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

RCD58: Mike Johnson's Guitar Songs Vol.9 Acoustic Series "I Must Heed Its Call" (20 yodeling songs)

RCD59: Mike Johnson's Guitar Songs Vol.10 Acoustic Series "You Can't Take the Yodel Outta Me!" (20 yodeling songs)

   On 29 August 2016, in a ceremony officiated by Bob Everhart, president of the National Traditional Country Music Association, Mike Johnson receioved the 2016 'Lifetime Achievement" Award, and his label-mate, James Adelsberger received the Rural Roots Music Commission 2016 "Instrumental CD of the Year" Award on the Main Stage at the week-long 41st Annual Old Time Country Music Festival in LeMars, Iowa. Roughshod Records released its 51st & 52nd CDs on 13 August 2016. Mike Johnson's 14-song "Let Me Die In a Honky Tonk!" and James Adelsberger's 13-song "My Heart Still Sees!" In August 2017 Mike Johnson received a "Legendary Honky Tonk CD of the Year" Award for the Honky Tonk CD. On 13 June 2017 Roughshod Records released it 54th CD "Covering James Adelsberger" featuring Mike Johnson singing 13 songs that were recorded by James Adelsberger, and on that same day, You and Me Records released two James Adelsberger Instrumental CDs, "Going Places!' and "Here We Go Again!" These CDs are available from the Roughshod Records online Web Store.

   There have been other Black Yodelers in America. Most of them had their hey-day during the Minstrel and  Stringband era 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.

And just how did Mike Johnson learn to yodel? 

   "Johnny Weissmuller," 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 read all of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan novels in grade school, 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 in Avoca, Iowa, Bob Everhart, President of the National Traditional Country Music Association was handing out awards and he suddenly turned to Mike, who was videotaping the event, and asked him "How did you get into yodeling, Mike..." To which he replied, "Johnny Weissmuller." Bob scratched his head a puzzled moment and then exclaimed, "Johnny Weissmuller. 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."

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

BRIEF FAMILY BACKGROUND:   

   It has often been said that to truly know and understand a person you have to know something about where the person came from. Since I’ve known Mike since day one, I can tell you first and foremost that he is not the product of a poverty-stricken, drug and violence infected ghetto, slum, or public housing. While this seems to be an all too favorite assumption by journalists, reporters and biographers when presenting many of our non-Anglo and ethnic Americans, Mike enjoyed a nurturing and structured working middle-class upbringing where respect, discipline and chores were the household rule, not the exception.

   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 conveniences 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 affectionately 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 the first-born...

   Margaret 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 would eventually purchase another house in 1973 where she raised her youngest daughter Gail and Gail’s first born, Genell. She paid off the mortgage in 15 years! It should be noted that neither Mike nor Renee grew up in this house. He never lived with his mother again after graduating from high school and joining the US Navy in 1965. Margaret was a fiercely independent person and she had raised her children to be independent as well. In that regard, Mike definitely took after his mother.

   He then attended Mackin Catholic High School, a small school of about 350 students, with a substantial international student body. 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 his mom found out and made him quit], Weight Lifting Team, and the Dramatics Club. In the latter, he had the lead role 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 front piece art for the different sections.

   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 extremely cold, with continuous head-winds pounding him on those long stretches through Arizona and Texas.

   Once home he landed a bus boy job at Mike Palm's Restaurant on Capitol Hill. Palm's sons, Mike Jr. and Herbert were in St. Peter's Boy Scout Troop 380 as kids along with Mike. Feeling confined and restless, he became a motorcycle courier job with Mar-Sid's Courier Service. Mar-Sid had recently opened the first official Kawasaki dealership on the East Coast and quickly utilized Mike's coast to coast trip on his Kawasaki to draw customers to his motorcycle dealership.

   While waiting for a slot as a Park Police Officer he worked at the Wonder Bread factory on the conveyor line catching the breads and pastries and racking them. If they ran out of racks, the bread kept coming and there was a mad scramble to find more racks! Mike swore off of bread for about six months! 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 1973 became a Freelance Photographer. That kept him too busy and after several other ventures, like Store Detective for Sears & Roebuck and Housing Police Officer he got itchy feet again.

   Mike began performing in local bars and honky-tonks in the mid-1960s clear on up to his military service. 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. His early influences were Singing Movie & TV Cowboys like Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Tex Ritter, and Herb Jeffries, the first and only Black Movie Singing Cowboy. The sound of the Steel Guitar coming from Mary’s Blue Room on Capitol Hill paved his way to Country Music. After Friday night scout meetings he and his friends often took the long way home so they could sit outside the little honky tonk and listen to the music. He would later hone 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.

   After his military discharge he 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 Omega 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 encouragement from some of his friends, that maybe doing a full studio session wasn't as far-fetched as it had seemed.

   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 sweet-heart set the tone for many of the songs he wrote and would write.

   "I just wanted to be a songwriter! But I've had to do everything else along the way to get there!"

   "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 songs, preferably non-yodeling songs. He was more interested in the quality of my writing and not a distracting gimmick. 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. And yes, I was using my yodeling to compensate. 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 in April 1981 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 genuine gift will come from. Joe was truly one of them!" 

   In April 1981 Mike decided to take the plunge! He took his Easter vacation, packed up his Chevy C10 pickup and drove down to Nashville, to do   his first professional recording session at Jim Maxwell's Globe Recording Studio at 1313 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.

   Clifford Abernathy, a local Nashville singer, songwriter, and 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. His biggest regret is that he didn’t have a camcorder, or at least a decent 8mm sound camera.

   Following a five year stint with the Housing Police Mike landed a job as a long distance trucker for Newlon’s Transfer in Arlington, Virginia in September 1981. He 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 and his music would air on many international radio stations.

   Following his 1981 Nashville session, more local places were added. He began exploring places in Virginia which included The Covered Wagon, Tex-Mex, Key Hole Inn, Whitey's, and Royal Lee's Deli, in Arlington, Virginia; JVs Bar in Annandale, Virginia. the Thirsty Camel and Silver Saddle in Norfolk, Virginia; Tiffany Tavern and Cowboy Café South in Alexandria, Virginia, and the Coffee House of Occoquan in Occoquan, Virginia. It was during the 1980s that his trucking kicked in and expanded his range further south and west. The Newlon's were country music fans and fans of Mike, and made sure that a lot of his trucking trips covered places where he performed, and opened up new venues for him.

    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 Horne's and Pappa Joe's in New Orleans, Louisiana, 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.

  Texas included The Holiday Terrace Motel in Killeen, Carmen's Bar in El Paso, and through his Texas friends Ed and Barbara King, the Alvin Opry in Alvin, the Manvel Opry in Manvel, the Pearland Orpy in Pearland, and an impromptu performance at the Cowboy Museum in San Antonio, Texas, owned and operated by his colorful friend Jack Glover.
   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.

   Mike joined ASCAP in 1982 and became a full writer member in December 1988. But 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 lyric book with chord charts.

   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. Following Jim Stanton's advice, in June 1987 he formed Roughshod Records as his official country label, and You and Me Publishing, for his Gospel and non-country songs. He also formed You and Me Records for those non-country songs but the ones he recorded seemed to make their way over to Roughshod Records with a “country” twist. 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 his 1993 "Black Yodel No.1" cassette 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] the latter, a crowd favorite at Royal Lee's Deli, and Whitey's in Arlington, Va. during the 1980s that demonstrated his uniqueness and ability to also 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. While the song never made it on any of his commercial releases, in April 2007 it would be featured in his 4-disc 114 Yodel Song Archives that would be acquired by the Recorded Sound Reference Center at the Library of Congress in Washington DC. 

   However, on his 1983 "Mike Johnson's Guitar Songs Vol.1" featuring a fledgling Mike Johnson, performing solo on his Kingston Electric Guitar, Mike states "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,Virginia. 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 his 50 wordless "black yodel" songs, only No.1 and No.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.

Rolling On Down the Music Road

   Mike's local popularity was at an all time high during the 1980s and his national base was growing. 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. He knew Bill Kirchen, and a local singer-songwriter name Bill Monroe who also sang some of Mike's songs. With his 1986 "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.

   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 1996 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 Dumfries, 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!"

During the mid-1990s Virgie Warren of 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 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.

   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.

   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 lost his balance, his hand & finger dexterity, and virtual control of his bladder and bowel movements. He first went to a local NOVA Hospital and they misdiagnosed him, telling him that he had arthritis and gave him a bottle of pain pills and sent him on his way. When he asked them why he kept falling down and couldn't control any of his body functions they told him they didn't know, that he should go see a specialist! After a week of stumbling around his home both he and his friend Roy Jobber decided that his condition was serious and on 12 December 2003 Roy took him to the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Washington DC.  The Emergency Room Tech got it right and called Neurology who re-examined him and immediately checked him into the neurology ward. He was treated under the care and supervision of Dr. Sandbrink 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.

   During the early stages of almost two years of immobility and rehabilitation, he sold half of his 16 guitars, thinking that he would never play again. Then his stubborn determination and to be bed-ridden kicked in and he 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 learned to proceed at a less stressful pace gradually building up his strength and in the end surprising his doctors with an unexpected 89% recovery.

   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. 

In February 2008 Guitar Songs Vol. 5 "Bad Whiskey, Bad Sex, and Bad Men" [RCD28-0208] was released. Mike returned to his favorite type of songs; beer-drinking, down-and-out, cheatin' heart songs. No yodeling songs here, but there are some blues favored ones 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." He readily admits that the Public Speaking Merit Badge was his most difficult one in the Boy Scouts! And he sings? Mike has wanted to do this many times over the years, but you know how that is, something else always pops up. Being retired from trucking and with lots of time, he decided to give it a serious shot. So he pulled out a printed edition and read and re-read it aloud for a week before recording it.

   Guitar Songs Vol.6 "Plain Old Yodeling" [RCD29-070801] and Guitar Songs Vol.7, "Silly & Sentimental Songs" [RCD30-070802] soon followed.    After 27 years, "Please Don't Squeeze the Charmin" [RCD31-S070803] debuted as the title song on a CD single with "Snakes Don't Sleep On A Hot Rock" on Track No.2. Charmin was first released in 1981 on the flip side of his 45-rpm single "King of the Fish." As a special bonus, this new release also includes the sound tracks and the lyrics to both songs.

   In October 2010, Mike and the rest of world-wide movie Tarzan fans were sadden by the passing of Johnny Sheffield who played Boy in Johnny Weissmuller's Tarzan films, and more recently by the passing of Cheeta in December 2011. On 15 December Magnus Talib of the Swedish TV6 reality show contacted Mike attempting to interest him in participating in their "99 Things to Do Before You Die" TV show and allow their hosts Erik and Mackan to hangout with him for a day and learn how to yodel. Unfortunately they had confused the two cities of Arlington and Mike, not able to get away at the time, referred them to his yodeling friend Janet McBride in Fort Worth Texas, closer to the Arlington they were going to.

   Mike's life continues to be a work-in-progress, revising and completing old projects and creating on new ones. The year 2011 proved to be a busy one full of old and new projects. Though he intentionally didn't do too much local performing and missed out on the 2011 LeMars Festival, it was a small concession compared with the mission at hand. One of the most important one's being the ongoing Library of Congress Mike Johnson video project. And on a sad note, two of his music friends passed away. Wade Mainer, often referred to as the Grandfather of Bluegrass, at the age of 104, and Geneva Sullivan, widow of Oscar Sullivan, of the Grand Ole Opry duo Oscar and Lonzo.

   In June 2011 Mike received this email notice from Duncan Baker stating in part; "I am the owner of Sounds Essential Music, a music publishing business with a registered office in the United Kingdom and staff in New York, which seeks to secure outstanding monies generated through the replication, public performance, broadcasting and/or paid subscription service of copyrighted compositions in the United Kingdom. I recently came across some works and discovered through research that there are opportunities for you/the copyright holder of the composition to collect revenues earned within the United Kingdom...?

   Baker was referring to the World Music Network "Rough Guide to Yodel" CD release containing Mike's song "Yeah I'm a Cowboy." There had been problems securing royalties from that label and though the CD featuring 18 different yodelers was terminated only two years after its release, physical copies were still selling in brick & mortar stores throughout Europe as well as online, both as physical copies and as digital downloads. Not quick to swallow any bait, Mike first did some investigating to see if Sounds Essential was legit, and after substantial frustrating attempts to locate anyone who had ever heard of the outfit, Mike contacted the MCPS in the United Kingdom. Their data base revealed that Sounds Essential has been a registered small publisher member since March 2006 and was indeed authorized to collect mechanical royalties. For a 25% fee, that is. Mike turned down Duncan's offer and joined the MCPS and licensed his song with them in August 2011. MCPS [Mechanical Copyright Protection Society] is a United Kingdom performing rights society similar to BMI and ASCAP in the US. They have the authority to collect up to seven years back royalties for any music that is released by a publisher or record label in the United Kingdom. In October 2011 MCPS informed Mike that their processing was complete and that they were sending the World Music Network an invoice for back royalties due!

   In 2011 a number of things transpired. In February 2011 Mike's music began receiving spins from DJ Julie Matheson of Icarna Radio Station in Australia. In July Mike rejoined Sound Exchange, a royalty collection agency authorized to collect royalties from digital radio streaming and broadcasting sites, for performers and copyright owners. They have a listing of at least 20 of his song receiving radio airplay. In June Mike and thousands of BMI members received their first royalty checks from the newly launched [December 2010] BMI Live! program. This was a very, very long overdue program that FINALLY got around to actually paying BMI songwriter-performers royalties from the License Fees that they have been collecting from live music venues for decades! This money had always been used to fund other BMI projects. He was also very impressed by the per-song payout rates. In July, Mike managed to draw Bob Ellis out of a 20 year performance hiatus, for the first of a several performances at a couple of local Northern Virginia venues. Simply put, Bob hasn't lost his touch! Bill Gibson, another of Mike?s music friend's performed and posted a version of Mike's song "I Never Learned To Play Guitar? on his own Youtube site. Bill is a very gifted musician who hosted a number of local musical events, including a long-running tenure a Open Mic host at Tiffany Tavern in Old Town Alexandria.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8MuxVYAApM

   Mike reformatted and updated his discography book, and began adding to his official music biography beyond the 45-page 8" x 11" edition that the Library of Congress has in it collection, with more details and more photographs in store. The 2009 edition of his paperback novel "A Real Live Country Song" [about a hitch-hikin' yodeling cowboy] was also reformatted for eBook distribution by Book Baby, a CD Baby affiliate. This was deliberately intended to be sort of a companion piece to Plantenga's forthcoming second book on the history of yodeling, "Yodel In Hi-Fi." He ended December 2011 with the posting of his song "A Tit is a Tit is a Tit" and started January 2012 with the posting of 9 Mike Johnson songs, one of them the "Dog Pound Yodel" scheduled for release on one of Bart Plantenga's forthcoming yodeling CD projects.

   On 24 January 2012 BookBaby began distribution of the ebook version of "A Real Live Country Song" and it's currently available on the following sites; Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo Books, Sony, Copia, and Apple iTunes, among others.

   Unfortunately we don't remember her name, but I'm sure it's around here somewhere. And to Mike's surprise she lived in a nice house in a quiet upper North West neighborhood not far from an uncle. Mike also made sure that he got a picture of him holding the book. You should have seen the surprised look on her face when she realized that Mike was the author after he gave her a specially prepared poster with photos of him in 1979 holding the very first copies he had just finished binding. Mike personally bound and sold 300 hard bound copies and vowed to never to do that again. That was a lot of work and the subsequent issues would be paperback! He even showed her the recently finished pre-publication copy of "What The Jungle Saw" and told her it would be ready sometime over the summer. She was elated and wanted to know if Mike wanted her copy. No thanks, he still had the first copy, and the original printing formats.

   In the interim, Mike became distracted from his written biography. Not unusual, because every time he looks at his book cases or into one of the file cabinets, he finds something else that needs attention! Well, he really wasn't in a writing mood and he suddenly got the strange notion that maybe it would be easier if he pulled out some of the magazine articles and music reviews of him and used them to help put things into perspective and chronological order. Well, why in blazes did he do that! Very soon the written biography was forgotten and the material gathering project took on a life of its own! He was first amazed and soon overwhelmed by the volume of material, and equally so by the fact that he had actually kept them!

   In Mike's own words, here's what happened. "Well, it started off simple enough. I started with the formatted pages in my updated discography which contained images of my first demos, 45s, cassettes, CDs and music books. Then I scanned the articles and reviews in Ed King's "Country Western Corner" and Allen Foster's "Songwriters Monthly." This was gonna be easy I thought. I'll wrap this up in no time. Then I saw Virgie Warren's "Blue Bird Country News" and Bob Everharts "Tradition" magazines! After a couple days of scanning I was having second thoughts, but by now I had dubbed the project "Mike Johnson's Music Anthology" and vowed I'd have to see this through. I gave it a rest for a couple of days and went back to the bookcase and started pulling out things! Wow, I had no idea!

   After a week or so the project was renamed "Music, Magazines, Videos, and Reviews." I had added the covers of the 16 "Mike Johnson Live!" DVDs that were also in the discography and the Library of Congress' Moving Images collection. Then I discovered more magazines and newsletters. The late Ralph Compton's "Hard Country Beat" and Norb Payne's "Country Illustrated", PJ Price's "Country Tradition" and Grand Old Opry Oscar Sullivan's newsletter, to mention a few. Well, why not add some old flyers, posters, and portraits. Okay, and while I'm at it why not include some music awards, certificates, etc. This led the title to be changed to "I Only Wanted To Be A Songwriter."

   Whew! I was really wondering when and where this thing would end because I had now exceeded 120 pages! Then I saw Terry Smith's "Terry Smith & Friends" newsletters, the late Wild Bill Halbert's "Caring & Sharing" magazine, and suddenly decided, hell, why not include my Top-Rail Chatter Magazine. So I added the covers of all 28 issues and two random pages from each issue. I was kinda glad I did, because right after my mom died in 2004 I had started a commemorative issue that got sidetracked and I thought this would help get me in the mood to finish it up with all the things that had occurred in between. Well, I'm still working on that. But I did revisit the radio playlist matter and thought that it wouldn't be fair if I didn't include some of them. After all I'd been getting some good airplay for the past 15 years until my neck vertebrae collapsed and I had to drop out of the music scene for several years. I scanned the best copies I had and decided I had to try and wrap this puppy up. The spine was a full inch thick and the book, heavy! I knew I was finished, after a few more tidbits but something kept nagging at me. By chance I flipped through my discography book to see if I'd forgotten something and low and below, I had. My songs on other people's CDs, and my music books.

   Then I discovered the missing link! I've often been asked how my 'singing and yodeling career' and my reply was and still is, I just wanted to be a songwriter! And thus the official title, "I Just Wanted To Be A Songwriter, a Mike Johnson Music Anthology." One of the criteria for registering the ISBN number is the book's dimensions and weight. Two pounds and seven ounces! In January I created a PDF version on DVD for those not willing to shell out close to $40.oo for the printed version which is currently print-on-demand. I'm still searching for a cost effective printer with lower price rates.

   Mike was amazed at how he captured the feelings in the songs that would be on Roughshod Records 41st CD. "Livin? Lost Love on the Jukebox Again" backed with "The Heartaches Are Callin?" on track two, the latter also a yodeling song.

While preparing a couple more songs for James to create tracks for, Mike offered to produce him on his own CD, but that they had to be Mike Johnson songs. James accepted and Mike gave him more music to listen to and pick from. However, he and his father, Bernard, were told that if it appeared that this was distracting him from his home and school priorities that he would suspend the project until he had more time. With all in agreement, James picked a couple of songs, "Me And My Sad Self" and "Or You Can Tell Her That You're Sorry" two beer drinking songs from Mike's Guitar Songs Vol. 5 Acoustic Series "Bad Whiskey, Bad Sex, and Bad Men" CD. They proved to be a little too much for him and he asked to change songs. Not wanting to add to the pressure cooker and definitely not wanting lose such a talented musician, Mike agreed. From Guitar Songs Vol.4 "You Never Got To Sing My Songs" [a tribute to Roger Miller] James picked "Back Home Again" and "The Holy River." These were much more within his vocal range, but as with any newcomer, James again began delivering every voice under the sun except his own. So Mike stepped in and began offering him pointers as well as assuring him that singing doesn't always come natural to everyone. Most of us have to work at it.

   Eventually, Mike solicited some feedback from some of his talented music friends, and we'd like to again thank you for your valuable input. Peter Annemiek [DePlayer Magazine, Netherlands] * Trudy Burke [DJ Make Mine Country Radio, Australia] * Sharon Cotton [Recording studio owner, California & daughter of yodeling Carolina Cotton] * Joe Country [the Caribbean Cowboy, New York] * Bob Ellis [Singer] * Bob Everhart [President of National Traditional Country Music Association, Iowa] * Rick Franklin [Piedmont Blues Musician, Virginia] * Bill Gibson [Singer, Maryland] * Buzz Goertzen [the Idaho Yodeler, Idaho] * Rocky Guttmann [Singer, Virginia] * Paul Lawrence [Lawrence Record Shop, Nashville] * Janet McBride [the Yodeling Queen, Texas] * John Miner [Music researcher, Kentucky] * Betty Preston [Mike Preston's former manager, New Hampshire] * PJ Price [Singer-Songwriter] * Dave Sichak [Music researcher, California] * Bill "Two Dogs" Thorne [Singer-songwriter, Tennessee] * Judy Welden [Singer-songwriter, Georgia].

Sometimes young'uns can be a little head-strong [weren't most of us at that age?] and tend to take the Sensei lightly. ["wax on - wax off" ] Your outside dose of music reality helped bring him back down to earth and made it a little easier for Mike to achieve what he was after. His natural voice and vocal consistency.

   James took the critiques very well and went at it again, only this time with Mike pulling some of his creative juices and reining him in to rehearsing with the demo versions of each song from scratch to master. After about six months under some very extenuating circumstances, [school, chores, orchestra shows, two bands, and college auditions] Roughshod Records 42nd CD "Back Home Again" backed with "The Holy River" was born!

   Mike had also been anxiously awaiting his copy of Bart Plantenga's "Yodel In HiFi" his second book on the global history of yodeling. The University of Wisconsin Press had set back the spring publish date to September and almost ran into a snag. Bart sent Mike some last minute 'rights requests' to use several photos of yodelers he had taken, and he was feverishly trying to wrap up the book's index. He also asked for an update on Mike's P.O. Box address and ended up sending the book to the outdated one anyway. When Bart rechecked and discovered his mistake, he had the publisher send Mike another copy to his home address. Both of them were sure the book would be returned to the sender, which as Mike would find out, was actually sent by the publisher and not Bart. Publishers usually give their writers complimentary copies to give to friends and contributors, etc. They probably did send him some for his Netherlands people, and used a list supplied by him for us in the US. That makes sense. The first book arrived on 26 December 2012, just in time for Mike to include page 30, half of his profile, on the last page of his anthology, print, and hand deliver the deposit copies to the Copyright Office. The second one came in January 2013 and now Mike has two copies. One for the shelf and one to show off!

   "I Just Wanted To Be A Songwriter, a Mike Johnson Music Anthology" is 390-page visual presentation of nearly everything from 1980 to December 2012 [except from the internet] that has ever been printed, published, produced, and distributed by, and about, Mike Johnson and his music. Loaded with images and details of 45rpms, cassettes, CDs, and music books, along with some old portraits, flyers, and posters sandwiched between awards, certificates, radio playlists, the covers of all 28 issues of his Top-Rail Chatter Independent Country Music magazine along with two pages from each issue, they pave the way to 274 pages of articles, contributions and music reviews. You not only get to read about Mike Johnson, you also get to know scores of other music folk sharing page space with him in most of the publications, as well as a unique view of what was happening on the independent country music circuit during a given period because each page is identified by the publication's name, date, edition, and city of origin. We live just across the river and Mike has always hand delivered his copyrights since 1977. This way he gets his Copyright Certificate back sooner. In fact, his Certificate arrived on 14 February 2013.

   In December 2012 James informed Mike that he'd received a letter of acceptance from Belmont University on Nashville's Music Row where he wants to become, "the best all-around musician possible..." He's graduating in June 2013 and keeping his options open for now, but when he does decide we have no doubt that he'll become a very notable and sought after musician. We're very proud to be a part of this young man's growing music career.

   Towards the tail end of December Mike got an email from Mary Wedgewood at the Library of Congress informing him that their system was now set up to join the rest of the world in distributing and registering ISMN numbers. She needed some test subjects and wanted him and several others to try out the format and provide some feedback on how it worked. Mary had been working on this most of 2012, and had been trying to convince her superiors that there were still flaws in the system. With feedback from Mike and number of others that she'd been working with, she worked tirelessly and finally sorted it out.

   On 7 January 2013 Mike returned to the Library of Congress, but this time to the Performing Arts Reading Room to meet with three Library of Congress officials who were anxiously awaiting his new anthology. Janet McKee started the ball rolling back in 2007 when she acquired 114 of Mike's yodeling songs. Patricia Baughman acquired Mike's music books for their Reading Room, and Mary Wedgewood, in charge of acquisitions and processing and head of the Library's new ISMN Department. She was directly instrumental in having four of Mike?s music books to be among the first to be registered in new International Standard Music Numbering system database. Similar to the ISBN numbers, ISMNs are for notated music. And the nice thing about it is that other countries charge a fee for the numbers, but the Library of Congress doesn't.

   The trio expressed their excitement over the new addition and they held a photo op. Of course they did! This is better than Nashville! Mike also promised to get back to editing and formatting some more video performances for their Moving Images department. A project he was supposed to be working on before he got sidetracked with the anthology and James' CDs. I know, I know. Excuses, excuses! LOL! And incidentally, the inclusion of James' CD in Mike's anthology also makes him a part of American Music History.

   On 23 January 2013, the 7-year contract on Mike's book "El Latigo, a Little Known Legend of the Tijuana Jail and Other Stories" expired and he's not renewing the contract. They were very lazy quazi-publishers so he's going to reformat it and publish it himself in paperback and ebook format.

   Old music friend Kenny Haddaway from the 1980s came to town on 30 January 2013 to jam with some of the old gang at Tiffany Tavern down in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia and it was good excuse for Mike to get out and away from the desk. There he got together with Andy Nocero, Dave Sergeant, Larry Tapper and Ben to stir up a little music. Then old friend Bill Gibson came to Tiffany's Tavern a week later, and you guessed it, Mike got out again! It was fun and he got some interesting video footage. Ha! More stuff to edit and eventually add to the project.

   In February 2013, Mike mailed out the first batch of his and James' new CDs to Lawrence Record Shop in Nashville, radio DJs, and a couple of magazines. He was also relieved to find a lot more DJs willing to accept MP3 uploads, particularly overseas, since that postage has doubled and almost tripled depending on the country. He's still working on more consignment outlets and always seeking new radio stations to add to the long list he's compiled over the years. Some are gone, but new ones take their places and we're grateful to each and every one of them.

   With the main hoopla over Mike thought he could sneak a little break and then he realized that he had delayed James recording contract because for awhile it looks as though he wouldn't complete the project. The songs had to be completed and released within a certain time frame and Mike didn't see the rationale in potentially unnecessary paperwork. Even though James was brought onboard the label in November 2012, he signed his official recording contract on 13 January 2013, with Bernard, his very proud father, co-signing. On 4 February 2013 the trio met for lunch and Mike had James autograph his official portraits for some radio DJs, including one for Mike and his dad and he then presented him with his official Roughshod Records Recording Artist Certificate. Everyone went home happy.

   On 13 February 2013 both of James' songs got their first radio airplay by DJ Cowboy Werner on Gerry's Radio Sound of Heaven Show in Germany. Within two days of his promotional video being posted, they received 31 and 41 hits, more than Mike's had on his own videos in quite some time in such a short period.

   Are there still unfinished works you ask? You betcha! He's still editing "Deadly Vengeance" and still editing "Close Encounter of a Bear Kind and Other Stories" (alternate title is "Tall Tales & Old Memories") and still working on his art book, and still, need I say more!

Stay tuned folks, there's plenty more to go, the Good Lord willin' and the crick don't rise!

FOOTNOTE:

   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 tucked away in a storage bin. So his YouTube Channel became a wonderful extension of his expired Top-Rail Chatter magazine, and it currently (2022) contains 1260 videos featuring not only Mike and James, but a lot his music friends, truck driving trips, and more... and no click bait.

   We've have been extremely busy over the past few years with new productions. You and Me Records released its 6th CD in June 2019. Roughshod Records released its 55th CD in January 2020. James Adelsberger received two CD of the Year Awards; in 2015 and 2016 respectively, and his james Adelsberger Country Songbook published in August 2020. Mike received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016, a CD of the Year Award in 2017, and has recovered pretty well from a May 2018 stroke.

   Y'all come back and see us, ya hear!

                                                                                                                                                                       Joe Arnold, Roughshod Records * February 2022