005 Mike dared to go to the Bowery Poetry Club in New York City to participate in the last leg of Bart's 2nd U.S. yodel book promotion tour and performed his "T-Shirt Yodel" sharing the billing with Yodeling Randy Erwin and Lynn Book before an audience of highly enthusiastic yodeling fans. He wisely took the Greyhound instead of driving his pickup truck, and was particularly elated that he suffered only minor hand-tension and no major nervous system fatigue or setbacks. A video of this show is available from Roughshod Records.
   Mike's yodeling song "Yeah, I'm A Cowboy" is one of 18 yodeling songs featured on the Bart's compilation "Rough Guide To Yodel" CD, [RGNET1174CD] Some of the world famous Yodelers included on this release are Carolina Cotton, Kenny Roberts, and his friend Janet McBride. It was released on 25 September 2006 by the World Music Network in London, England.

Mike's collection of 8 short stories, "El Latigo, A Little Known Legend Of The Tijuana Jail and Other Stories" was published in July 2006. The title story, "El Latigo" takes place in early 1967. Mike and some of his Navy buddies go fishing in Ensenada, Mexico and on the way back they stop off in "TJ" Tijuana, Mexico and get a little bit rowdy. And the Mexican Policia got a little bit rowdy back! In the story, "Subic Bay Broncs" Mike encounters and rides some very interesting horseflesh at the Subic Bay Riding Stables tucked away in the jungle foothills on the U.S Navy Air Base in the Philippine Islands. Several other stories involve camping, fishing, hunting, and a campfire resolution with a friend to survive Vietnam. In short, young Mike was never a "couch potato!"
Self-publishing his works since 1977, Mike spent much of his neck injury rehabilitation time re-editing several of his early literary works; "Reflections" and "The Leopard's Cub," first published in 1977 and 1979 respectively; "A Real Live Country Song," "Memories Die Hard," "Close Encounters of A Bear Kind & other Stories" and his 1977 short story collection, "I Wrote'em In School." In high school, to be exact. See our Literary Page "TALL TALES OLD MEMORIES" for some of Mike's short stories. And on their own page, three of his novels "A Real Live Country Song" "Memories Die Hard" and "The Leopard's Cub."

   On 13 June 2006, Mike Johnson celebrated his  60th Birthday. And to prove that he could still yodel with the best of them, he and his super-picking buddy, Jeff Seidel performed at the Capitol Theater in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia.
   Another project still in the wings and making some small progress is a Mike Johnson Art Exhibit featuring some of his many acrylics, pastels, pen & inks, and watercolors. Unfortunately this first love has taken a back seat to his other endeavors. But there's hope yet. At least some of them are presented in his literary works.
   During his post-surgery recovery Mike hosted the Saturday night Open Mic at the Coffee House of Occoquan in Occoquan, Virginia for about a year. In the summer of 2005 his long-time music friend, Brenda Weitzel, passed her M/C spot over to him. He relinquished the hosting spot in September 2006 to pursue some of his other neglected artistic matters. Sponsored by Coffee House owner, Linda Caldwell, the "Friendliest Open Mic in Northern Virginia" runs from 6pm to 10:30pm during the summer months, and attracts a variety of wonderful talent from miles around. Also during 2006 Mike released a CD Single, "Music By Mike" featuring the original Globe Studio tracks to his songs "Little Boys and Doggies" and "Please Don't Squeeze The Charmin." Towards the end of 2006 his "Did You Hug Your Mother Today?" CD album debuted on CD Baby.

   2007 was a busier production year. His ultimate yodeling album "Mike Johnson Yodeling 40 Years" a 2-disc, 50-song CD kicked things off. Then the "Frank Hunter, The Lonesome Yodeler" CD followed in the Special Project category. The tribute release, "To Monna, The Rose of My Heart" CD contains 5 songs written by the Michigan Jamboree's famous Big John Baldry to his wife. It also includes two songs written about Big John by singer-songwriter Ray Jones who sang all of the songs on the album.
   Steadfastly practicing in order to maintain his finger dexterity, Mike practiced more than he ever has in his life and three more of his Guitar series CDs were spawned. Guitar Songs Vol. 3, "The Heartaches Are Calling" features 20 lonely heart songs. Only the title song has yodeling.
    Guitar Songs Vol. 4 "You Never Got To Sing My Songs" a tribute to Roger Miller, was a long over due project. Miller is Mike's songwriting idol, bar none. He had no boundaries and no subject was off limits. Mike poured over many of his songs many, many times seeking out the ones that would best demonstrate the diversity, originality, and spontaneity that he learned from Miller. So far, the feedback says that he's hit his mark. The "Your Old Lady" strut features harmony yodeling.
   The 30 March 2007 Issue of Big-Mag #1, a Netherlands publication, featured Mike in a 5-page article [with 3 color photographs] written by Bart Plantenga. Mike has since been the subject of several of Bart's yodel-book lectures, complete with a PowerPoint Slide Show presentation with readings from the magazine article and other background notes.

   In February 2008 Guitar Songs Vol. 5 "Bad Whiskey, Bad Sex, and Bad Men" was released, returning Mike to his favorite type of songs. Beer-drinking, down-and-out, cheatin' heart songs. No yodeling songs here, but there are a couple of blues favored tunes and a hint of rock and roll swirling around!
   The end of March 2008 saw the recording and release of his first audio book "Reflections." In response to a recent digital-rights spat Mike was having with the publishers of his "El Latigo" book, CD Baby suggested to Mike that he sell it on their site as a Audio Book. [We didn't know that CD Baby sold audio books either!]
   Mike will readily admit that the Public Speaking Merit Badge was his most difficult one in the Boy Scouts! And he sings? Mike has wanted to do an audio book many times over the years, but you know how that is when you have a full plate. Something else always pops up! With nothing but time on his hands while recovering, he decided to give it a serious shot. So he pulled out his 1977 poetry collection, "REFLECTIONS" and read and re-read it aloud for about two weeks before doing the master recording.
   Guitar Songs Vol.6 "Plain Old Yodeling" and Vol.7, "Silly & Sentimental Songs" soon followed, and after 27 years, "Please Don't Squeeze the Charmin" debuted on a CD single as the title song with "Snakes Don't Sleep On A Hot Rock" in the No.2 position! As a Special Bonus, this release also includes the sound tracks and the lyrics to both songs. Visit our Discography Page for a detailed look at Mike's productions, and our Roughshod Records Store Page for a look at the available CDs.

   YouTube has been an invaluable promotional tool for Mike. Having met so many wonderful and talented musicians over the years he decided that it would be a sin to keep them hidden away in a storage bin. So we've been adding them [190 so far] to our site as fast as we can process them. Check it out, you just might see someone you know. Might even be you!

So there you have it. Mike Johnson! Man of many hats, but always Mike Johnson! . . . Joe Arnold

Roughshod Records P.O. Box 100933, Arlington, Va. 22210