Neil: Well I’m here with the person I’ve known longest in my life, other than anybody in my family. Mike
and I met, it’s Mike Mullins. We met, when we were teenagers and we’ll minimally try to figure out like
when was that exactly. How long exactly …but the one that…, when did you started playing the guitar?

Mike: I started playing when I was like, my first time was 10. I am interested at since i was 9. You know
we grown up around the house listening with a lot of ahm hope to music. Remember the

Neil: Kicks and trill and stuff?

Mike: Yes Martin ,he was the great folk music scare of the1960s.

Neil: Yeah

Mike: Yes,Kicks and Trill, Lime Lighters, peter … mary. ohm,you know

Neil:..

Mike: Exactly yeah. And some Allan Sherman records…(laughs) I can’t believed it. My son is a folk
singer.

Neil: Yeah

Mike: So I can have this kind of ringing around at my head with this sound of acoustic guitars but I didn’t
know it is interesting and then I saw the Beetles and The Ed Sullivan show and somewhere out love it
and then you know…

Neil: And then get serious about this.

Mike: That I wanna play the guitar and my parents kinda just, they have a bad experience with my
brother playing the trumpet. And so you know, it just that so they got him the trumpet and he would sit
there in his room driving his own nuts.

Neil: yeah.

Mike:….sort of emanating from the intersanctum and anyway the guitar they figure out what harm can
do the guitar so yeah when I was 10 and started taking the basic guitar method.

Neil: Oh so you’re taking lessons like once a week, taking from the teacher

Mike: Yes taking lessons from a guy named George Long on randalina has a music store in… and
Californian and he was a great teacher and he’s in Oklahoma and he smoke like a chimney and he cough
all the time and eventually, unfortunately like 6 mons of taking lessons he has poor health and gave up
his store and unfortunately that’s was the end of my learning to read and I started playing by year after

that I didn’t have any foundation…

Neil: So you at least have enough of a foundation though to be able to take it a step further

Mike: Yeah

Neil: You’ll knew that ok this looks higher than this one or whatever and then you can figured out how
to play an audio and some chords stuff.

Mike: I had a guitar teacher none of them really stuck you know and basically ruined you know I get
chord books and stuff but I wasn’t very good but I mostly played by ear, I would just listen to records
and try and learn what was on there.

Neil: Yeah

Mike: And I develop an ear in a way it’s kind of a double edge sort of, because I sort of lost the thread if
I took half of this assistance I didn’t from their I did not it’s you that can hym build a knowledge music
theory and made music.

Neil: We’ll I was always fascinated by that I mean it just suck me and the whole, I’ve always been
fascinated by Math and puzzles and logic.

Neil: This time for music to me was just like another, was a big little puzzle to solve.

Mike: That sense an idea. That’s a tremendous tool I have in your arsenal and wish I had kinda gone
that way but i was kinda do it right not to believe you guys will..(laughs), but yeah and then we met.

Neil: Well that we’re on next, so you were ahm, I definitely met you at so …it was a camp for teenagers
or I don’t know, I was probably, I was trying to figure out even the first year i was with you’ve been
there or you have longer than I am.

Mike: I went there when i was 10 years old.

Neil: Yeah.

Mike: Or nine. My Sister was a counselor, my brother is a dishwasher and yes I was nine by 1964 and I
came to you in recovery year but I think we met about ’69.

Neil: Yeah I think, I was trying to figure out the first year I was there if maybe in ’69 or maybe in ’68.

Mike: Yeah.

Neil: I can’t remember but

Mike: we met each other in ’68.

Neil: Oh, maybe.

Mike:: I was only there in ’68, I was there only 2 weeks and that was my shortest …

I was all there all summer. My parents got rid of me through the whole summer and …

Neil: it is a …session. (laughs)… that would have been the last session… T

And I think that may have been, I may have been that year in the …

Mike: I think you’re in an earlier year. We miss each other that year.

Neil: But ’69, … knew it was ’69 ah because I was trying to remember this morning, what I can remember
about you is I wanted to camp. I remember watching the moon landing at camp.

Mike: yes.

Neil: So that was like my first camp. Remember, may not be the first year that I was there, but I do
remember that I could at least pin down okay, summer ‘69 I was at camp.

Mike: You brought that little black and white thing in the dining hall.

Neil: Yeah.

Mike: That was only the time I was gonna recall seeing a television there. …

Neil: I know. Whatever he wants..

Mike: Yeah, he’s started on like next to the big Jackson pastry dishwasher.

Neil: Yeah

Mike: and just sitting on the ..

Neil: we’re very, Mike and I we’re there as dishwashers. We couldn’t afford to full race. So we will be in
there for half a price as long as we wash the dishes every meal. So now that was the only thing we got to
know each other.

Mike: As my dad want to build my character to a .. . It was not really that bad.

Neil: So I can still remember the, there was this music contingent you know and I can’t remember how
you and Chris Clark and who was the other one? I think it was him.

Mike: Chris Clark was the guy…

Neil: He’s older than you.

Mike: yeah, He was a couple of years older than and he’s ah, I he has a great acoustic guitar and he
knew lot of songs and used kind of you know and just he knew lot of songs that I wanted to learn.

Neil: Yeah I remember the first time I heard a song like For What is Worth

Mike: And he is a better guitar player than I was because he played the guitar a little longer and he’s an
older guy. He’s voice are actually changing to sing.(laughs) And yeah, he was there, I kinda hang out with
him.

Neil: Yeah.

Mike: And he was wanting to put up with us

Neil: Yeah it was. I remember, I definitely remember you know, a couple of years younger than all of you
guys. And Ah, but I didn’t see my guitar 6:09 become musical bodies eventhough there was little bit of
age difference.

Mike: Yeah, I was, were you being aware age term hearing you play in doing the finger stuffs already
and commit as fascinating and eventually I become frustrated with being instyle for myself. It seems I
am always stuck in just one gear. You know I can do the James Taylor thing but as far as like when you
started playing all the box up and you know what I’m not into bluegrass and started to learn play. I’m
playing mandolin too but yeah I remember you’re playing like some theme called shades of punk.

Neil: Oh men. That is on the site now. I was like save the funk There was like the first thing to pick the
song I learn. (playing guitar)

Mike: Yeah

Neil: And I was always mesmerized with songs I wanted to learn like Black Bird and Simply Chris or you
might have a little to handle on what’s going on on black bird.

Mike: I learned that. Actually, an open tuning. I can’t remember and now it was not the way it was
played

Neil: No. It is a liitle bit easy and it’s open G tune.

Mike: Yeah I think that’s how I learned it and yeah I wanted to learn that’s.

Neil: 7:19

Mike: But I’m worrying playing that shade of punk and had that alternating baseline when I’m trying to
that somehow it’s gonna turn around and then

Neil: Yeah

Man 2: and then I just you know sort of riding into a hole. But

Neil: Yeah.

Mike: As it commence it got it really played.

Mike: (laughs) Aha

Neil: I remember trying to work out stuff like Angie. I’ve never either you or Chris messing with Angie.

Mike: I am sure you will with Angie

Neil: 7:36 I Have this really cool. (playing guitar)

Mike: yeah.

Neil: Keep that kind base single. And there was also just out of the time that was not gonna be it was
classical jazz and then I think I gotta learn how to play that someday or something you know. So that’s
what the huge influence on that and doing it at the sametime.

Mike: Yeah I was in the campfire this was recording the second cd we did is about the late 90s. It was in
the Sanford valley it’s kind of reap…this little home studio and this older guy he was up one day he just
hanging out and was just listening he was like holding a book and we came out of the blue and doing
something and Rick it’s like had Mason Williams I mean there buddies or something…

Neil: Wow

Mike: I mean Rick with all these people down there and he was like ‘Oh My God’ like you know playing
guitar and Mason Williams is out here.

Neil: Yeah

Mike: Yeah you know

Neil: Yeah

Mike: He was nice he was complementary and stuff plus I was trying to do fingerstyle stuff (laughing)

Neil: You know I got really neat correspondents for him for a couple of years ago.

Mike: Really…

Neil: He sent me,,, copy of his own book (background strumming), that has all of his own and stuff in it
and I’ve sent him some of my own albums. I was actually trying to coarse him into come in down here
and do a concert with, with sort of my you know so I contact him I love to know he’ll doing this shows
on…and stuff…

Mike: Yeah

Neil: He lives in Jean, Oregon

Mike: Oh you do…

Neil: And I sent to him my album and a little bit of what I did, you know I heard back from few months

ago he was really complementary with the albums it was really neat you know…I loved listening to his
stuff it so cool and things like that.

Mike: Wonderful

Neil: So its kind of need to get the nod from…

Mike: Yeah

Neil: Coz I really look at Classical Jazz as the greatest guitar piece that have written for couple of reason
I mean there are a lot of others, but from a pop culture point of view its mainstream its everybodys
heard I mean…

Mike: I loved it,,, everybody I mean I wait for it to come on the radio.

Neil: Yeah

Mike: I don’t have the record but I just would you know. Everytime it came on I turn off the volume

Neil: Yeah.

Mike: And I tried to learn how to play it too and it’s never not much pass,,,first couple of measures

Neil: Yes its tricky.

Mike: Its harder than i sounds.

Neil: it is because it’s not a normal fingerpicking piece, it’s more of a Classical guitar piece, it’s got. It’s
got some symmetry going on in their, it’s place it.\’s kind of just free form composition and its stunning.

Mike: And I think I saw him doing on the Mother’s Brother show or something

Neil: Yeah.

Mike: It’s mothers brothers comedy on anybodys…

Neil: Co’z he was a writer on the show

Mike: Yeah

Neil: Yeah with Steve Martin and those guys.

Mike: Steve Martin has a brand new Banjo record album.

Neil: yes you can see him as well as his music or something.

Mike: Yeah, he decided to play with his Banjo music for his living to his money was all gone.

Neil: Yeah (laughing) yeah…