Who Is Mike Evans?
Mike Evans was born and raised in Parkersburg, West Virginia. Raised on bluegrass and country it would stand to reason that Mike would find his way to playing mainly bluegrass music. Mike started playing the guitar at the age of 7 and has not looked back. Because of this it is no surprise that his main influence was Flatt & Scruggs. Although Mike is a fine lead player he really shines as a rhythm guitar player. Mike plays a wonderful old D-18. The guitar and him were meant to be together as the guitar was made in 1952 within 2 weeks of the day Mike was born.
Mike has played in numerous bands over the years. In the mid -1970's he played with the Hocking Valley Boys. His longest stint by far has been with the West Virginia band Surefire. Surefire was together for eight years from 1992 to 2000. They played many shows over the eight years. This is really when Mike's affinity for songwriting took solid root. Surefire performed several of Mike's compositions. Mike has also performed with the band Stoney Creek..
Mike is a fine tunesmith. Brink Brinkman says, " The first time I heard several of Mike's songs we were jamming at a festival and started swapping original songs. I was blown away by the quality of the songs that Mike had written. He has a natural ability to put together fine melodies and marry them to down to earth, everyday lyrics..not an easy thing to accomplish." Brink and Mike have co-written successfully together on songs such as Dwight McCall's new recording of "My Caroline In Carolina" and upcoming recordings of his songs "I've Traveled Down This Lonesome Road Before" and "I Can't Bear The Thought of Losing You". Look to hear these last two from major bluegrass artists this fall.
Bottom line we are sure happy that Mike is publishing his material through Brinksongs. Give a listen to some of Mike's originals and you will draw your own conclusion that he is one fine tunesmith!