Bio Born June 5th 1957 - Ft. Smith Arkansas At age 10 he drove his parents crazy until they bought him a drum set. Then he drove them crazy again banging on them in the basement. His drum teacher told his parents they had wasted their money. Luckily for everyone the drums washed away in a flood a few years later. When Mike would sing in the shower as a pre-teen, his father Blackie Brandon would tell him not to quit his day job. At age 13 Mike was sure the guitar was the real instrument he was meant to play. So his parents bought him an electric guitar and an amp. After 2 years he still hadn’t learned a song. But he did write a song, or part of one in the garage at a friend’s house. Over the next several years Mike would continue to write parts of songs. He became an expert at starting songs, writing half songs, and sometimes he would come very very near to almost finishing a song. He began learning a few songs by popular artists and watched as friend after friend joined or started their own bands. Finally he vowed not to play anything he hadn’t written himself. So for almost 10 years he played part song after part song for himself and friends. He became adept at taking his listeners half the way there, then saying, “that’s all I have so far.” At age 25 he and a friend (Greg Parker) wrote a song for a convention they were going to in Oklahoma. This was the first complete song Mike had ever written. They recorded “On My Way to Shangri La” at Massey Recording Studios in Joplin MO with Grammy winning engineer Vance Powell. No known copies of the recording exist but Brandon and Parker sold over 300 cassettes at the convention after playing the main stage on that Saturday night. This was Mikes first time to ever perform in public. There were over a thousand people in the audience and it was spectacular way to kick off a career. He and Parker would continue to write songs and Mike soon met other writers as well. In the next few years he had surrounded himself with professional musicians. And yet Mike had still never played in a band. When he met Jade DeWelt she asked him why he had never played out. When he told he wasn’t ready yet she laughed and said, “You’re thirty years old, when do you think you’ll be ready?” The next day she booked them to play a free concert at Miners Park in downtown Joplin. It went well. So well that they decided to go to a local club and see if the owner would hire them to play someday. The owner asked how much they charged. Brandon told them the price and he said, “Okay you start tonight. Four sets on the outdoor stage.” When Mike told him they only knew 10 songs the owner said, “No problem, just play em all 4 times.” Brandon, DeWelt, and Oberg played together as Solace for the next few years. Brandon remained the front man until the group ended in the mid nineties. During that time Solace – Where Are You Now, Mike’s first CD, was released in 1994. It contained the first 10 songs Mike and Jade had ever written (the songs they played at that first club gig). Considering the CD was recorded by local musician Mike Avery in his bedroom, the CD did well. Selling almost 2,000 copies in the first year. The Solace CD ended up in the hands of Pat Rogers, then president of the Nashville Songwriters International Association. She suggested Mike attend Song Camp 101 in Nashville. He did and later returned for 102, and 201. This was at a time when it was extremely hard to get invited to these events. While at these camps he met dozens of hit songwriters and it changed everything. Soon Brandon was writing 20 songs a year instead of 1 every 20 years. In 1998 he entered a songwriting contest in Kerrville Texas. He was chosen as a finalist from 555 entries, and went on to be a winner of the 1998 Kerrville Folk Festival. This led to the infamous Tour of Two Cities. He played at the Folk Alliance in Albuquerque And then at Urban Campfires an elite house concert in San Antonio. His folk career was short lived because when he released Everything’s Cool later in 1998 with a fully produced, full band sound, his folk friends shunned the project saying they preferred him solo with just an acoustic guitar. The new CD put his first CD to shame however, and showcased his improved writing skills. Mike and Daniel Kleindienst who he met in Nashville at songcamp wrote a majority of the CD. Tim Thompson (2008 World Finger Style Champion) produced and played guitar on the project, as well as co-writing 3 of the songs. Sales were steady and the title cut Everything’s Cool was featured on each episode of CMT’s “In the Moment” series. That same year one of Mike’s staff writers got a cut on HBO’s Cathouse. By the year 2006 Mike had spent a week a month in Nashville for over 11 years. He had become president of the Nashville Publishers Network, Won dozens of songwriting contests, and had over 30 independent artists record his songs. But still it cost more than it paid to be a songwriter. Deciding that he might never get a big cut he packed it in and swore off Nashville. Closing his office on Music Row, and selling a thriving business he had acquired in Clarksville Tennessee to keep him close to Nashville, he simply walked away. Even his newest CD recorded in 2005 -2006 sat on a shelf unreleased. “I got wrapped up in the business of music instead of the art of music”, Brandon would later admit. In 2010, Brandon and Kleindienst who had only been writing a few songs a year together since Mike had left town, starting writing with new artists together again. Mike dusted off the recordings from 2005 and released “All That’s Left of Me.” Mike was in a recording frenzy in 2010. He recorded 7 of the 10 songs to go on his “All Covered Up’ project featuring nothing but covers. And 11 songs on his upcoming un-plugged project not yet named. Both should be released in 2013. Discography: Solace – Where Are You Now 1994 Everything’s Cool 1998 All That’s Left of Me 2010 Mike Brandon Unplugged 2011 All Covered Up 2011 Songwriting Awards: - Branson Songwiting Contest 1st Place - Tulsa Songwriting Contest 1st Place - Tulsa Songwriting Contest 2nd Place - CMT It all Starts With a Song Rnner Up 1998 - Winner Kerrville Folk festival 2011 - Finalist Tuscon Folk Festival Producing Credits: Alan Young – Last Request Faith – Mike Brandon – All Covered Up Mike Brandon – All That’s Left of me Mike Brandon – Unplugged Patti Johnson – Time Has a Way Robin Powell – Pray Shylo - He is the owner of several companies in the music business. Publishing: Second City Publishing (ASCAP) Three Songs to the Wind (BMI) Digital Planet (SESAC) Recording Studio: Second City Studio’s Labels: Red Letter Records Weeping Onion Records Dot Coms: Songcraft.com Songs: 2013 Jezabel - Kristina Wrenn - Mike Brandon - Daniel Kleindienst Jump Right In - Daniel Kleindienst/Mike Brandon Ode To Johnny - Mike Brandon/Daniel Kleindiesnt Till My Memory Runs Dry - Shelby Lee Lowe -Kleindienst - Brandon 2012 Ain't No Pain in Heaven - Brandon/Mitchell Can't Trust You With My Heart - Bobby Bird/Mike Brandon Carrying Stones - Brandon/Mitchell Food on The Table - ?Wren/Brandon For a Moment - Richard Mitchell/Mike Brandon Harder Than it Looks - Brandon/Scottie Hill Harley's and Horses - Mike Brandon/Simone Simonton Heat - Mike Brandon/Richard Mitchell Honky Tonk Revival - Shelby Lee Lowe/Kleindiesnt/Brandon I Belive in You - Brandon/Kleindienst/Ashlan Grace I'm Not Supposed to Love You Anymore - Brandon/Kleindienst Island With My Name On IT - Mike Brandon/Simone Simonton/Richard Mitchell My Broken Heart - Brandon/Kleindiesnt Napkin Girl - Mitchell/Brandon Pulling Me In - Ashlyn Grace/Louis Kathman/Brandon/Kleindiesnt Slow Dancing - Shelby Lee Lowe/Brandon/Mitchell Someday I'm Gonna Have it Made - Brandon/Kleindienst/Shelby Lee Lowe Stop Drop and Roll With it - Tanya Sue/Brandon/Kleindiesnt Stop Praying - Kleindienst/Brandon/Shelby lee Lowe These days - Brandon This is my Song - Kacey Smith/Kleindienst/Brandon Tonight - Mike Brandon/Daniel Kleindienst Up to No Good - Kacey Smith/Brandon/Kleindienst 2011 Back in Dixie - ?Wren/Brandon/Kleindienst Back it Up - Brandon/Kleindiesnt/Smith/??? Darkness - Brandon Don't Give Me No Lip - Smith/Kleindiesnt/Brandon Dreaming in Dixie - Wrinn/Brandon/Kleindienst Every Part of Me is Yours - Kleindienst/Brandon I'll Be Good To You - Brandon I'm Good - Brandon/Kleindienst/?Wren/Brice Poisen - Smith/Kleindienst/Brandon Safe Place - Brandon Sometimes Love is Not Enough - Brandon/Smith/Kleindiesnt The Boys In The Band - Smith/Kleindienst/Brandon There Will Never Be Another You - Brandon/Kleindiesnt/Smith Until The Heartache Comes.Around - Brandon/Smith/Kleindiesnt 2010 I Think About You - Brandon/Mitchell I'm a Country Road - - Brandon/Kleindienst/Smith I'm Taking My Time - Brandon/Kleindienst Should Have Known Better - Brandon/Kleindienst/Mitchell They've Got Everything - Brandon/Kleindienst 2009 I Know You - Brandon/Kleindienst/Mitchell 2008 You - Brandon 2007 Last of The Legends - McMillen/Brandon What You Really Wanted - Nelda Sisk/Brandon 2006 You Chose The Dreamer - Brandon/Kleindiesnt 2005 All Because of You - Brandon As You Made Your Choice - Brandon/Mitchell County Line Dance - McMillen/Brandon/Kleindienst/McConnell You Chose me - Brandon/Kleindiesnt 2004 2003 American Dream - Brandon Cheaper To Keep Her - - Brandon/Kleindienst I Can Be That Man - Brandon/Kleindienst Let It Go - Ortman/Brandon Not Just Any Love - Beebe/Brandon Somebody's Gotta Lose - Brandon/Kleindiesnt/G. Sisk Spend a Little More Time Having Fun - Brandon/Kleindiesnt They've Never Seen Her - Brandon/Kleindiesnt/McConnell 2002 Amanda's Eyes - Brandon/Kleindienst Good Buddy Leonard - Brandon/Kleindienst/McConnell Only You Can Save Me Now - Brandon/Kleindiesnt Rich Man's Daughter - Kleindiesnt/Brandon 2001 All That's Left of Me - Brandon/Kleindienst I'm Alright - Brandon I'm Not Giving In - Brandon/Kleindiesnt 2000 Jesus Loved The Hell Out of Me - Brandon/Kleindienst Talk With My Heart - Brandon/Kleindiesnt 1999 Coming Through You - Brandon/Powell That Ring Said It All - Brandon Who Loves Me Know - Brandon 1998 Get Your head Out of The Sand- Brandon/Kleindienst/Copeland 1997 Fool For Love - Brandon/Kleindienst Here's The keys Just About Us - Brandon Twinge of Regret - Brandon/Kleindiesnt While She Could - Brandon 1996 If Your Lights Were On Tonight - Brandon 1995 1994 Who Could Give He More - Brandon/Way End