Hangin’ Out with Nashville’s Honkytonk Hitman

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Mike:I took Alden outside and played her the song. She just sat there and cried and said "that is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me". She looked at me with tears in her eyes and said "I can never pay you back". I just hugged her and said "that she already had".
Since then I have received hundreds and hundreds of e-mails about how this song has helped other people get over their own loss. I re-wrote the song so that it could fit everyone and will be released on my next CD "Walkin' Contradiction".
Note- You can hear this song on Mike's myspace.

Mary: Is there anyone else in your family who's musical?
Mike: My father has a very distinguished deep voice that would be great for singing if he could keep a tune. He can't, trust me I have tried live on stage before with horrific results. My father has no sense of timing what so ever. He is all tone and no tune if you get what I mean. I am also a descendant of Hall-of-Fame country artist Jimmie Rodgers but I am not exactly sure of the connection anymore. I was told that he was my great-great uncle, but have been told since that my great-grandfather Jebediah Rodgers was Jimmie's second cousin. So, I think that makes me more of a fourth cousin then a great-grand nephew. Who knows? I am afraid to shake the family tree too much for fear of what might fall out.

Mary: Who taught you guitar and when did you get your first guitar? What kind of guitar do you play?
Mike: I got my first guitar from a woman who had been murdered in my great-grand mother's trailer park. My great-grandmother gave it to me. I use to love to bang around on it and write my own songs. I started writing when I was ten. My grandfather Ted heard me singing my songs and really was the first person to encourage me to pursue music. We didn't have a lot of money so I never took guitar lessons or knew how to keep it in tune so I quickly lost interest in the instrument.
When I was twenty I went to a pawnshop and bought an acoustic guitar, a tuner, and a chord book and taught myself how to play. I never took a lesson and started learning by playing with friends at parties, and later band members. The guitar is still to this day my weakest link.

Mary: What do you do right before you go onstage, any traditions?
Mike: Pee! I am always afraid I will need to pee during the middle of a show so I make sure and go before hand.

Mary: Who has been your greatest musical influence and why?
Mike: My father was the reason that I fell in love with Merle Haggard and got in to country music in the first place. I can remember traveling from one boxing trip to the next listening to all of Merle Haggard's songs. I will admit that I didn't really like country music at first, but it was my father's love for the music and his exposing me to it daily that got me hooked. My father still has an audio recording he made off of the TV of a Merle Haggard special that you can hear me goo-gooing Da Da in the back ground in 1972.
I got to open for Merle Haggard in 1995 in Bossier City, Louisiana. My father and step- mother came to the show from Little Rock, Arkansas. After the show was over I took my father to the back to meet him. Merle Haggard shook my hand and said, "It was good working with you kid". Then someone took my picture with Merle and my father. I could have died right then and gone to Honky Tonk Heaven. How could it get any better than that?
When Michael David Rodgers Jr. was born the first thing that I said to him was "Can you say Merle Haggard"? That is no joke, when the Doctor asked me why I had said that I told him "that you can never start teaching them about Haggard too early".

Mary: Are there any songs you have a hard time singing because they are just so emotional and perhaps too close to home?
Mike: The song I wrote of my CD "Honkytonk Hitman" called "It's My Heart That's Holdin' On". The only time that I have ever performed that song live was at my second annual fan club party. I lived every word of that song when I wrote it. I actually have some songs that are so personal that I would never put them out on a CD.

Mary: If you could go back in time and see one musician or band in concert, who would you choose?
Mike: I would want to go back to the day you could see a concert by the young Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis when they were out making a name for themselves as they were changing the world of music.

Mary: Who is your favorite country singer of all time, male and female?
Mike: My favorite male singer is Merle Haggard. My favorite female singer is my wife Stacy. She has such an incredible voice and is a very gifted entertainer. She gave up on trying to make it big about five years ago. She was just tired of all of the politics. She loved the music, but grew tired of the business.