Date of Birth: He won't tell us.
Favorite Bands/Artists: Norman Blake, Steve Earle, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Bill Monroe, Metallica, The Who, MANY MANY MANY others.
Mike and Gabe met in Nashville. Mike had been a street performer there for about five years, and Gabe was just starting to see how well he could do. Gabe, upon listening to his incredible mandolin style, asked him if he could pick with him, as he hadn't had much contact with fellow Bluegrass musicians since arrival in Music City, and Mike asked Gabe to play an original. They picked "Bobby Lee", and Mike, in turn, showed some of his material. Both were greatly impressed with each other's playing abilities and songwriting creativity, and would go on to do a couple gigs together here or there. Gabe continues to this day to try and coax him into playing for him full time after returning to Nashville; he can't get a straight answer! Furthermore, for as long as Gabe is out of the city, they have had no contact, as Mike has no phone. However it works out in the end, Mike is still at this time a street performer that you can catch down on Broadway in Nashville on a Saturday night, although he is, debatably, one of the best, and, undebatably, the most uniquely-styled pickers of the Bluegrass Mandolin to ever grace that city. If you see him on the street there, you can tell him by his heavily-autographed mandolin with a hole worn in it from being picked so much. Throw a dollar in the case and ask him to play an original, then ask him to play "One." Then tell him Gabe says hello.