First let me thank you personally for visiting us here on the web. The support that we get from our friends and family make our goals in the music business an ongoing lifelong adventure that we all seem to thrive on. And its people like you that keep us going!
Now.You want to know about me?......well OK here goes.
I was born in Atlanta GA, in 1958. I graduated from Berry High School in Birmingham Alabama.But college was not for me. I discovered the guitar at the age of 11, and knew that this was going to be a big part of my life. At the age of 14, I began playing in night clubs around Birmingham. My employer actually had to legally adopt me in order for me to even enter a nightclub..LOL.. I was hooked on Country music right from the start.
After graduation, I moved back to Atlanta on my own at 18 and promptly began working with Buck Starr. Buck and I spent the next seven years together working what to me was the dream job of a lifetime. We spent 50 weeks a year traveling all over the US. 3 months out of each year we were working for the USO. We traveled abroad entertaining US servicemen all over the world. Absolutely no responsibilities and freedom beyond compare! What more could a man want?
During my travels I discovered something else..aviation.I earned my private pilots license when I was 22, and in the back of my mind I wondered what it would be like to be the pilot in command of a jet aircraft. All the while, on the road I concentrated on music and flying. Years later I wound up in a great band in Tallahassee FL. Hutch & Brand. Although we were a top 40 band and played very little country, they were all very talented, and very rehearsed. This would be my last full time job as a musician.
At the age of 28 now, I decided I was going to stop playing music full time and concentrate on flying. By now I had earned all of my professional pilot ratings, and 3 instructor certificates. I could fly and teach in just about anything with wings. During this time though, the music never left me. I practiced all that much harder.
I became a courier at night for Barnett bank flying checks, and after only 1 year had enough flight experience to earn a job flying for Fed-Ex. I spent the next 5 years literally away from home and through this married and fathered a beautiful daughter, now 12 years old. But Fed-Ex wasnt going to be my last stop. I quickly tired of the schedule and wanted to move to the corporate field. Now at 42 I am the captain of a state-of-the art 10 million dollar business jet, and hold several type specific jet ratings. I work for a private individual here in Jacksonville that owns a NASCAR Team!.... The best part about this for me is that I have plenty of free time to do what I really love to do!play country music.
Out of the blue I got a call from Ronny McKinley, and Jody Beggs. They were in need of a pedal steel player in Bronson for the weekend. I had the best time Id had in years.
Right from the start there was something different about playing in this band.
I can say that in the back of our minds we would all like to have a hit record in the near future, and move this to a higher plane, but what is really the most gratifying thing about playing with this band for me is very simple. We have such a good time together doing what we love to do, and we all get along so well.
I have played as a sideman in a thousand bands over the years. This is the first time I really felt like I was in the right place. Ronny and Jody write some of the best C&W songs I have ever heard. Listening to them harmonize just makes my night. Although I dont get to make every job, when Im not flying, thats where youll find me
So let me thank you for taking the time to read my bio! Please let us hear from you. We make new friends everywhere we go, and we want you to be one of them and altogether well..
PUT EM UP..!
& PUT EM DOWN..!
Ciao!........Mickey
