Recent Posts

THE QUICK SUMMARY

(This is a pinned post summarizing the SneezingCow basics…scroll down for newer posts.)

Mike’s latest book (Forty Acres Deep) (indie booksellers scroll down to lower left for wholesale info). All the other books (including Population 485) and CDs and DVDs and whatnots.

The Voice Mail page. (For free samples, click on the episodes without the miniature padlocks.)

Mike’s ability to spin his 20+ books and wide range of life experiences into humorous and heartfelt live presentations have put him in great demand as a public speaker. In addition to his one-man theater shows, Mike has delivered entertaining keynote addresses at conferences for software companies, hospitals and health care organizations, fire and EMS providers, farming and agricultural groups, national and regional utility cooperatives, business and economic development entities, governmental agencies, mental health organizations, dental hygienists, faith-based organizations, logging conventions, book festivals, MFA programs, libraries, and countless others. If you’re interested in retaining Mike for your event, please contact his booking agent here.

The mailing list signup (explained very specifically). We hope you’ll consider joining; it’s old-fashioned but way more loyal than social media. It’s also the best and most direct way to know when Mike’s got something new or is performing near you.

Upcoming live events.

Free Episode: Michael Perry’s Voice Mail #203: Cowboy Punk

Howdy folks:

Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 203. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click here to listen.

In today’s episode I’m fresh back from a side-trip to Los Angeles which got me somehow to thinking about my short-lived punk rock career and the most important lesson I ever learned about playing guitar. There is also a passing mention of prairie oysters and sousaphones. And a band named Toxic…well, you’ll hear. My mom listens to this podcast, but sometimes you gotta just tell it the way it was.

Scroll down for more photos (including the one referenced in the podcast) and this episode’s marginalia.

Above all, thank you. I’ll keep at it. The writing, that is. The punk rock, that’s over with.

Mike

The previous band-related episode I mention is here.

If the Long Beds are playing near you, it’ll be listed here.

And whether it’s a new book, Mike appearing solo with stories, or the band, you’ll hear about it in advance if you’re on the mailing list.

All the books mentioned in this podcast can be found here.

This was a free episode. If you’d like to receive all episodes, click here. You won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm.

The Long Beds will be playing  a 3-day Wisconsin Tour rolling through Stoughton, Viroqua, and Menomonie April 18, 19, & 20, respectively. All events can be found here.

Long Beds music here.

And here we are gettin’ after it:

 

This Week’s Tent Show Radio: Joyann Parker: The Music of Patsy Cline

Check out Mike (FacebookInstagram / Twitter / Threads) hosting Tent Show Radio. This week’s episode features Joyann Parker performing the music of Patsy Cline.

During intermission Michael Perry shares a humorous or heartfelt (or both) story drawn from his beloved books and offbeat life experiences.

On this episode of Tent Show Radio, enjoy a nostalgic trip back in time as Joyann Parker beautifully weaves the stories of Patsy Cline’s life and career in and out of the music you know and love. In this powerful tribute performance, Parker and her seasoned band showcase the most popular and best loved of Pasty’s songs. Vintage costumes and ambiance enhance Joyann’s uncanny and authentic channeling of Cline’s classic vocals. Hear Patsy’s iconic songs like “Crazy,” “Walking After Midnight,” “Sweet Dreams,” “Faded Love,” “Three Cigarettes in an Ashtray,” “She’s Got You” and many more!

A northern Wisconsin native, Joyann Parker, like many artists, discovered her love of music at a very young age. While the multifaceted and versatile performer found her authentic voice later in life, she has created her inimitable blend of roots music that fuses soul, gospel, R&B, and traditional blues – combined with a voice that is booming and soulful – Joyann Parker is establishing herself as a masterclass performer. Steadily a rising star on the Midwest music scene, with two critically acclaimed studio albums under her belt, 2018’s Hard to Love, and 2021’s Out of the Dark, numerous award nominations, and opening for award-winning artists like Robert Cray and Elvin Bishop, Parker is now bringing her full range of talent as an accomplished singer, pianist, guitarist and songwriter to national and international stages.

Follow this link for all the available viewing options.

Stream it here along with other Tent Show Radio episodes.

Tent show Radio is broadcast each week on many fine independent stations, which can be found here: https://sneezingcow.com/ten-show-radio-stations/.

Michael Perry’s Voice Mail Episode #202: From the Dark Room

Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 202. This one’s available to paid subscribers only. However, if you’re curious, please email [email protected] and we will get you a couple free weeks on us.

Click here to listen.

This one’s a little different than usual. Only one photo, no marginalia, and keeping the email part real short. All is explained in the audio.

(It’s nothing grim.)

This is the book I reference.

Thank you,

Mike

The Keyboard Player and Me

One night way back in the early aughts, I found myself a long ways from home, signing copies of Population 485 at the late lamented Davis-Kidd bookstore in Nashville, Tennessee, when a man placed his copy before me. I took a look at him and said, “Should I make it out to Hobie?”

“How do you know who I am?” he said.

“You’re the keyboard player for Sawyer Brown!” I replied. In the years leading up to Population 485 I paid a lot of the rent by writing about life on the country music circuit. I’d seen Hobie in videos, and backstage a time or two in passing.

And thus began one of those odd, intermittent, easy friendships that spring up when you hide out or hit the road or do a combination of both for a living. About once a year Hobie passes through these parts on tour, or I pass through Nashville, or some other place the band is playing, and we catch up backstage or on the bus. Over the decades he and his bandmates have welcomed me, then me and my wife, then our little family of four. What I love above all is the ease of it. Catch up, compare a few notes, tell a few old stories, and be on our separate ways.

That night back there in Nashville I was on my first-ever book tour. Population 485 didn’t rule the charts or make me rich or put me on tour like Sawyer Brown, but twenty-plus titles later that book still drives the van. And from that moment to present, my now-and-then conversations with Hobie have helped me navigate my middling successes, my minor flops, and still maintain a fresh love for what I do. And when I have something new in the hopper, I often share it early with Hobie (his parents were both English teachers, and he has taught college literature classes between tour dates).

And of course there’s the delight I share with millions through the music of Sawyer Brown, soundtrack to some of my best backroad rides, then and now. Many a smile to the mile, but also songs like “Cafe on the Corner,” which I revisited while writing Forty Acres Deep.

Anyways, here’s to Hobie, and here’s to the boys in the band, still gettin’ after it.

Mike Joins the “Forward Firefighter Podcast”

Mike joins Dan Retzlaff for a conversation about volunteer firefighting, EMS service, and Mike’s book, Population 485. The breadth of topics range from lawyers to soft hands, nursing degrees to “screen time,” and whether you too could/should be a volunteer firefighter, as one of Mike’s friends recently did (and since this podcast has weighed in to report he is 55, not 43!).

Grab a beverage sleeved in your Sneezing Cow can koozie and listen on your favorite podcast platform. More details here

For more about the Forward Firefighter Podcast, click here.