Michael

Michael Hanna was born in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. One of the first sounds that reached his ears was the sound of the Banjo being plucked by his father, an amateur folk singer. He was hooked from the start. Although Michael had begun his guitar study in Guadalajara Mexico on the Classical guitar, it wasn't long before he had his first electric guitar, a Gibson Melody Maker. By the time Michael reached adulthood he had began his career further South as a country rock guitarist with the NorthEast Band in Gainesville Florida, unfortunately during the peak of the Disco craze. After the demise of the NE Band he spent a few more years in Gainesville singing, and playing mandolin and guitar with Country Love, a popular Bluegrass group and playing Slide guitar with a Blues Brothers Tribute Band. Yearning to escape the humidity and flatness of Florida, he fled out West to California. There he majored in Music at the College of the Siskiyous near Mt. Shasta, studying downhill skiing, Jazz, and playing guitar and bass in various ensembles. He also spent time playing tenor banjo and singing with a Dixieland Band, Shasta Mountain Strut. At UC Santa Cruz he continued his Jazz and music studies, writing a thesis on Folk Protest Music. Michael is currently an Elementary School Music teacher in Concord California and a member of Betsy and Mike, who perform music for kids. He has played chicken pickin' lead guitar with ShowDown and Derringer, Jazz with the Bob Schoen Quartet, fusion rock with Shakti, Irish music with Gryphon, as well as many other projects, mostly in Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay Area. He currently lives in El Cerrito where he resides with his family and musical instrument collection.