Hurricane Mike Thompson profile picture

Hurricane Mike Thompson

About Me

Singer/songwriter of roots; country folk and blues. Influenced by the work of Merle Haggard; Bruce Springsteen; Steve Earle; John Fogerty; classic traditional blues and country/ bluegrass styles. Presently in a blues duo and also playing pedal steel for The Judy Kanyo Band. Here's“HURRICANE” MIKE THOMPSON,….at a glance:Multi-talented performing musician: doubles on harmonica; guitar; dobro; bottle-neck slide guitar; pedal-steel; lap-steel; eight-string Hawaiian steel; electric bass; and mandolin. Independent recording artist.Prolific singer/songwriter whos’ works have been commercially recorded by others. Musical and songwriting influences include: Tom Russell; Merle Haggard; David Essig; Steve Earle; Kris Kristofferson; Jerry Jeff; Bob Dylan; and Harry Chapin. Any writer that’s good.Very partial to traditional blues of Mississippi Fred Mc Dowell; Mance Lipscomb; Sonny Terry and Brownie Mc Ghee; Big Bill Broonzy; and Muddy Waters. A lover of good country music, roots,; and any music that stirs or says something of value.Has recorded with: Roy Payne; Don Bray; The Salads; Mummble Ducks; Bob Segarini; Judy Kanyo; The Mercey Brothers; Harry Hibbs; Canadian Zephyr; Jason McCoy; Sweet Daddy Siki (ex-wrestler,..) ; and Helen Reddy.Has done shows with: Murray Mc Lauchlan; Sawyer-Brown; Jack De Keyser; Harold MacIntyre; Patricia Conroy; and Shirley Eikhard. Jammed with The Good Brothers; Prairie Oyster; Dallas Harms; Jerry Jeff Walker; Jeff Healey; and Dan Walsh, to name a very few.Has written songs for: Ontario Government; private industry; network and independent radio spots and commercial jingles; and has had songs recorded by Wayne Rostad; Kevin Kelly; Linda Bates ( deceased); and a host of unknown artists.Awards and acknowledgements: recipient of “Oprey Orillia” Instrumentalist of The Year 2000, for steel-guitar; also Entertainer of The Year, 2000,-01 awards. Received plaque of appreciation from Royal Canadian Legion,..also honoured and recognized by Canadian Armed Forces for performance of patriotic original work,”Flags of Freedom”, a tribute to Canadian troops in Afghanistan.Presently receiving air-play on own self-produced “indie” acoustic blues CD, “Voices From Other Rooms”, from Canada, U.S., and overseas. Also internet exposure and overseas air-play on “Flags of Freedom” and “Colder Days”.Recently recorded two dobro instrumental recordings of standard hits for Heritage Music, A.K.A. Condor Records: “Dobro(R) Pickin’”(country); and “A Dobro(R) Christmas”.Assembling original material for next recording project which will contain more story-songs and singer/songwriter fare than previous albums.Personal life: resides in Newmarket with wife and daughter. Drives truck for a living. Enjoys inventing and tinkering with ideas, astronomy, ( "Always wanted to become an astronaut; only got as far as space-cadet..."), and cooking. Dislikes rudeness; flies; and the colour brown.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 8/21/2007
Band Website: www.northernecho.ca
Band Members: Hurricane Mike Thompson: harp; pedal steel; lap steel; acoustic guitar; electric guitar; mandolin; resophonic squareneck guitar; resophonic roundneck guitar ( bottleslide), bass,..sings and writes. Presently playing in The Judy Kanyo Band and is on her latest CD, "Not What I Had In Mind'. Harmonica on, " Walking On The Blue-side" and lap steel on, "100% Pure Texan".
Influences: My guitar-playing is influenced by everyone from Brownie McGhee to Doc Watson. Mance Lipscombe and Fred McDowell are in there too. I'm a finger-style player so most of those influences have the same traits when it comes to guitar-playing. John Fahey was a huge influence along with Rev. Gary Davis...and Brownie McGhee, of course. I get shivers every time I see a photo of Brownie's D-18! I played it!. As for harmonica playing, the influences are many: Sonny Terry for sure. Mickey Raphael is another; Jimmie Fadden of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band; Charlie McCoy; Little Walter; Big Walter; Lazy lester; Michael Pickett; Doctor Isaiah Ross; Paul Butterfield; John Sebastian. John Sebastian's "Night Owl Blues" was a jumping off point for my getting into electric harp. But any of the old classic bluesmen, rural and Chicago-style have had their work well-appreciated by myself at least. My bottleneck styles range from the influences of, Muddy Waters; Robert Johnson; Johnny Shines; Bukka White; Paul James; Mississippi Fred McDowell; Ken Hamm; John Hammond; Mark Selby; Gove Scrivenor; and David Rea. My resophonic influences come from all the great reso and dobro(R)-players: Josh Graves; Mike Auldridge; Jerry Douglas; Rob Ickes; Phil Leadbetter; Randy Kohrs; Sally Van Meter; Tut Taylor; Andy Hall; Andy Ruff; Martin Gross; Stacey Phillips; Josh Graves Jr; Tim Graves; Pete Kirby; Cliff Carlisle; Thumbs Carlisle; Jason La Prade and Dan Walsh. That's only a very few. Pedal steel and lap steel influences: Buddy Emmons; Lloyd Green; Ralph Mooney; Jeff Newman; Herb Remington; Buddy Charleton; Bud Isaacs; Reece Anderson; Al Perkins; Freddy Roulette; Sonny Rhodes; Cindy Cashdollar; Speedy West; Lucky Oceans; Doug Jernigan; Herby Wallace; Buddy Cage; Neil Flanz; Jimmy Day; Al Brisco; Doug Johnson; Bob Lucier; Paul Franklin; and most of all Paul Evans of Ambassador Records, who got me interested in becoming a steel-player in the first place.
Sounds Like: Some say it's more like Neil Young; others say John Prine; hard to say for sure,..hopefully sounds like an original.
Record Label: Heritage Music/ Condor
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

Music is to be shared.

Welcome to my second blog.... Last weekend I had the pleasure of being hired to perform at an 80th birthday party. I was contacted earlier that week by a bluegrass buddy who has a  fine studio in...
Posted by on Sun, 11 May 2008 18:18:00 GMT

First time at trying this blog stuff so here goes..

O best beloved,... This is the strange sad tale of the two Boyd brothers, Eddie and Johnny. Eddie and his brother Johnny both lived up in the colder regions of the country. And winter was always parti...
Posted by on Wed, 30 Jan 2008 14:46:00 GMT