Black Yodel No.1, The Song, The songwriter

Collection Contents

#		Title	Length
1		Black Yodel No.1	2:48	Play
2		I Never Really Learned To Play Guitar	3:32	Play
3		Just A Nobody	3:04	Play
4		Always For You	2:58	Play
5		Hooked On Rodeo	4:07	Play
6		Here's To Jim And Tammy	4:51	Play
7		I Believe In Roy Rogers	3:47	Play
8		Pictures On The Wall	3:31	Play
9		As Long As There Is Music	2:58	Play
10		Me And My Friend Jim	3:18	Play
11		You Scratch My Back	2:25	Play
12		Yeah I'm A Cowboy	3:49	Play

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Description

Mike Johnson is Country Music's No. 1 Black Yodeler. His unique combinations of the Jimmie Rodgers and Swiss yodeling styles, along with being the most publicized, commercially recorded and consistently performing Black Yodeler,firmly established him as such.
Yes, there have been, and are other Black Yodelers, like The Mississippi Sheiks, Stoney Edwards, Slim Gaillard, and Mike's personal friend, Korean War Veteran & Bronze Star winner, McDonald Craig. And no, with all due respect, Charley Pride is not a Yodeler.
On 1 September 2002 Mike Johnson was inducted into America's Old-Time Country Music Hall Of Fame by The National Traditional Country Music Association at the 27th Annual Old-Time Country Music Festival, in Avoca, Iowa.

A BRIEF BACKGROUND:
Born in 1946, this Altar Boy, Eagle Scout and Camp Counselor, graduated from Catholic grade (1961) and high (1965) schools and joined the U.S. Navy in the fall of 1965. He served two Vietnam tours attached to the USS Constellation, CVA-64 from 1967 to 1969. Afterwards he also worked as a Motorcycle Courier, Park Police officer, Freelance Photographer, Driving Instructor and a long-distance trucker, to mention a few. Trucking, starting with Newlon's Transfer [1981-1995] in Arlington, Virginia, would prove to be the most beneficial element, besides yodeling, in firmly establishing him on the Independent Country Music circuit. After 40 years of service Newlon's Transfer went out of business in December 1995 and Mike drove for Interstate Van Lines for almost 2-years and then Apple Transfer for six years.
He grew up listening to and imitating his early influences, the Singing Cowboys like Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, and Tex Ritter. The sound of the Steel Guitar hooked him and paved his way to Country Music. He honed himself on the music of Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, and 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!"
Although Mike wrote his first song in 1957, it was reading, drawing, writing and camping & fishing that occupied most of his youthful time. Pen & Inks, Oils, Acrylics, and later, Pastels, a large number of them done specifically for his own literary works.
Mike began performing in local bars and honky-tonks in the mid-1960s like Iler's Store, Ripley, Md; Boozie's, Club Stabil, Kitty's Place, and The Tee-Pee Restaurant, Baltimore, Md; Hillbilly Heaven, Woodbridge, Va; The Songsmith,The Shamrock, Food For Thought, and Le-Hi's Bar & Grille, Washington D.C. This paved the way to appearances at other places from 1978 on. The Thirsty Camel and the Silver Saddle, Norfolk, Va; and Whitey's, The Covered Wagon, Royal Lee's Deli, and Tex-Mex, Arlington, Va; Cap'n Darrell's, Daytona Beach, Fla; The Bowery, Myrtle Beach, SC; The Flyin' Dutchmann, Charleston, SC; Johnny Hornes and Pappa Joe's, New Orleans; The Merchant's, Dusty Roads, Tootsie's Orchid Lounge, Millie & Al's, Nashboro, The Rhintestone, The Say When-II; Squires, Music City Lounge, The Ranch House, The Wagonburner, Lawrence Record Store, and Ernest Tubb's Midnight Jamboree, Nashville, Tn; The 1860 Saloon, St. Louis, Mo; The Eastern Shore Opry, Crisfield, Md; The Michigan Jamboree, Hillsdale, Mi; The Alvin Opry, Alvin, Tx; The Manvel Opry, Manvel, Tx; Pearland Opry, Pearland,Tx; Carmens, El Paso, Tx; Holiday Terrace, Killeen, Tx; Suzie Rowles Country Music Showcase, Chambersburg, Pa; Traditional Music Association Awards Show, Orrstown, Pa; JVs Bar & Grill, Annandale, Va; Tiffany Tavern, Alexandria, Va; The Occoquan Coffee House, Occoquan, Va. and the Avoca & Missouri Valley Old-Time Country Music Festivals in Avoca and Missouri Valley, Iowa to mention a select few. Along with numerous truck stop lounges and motel lobbies.
In 1981 Mike went to Nashville 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, "King Of The Fish, Please Don't Squeeze The Charmin, Just A Nobody, A Singing Star" and "Little Boys And Doggies." From that sprang his first 45rpm single, "King Of The Fish/Please Don't Squeeze The Charmin." Lawrence Record Store at 409 Broadway in Nashville, was the first retailer to stock the new release, and they have been carrying Mike's releases ever since. It is currently under the management of younger son Paul Lawrence. Drop by and also see a number of Mike's photos and posters, with numerous others, on Lawrence Record's Wall Of Fame.
A regular on Nashville's lower Broadway during the 1980s you could find Mike hanging out with John & Lois Shepherd, Ronny Root,Tommy Boyles and with Owen McCarthy and "Pop" Stoneman over at Norma's Dusty Roads Bar when it was on Woodland Street.
When Globe Studio relocated to White House, Tennessee in 1983, Maxwell sent Mike over to his friend Jim Stanton at Champ Recording Studio on Church Street. Here Mike met and mentored under the founder of the legendary Rich-R-Tone Records, until Jim's untimely death in 1989. "Jim taught me how Nashville clique thought and worked..." All of the songs on the "BLACK YODEL NO.1" album were recorded at Champ Studio, except "Just A Nobody."
In 1982, Country Boy Eddie introduced him to his Birmingham, Alabama TV viewers as "...sounding like Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and Jimmie Rodgers, all rolled into one!" Convincd by this outside acceptance he formed Pata del Lobo Music Publishing in June of that year. In 1987 he formed Roughshod Records for his country releases, and You And Me Publishing for his Gospel and non-country songs. In January 1995 he created the Top-Rail Chatter Country Music magazine and garnered another following. The magazine catered strictly to the Independents and provided a lot of useful information on how the industry worked, and copyrighting, publishing and how to avoid recording and song shark scams, as well as artist and music reviews. It ran until December 2002, much to the dismay of many long-time subscribers.
Mike has written over 1200 songs, including some 50-plus yodeling songs, as well as all of the songs on this "BLACK YODEL NO.1". His song "DID YOU HUG YOUR MOTHER TODAY?" was his first radio hit. It was the most requested song, playing for three weeks surrounding Mother's Day in 1994, on the late Big John Baldry's Michigan Jamboree WBYW-Radio Station. Big John phoned and sent him a post card telling him "I can't even have a show! Every time I play it I get calls and they wanna hear it again..."
Mike's song "Hank Sang Mostly Sad Songs" debuted on Dustin Hunt's 2003 CD Album, "The Man, The Music, The Legend, A Tribute To Hank."
Mike joined ASCAP in 1988 and after a song registration and royalty dispute he switched to BMI in 1994. In April 1996 he was commissioned an Honorary Kentucky Colonel by the Governor of Kentucky. He has also been a member of The Country Entertainers & Musicians Benevolent Association, 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 still [since 1994] The National Traditional Country Music Association.
Mike's radio airplay includes stations like Cousin Ray's WPWC-1480-AM, Virginia; Big John Baldry's WBYW-89.9FM, Michigan; Ed & Jolene Bullard's KHKC 103.1-FM, 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.
His wide-spread press coverage has gone from the smallest Country Music Newsletter to the Washington Post; Including Hard Country Beat, Bluebird Country News, Songwriters Monthly, Entertainment News' Country Western Corner, The Forum, Country Tradition, Rural Music News, Country Illustrated, Sharing & Caring, Tradition, 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, and the Lorton Valley Star.

COMMENTS ON MIKE'S YODELING:
ED KING writes in the June 1994 Issue of Entertainment News, "Mike Johnson, Pata del Lobo Music, "Please Don't Call No More, My Heart Still Sees, Then You Wanna Hear A Sad Song", and "Home For Sunday Supper." Our truck-driving yodeler just keeps getting better & better. If you need a song, Mike has it... Call us."
BOB EVERHART writes in the January/February 1996 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 writes in the January 1999 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 truck driver 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 February 4, 2006 E-mail, "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." Contact: http://www.hillbilly-music.com

MORE EXPOSURE:
Another musical highlight for Mike was his inclusion Nashville's Award-winning Journalist, Pamela E. Foster's "MY COUNTRY" in 1998, and her follow-up book "MY COUNTRY TOO, The Other Black Music" in 2000. These most definitive studies, with detailed discographies, trace and chronicle African-American involvement in Country Music from its birth and development to the present. Not only as mere influences, but also as singers, writers, musicians, mentors, music producers and executives. [Available at Borders Books]
In November 2003 everything came to a sudden halt when Mike suffered a Cervical Spinal Cord Compression from the collapse of three of his neck vertebrae. He was treated and underwent surgery by the Veterans Hospitals in Washington DC and Baltimore, Maryland. In April 2005, after almost two years of rehabilitation and immobility, Mike began making a slow comeback to his music. Warned by his neurologists that his nerve damage will repair at it's own pace and not his, Mike is coping. An additional blow came when his mother passed away in September 2004 at the age of 75.
Mike will soon enter the annuals of Yodeling History in Bart Plantenga's 2nd yodeling book, "Yodeling In Hi-Fi!" which will also include more Black Yodelers and a chapter on America's neglected Black Cowboys. Bart's 2004 Best Seller "Yodel-Ay-Ee-Oooo, The Secret History of Yodeling Around The World," the most definitive study on the subject traces the yodel's origins to many cultures around the globe, and forever lays to rest the long mis-held Swiss-origins myth. [Available at Borders Books]
On 7 May 2005 Mike went to the Bowery Poetry Club in New York City to participate in the last leg of Bart's 2nd U.S. Yodel Lecture and book promotion Tour with Yodelers Randy Erwin and Lynn Book to a audience of highly enthusiastic yodeling fans.
Mike's yodeling song "Yeah, I'm A Cowboy" is on the "Rough Guide To Yodel" Compilation CD, scheduled for release in 2006, and produced by the World Music Network in London. Also in the works is new a Yodel Film documentary scheduled for U.S. filming in the spring of 2006.
In March 2006 Mike was given a Tribute Page Janet McBride's Website by her Web master, Paul White. Both Janet and Mike performed on their friend Sonny Rodgers' 1999 and 2000 Yodelers Paradise Shows at the Old-Time Country Music Festival in Avoca, Iowa. The late Sonny Rodgers was a 1st. Cousin of Jimmie Rodgers, The Blue Yodeler. Janet McBride, the reigning Queen of the Yodelers, has been performing more than 50 years. Her yodeling song "A Yodeling Addiciton" is also on the "Rough Guide To Yodel" Compilation CD. You can visit Mike's famous friend at www.heroeswest.com/YodelQueen.
Mike's 20-year trucking career is over, but not his music! He still has plenty of that to go around. Since his comeback performance in the summer of 2005 he has been polishing up his old songs, writing new ones and M/C-ing the Saturday night Open Mic at Linda Caldwell's Coffee House of Occoquan. 202 Commerce Street, Occoquan,Virginia. [703-492 8976 - 7pm to 11:30pm] Actually, a lot of the Musicians come to the "Friendliest Open Mic in Northern Virgina" for the Open Jam that takes place after the Open Mic has finished.

MIKE JOHNSON DISCOGRAPHY:
45 RPMs: Out of Print
1.King Of The Fish & Please Don't Squeeze The Charmin
2.Hooked On Rodeo & I Hear Her Words Ringing

CASSETTE ALBUMS:
1.Mike Johnson's Guitar Songs Vol.1
2.I Believe In Roy Rogers
3.Did You Hug Your Mother Today?
4.Black Yodel No.1 The Song The Songwriter

CASSETTE SINGLES:
1.Did You Hug Your Mother Today? & Little Boys And Doggies
2.Just A Nobody & Always For You
3.Take Time Out & Snakes Don't Sleep On A Hot Rock
4.As Long As There Is Music & Black Yodel No.1, The Song The Songwriter

CD ALBUMS:
1.Black Yodel No.1, The Song The Songwriter
2.Did You Hug Your Mother Today?
3.Country Classics Radio DJ Special [Special Project]
4.Yodeling McDonald Craig [Special Project]
5.Mike Johnson's Guitar Songs Vol.1
6.Mike Johnson's Guitar Songs Vol.2
7.Mike Johnson Live!
8.Three Country Music Yodelers Who Just Happen To Be Black! [Special Project]

CD SINGLES:
1.King Of The Fish & Please Don't Squeeze The Charmin [20th Anniversary Issue]
2.Take Time Out & Little Boys And Doggies
3.Let's Take It Easy & Did You Hug Your Mother Today? [Piano solo by Thanh Bui]
4.Hooked On Rodeo & I Can't Believe I'm Fallin'
5.Your Cheatin' Heart & He Stopped Loving Her Today [Special Project]