Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Mike Younger left home at the age of 17 and cut his teeth as a fledgling street performer in Toronto and Vancouver. At the age of 20, he headed to New York City to seek out the 60’s folk renaissance remnants.
It was while performing live on WWOZ in New Orleans, that this renegade troubadour and poet of roots music caught his first break when a music publisher heard him on the broadcast. Soon after, Mike traveled to Nashville to record demos, and his recordings reached the ear of Rodney Crowell. When Mike signed his first record deal, Crowell stepped in as producer, and together they turned out Somethin’ In The Air in 1999.
In 2001, Jim Dickinson started producing Mike’s second album, which never saw the light of day. The original Memphis sessions featured legends Levon Helm, Spooner Oldham, David Hood, with Jim Dickinson on piano, and his son Luther Dickinson on electric guitar. The tapes from that session fell into legal limbo and were lost for almost two decades. Now recovered, the recordings were completed and Mike finally released Burning The Big Top Down, on August 27th, 2021
Rodney Crowell has said of Mike Younger: “No-shit poetic realism with a tendency to museum qualities…”
No Depression noted “His songs of social conscience suggest Woody Guthrie, John Mellencamp, and Steve Earle”
And “Easy yet effective turns of phrases a la Kris Kristofferson” proclaimed the LA Times
For more on Mike visit: www.mikeyounger.com
