Interview with Michael Johnathon, November 16, 2016

Partial Transcript: This is November 16th. I'm here with Michael Johnathon.

Segment Synopsis: Michael Johnathon introduces himself as a folk singer who loves music, family, and nature. He briefly talks about his experience in Appalachia and how that transformed his life. The interviewer notes that Johnathon is also a CEO, a fundraiser, a producer, and an activist for the humanities.

Keywords: Folk singers from New York; Nature lovers

Subjects: Appalachian Region; Folk singers; Musicians

Partial Transcript: But let's talk about New York. Let's go back to, to those beginnings

Segment Synopsis: Johnathon talks about his childhood memories of his mother playing guitar. His father died just before he was born, and he was not allowed to talk about him growing up. Though he was interested in music as a teenager, he didn't listen to acoustic instruments. He talks about one of his neighbors who was known to play banjo and had a unique lifestyle. He recounts how he came to find out that the neighbor was Pete Seeger. Just after graduating high school, he moved to Texas to work at a radio station. There he discovered Seeger's song "Turn, turn, turn" and was immediately inspired by it to pursue folk music. He recounts talking to Seeger and how he was advised to not seek a record deal.

Keywords: Folk singers from New York; Inspiring folk singers; Pete Seeger (Artist); Turn, Turn, Turn (Song)

Subjects: Banjoists; Folk Singer; Folk music; Folk songs; Music--Performance.; Musical families; Musical instruments.; Musical performance; Musicians; Radio; Seeger, Pete, 1919-2014

Partial Transcript: So I mean at some point--at that point, to back up, um, you were playing music, right? At this point?

Segment Synopsis: Johnathon talks about playing music when he was working at the radio station. He had booked to perform at a school, which was to air live on radio. That was his first public appearance, and he thought it was a very bad performance, from which it took him a few months to recover. Following Seeger's advice, he started thinking about going to Appalachia.

Keywords: Concerts; Live broadcasting; Pete Seeger; Radio stations; Schools

Subjects: Folk music.; Folk songs.; Music--Performance.; Musical performance; Musicians

Partial Transcript: So, um, what year are we talking about? What year did you go to Texas?

Segment Synopsis: Johnathon talks about the circumstances that led him to Texas, including a dysfunctional family in which his parents fought frequently. He left to escape this environment. At that time, however, he did not construe it as running away from home since he had a radio job waiting for him in Texas.

Keywords: Escaping home; Teenagers in dysfunctional families

Subjects: Dysfunctional families; Teenagers

Partial Transcript: Yeah, but there's a lot of seeds being planted, you know, at this point.

Segment Synopsis: Johnathon talks about the influences that shaped his adventurous life after leaving home. He read Thoreau's "Walden" when he was young, and was inspired to work on the family garden every summer. When in Mousie, Kentucky, he happened to get a copy of Mother Earth News magazine that featured an interview with Pete Seeger. This piece inspired him to follow the path Pete Seeger had taken.

Keywords: Inspirations; Inspirations for musicians; Mousie (Ky.)

Subjects: Mother earth news; Musicians; Seeger, Pete, 1919-2014; Thoreau, Henry David, 1817-1862

Partial Transcript: What about like, you know, okay so you do have this obsession with Thoreau...

Segment Synopsis: Johnathon talks about his interest in cartooning when he was in high school. His inspiration was Charles Schulz. At the age of 15 years, he sent out samples of his cartoon strip to newspapers and got accepted to be published. He recounts how thrilled he was to receive a cash advance for producing cartoon strips for a family of newspapers. He notes that he has always been ambitious, with a theme of "How hard can something be?" running throughout his life.

Keywords: Cartoon strips; Charles Schulz; Teenage cartoonists

Subjects: Cartoon; Cartoon tales; Cartooning; Schulz, Charles M. (Charles Monroe), 1922-2000

Partial Transcript: So were you writing at all? 'Cause you're into Thoreau at this point.

Segment Synopsis: Johnathon talks about an accident when he was 17 that injured his left hand. His doctor advised him to take up guitar as physical therapy. He started playing classical guitar and listening to various old artists. With this background, he was ready to take up a radio DJ job and get started in the musical world.

Keywords: Classical guitar; Disc jockeys; Guitarists; Musician stories

Subjects: Guitars; Music--Instruction and study.; Musical instruments.; Musicians; Physical therapy

Partial Transcript: It wasn't just the music, it sounds like, um, one of Pete's great things sometimes isn't the music, it's the stories.

Segment Synopsis: Johnathon talks about the impact the article on Pete Seeger in Mother Earth News had on him. It talked about his Clearwater project that aimed to clean up the Hudson River. Johnathon describes Seeger's concert ship, on which he moved through various towns located on the river. He says that Seeger's goal was not to sell records, but to do good things. Seeger lived in a rustic manner and had a unique relationship with his fans, whom he called friends. Johnathon was inspired by Seeger's example of how to make music and bring about change.

Keywords: Folk singers and environmental projects; Hudson River (N.Y.); Pete Seeger

Subjects: Environmental cleanup; Environmentalism; Folk singers; Hudson River Bank (Hudson, N.Y.); Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Inc.; Musicians; Seeger, Pete, 1919-2014

Partial Transcript: What county is Mousie in?

Segment Synopsis: Johnathon talks about going to Whilesburg, Kentucky on a friend's invitation. There he watched documentaries on Appalachia at Appalshop, including one on John McCutcheon. During that visit, he discovered a fascinating small town called Mousie in Knott County, Kentucky and decided to move there.

Keywords: Appalshop in Whitesburg (Ky.); Gone, Gonna Rise Again (Song); Mousie (Ky.)

Subjects: Appalshop Film & Video; Appalshop Films; Folk Singers; Knott County (Ky.); McCutcheon, John

Partial Transcript: So, what kind of strange looks are you getting from people like this landlord?

Segment Synopsis: Johnathon talks about his experience with people in small town Appalachia. He came to understand their concerns about outsiders and learned to see what was important to them. He became a "songcatcher," going around the town listening to people sing old folk songs on their front porch. He took a few notes on these songs, but nothing elaborate.

Keywords: Appalachian Region--music; Hootenanny; Mousie (Ky.); Songcatcher

Subjects: Appalachian Region; Folk music; Folk singers; Music--Performance.; Musical performance; Musicians

Partial Transcript: What are some of the songs that you remember catching?

Segment Synopsis: Johnathon gives an example of a folk song he discovered visiting the locals in Mousie, Kentucky. The title of the song is "Over the Mountains" but it was called the "sparking song," which is a song sung by young men to women. He plays his banjo and sings the John Hartford version of the song. The original version is played very fast.

Keywords: Appalachian music; John Hartford; Mousie (Ky.); Sparking song

Subjects: Appalachian Region; Folk music; Folk songs; Hartford, John; Music--Performance.; Music.; Musical performance; Musicians

Partial Transcript: Where--I mean where did you hear that?

Segment Synopsis: Johnathon talks about going to a John McCutcheon concert shortly after moving to Mousie, Kentucky. There he heard the folk song "Gone, gonna rise again." He talks about the lyrics and the meaning of the song - how it is about passing down the love of the past to a new generation. He recounts recording the song with Odetta. Homer Ledford played mandolin for that recording. Johnathon also shot a music video in Versailles, Kentucky.

Keywords: Folk songs from Appalachia; Folk songs music videos; Gone, Gonna Rise Again (Song); Mousie (Ky.); Versailles (Ky.)

Subjects: Folk songs; Ledford, Homer, 1927-2006; McCutcheon, John; Music--Performance.; Musical instruments.; Musical performance; Musicians; Odetta, 1930-2008; Records.; Sound recordings.; Sound--Recording and reproducing

Partial Transcript: So, so let's go back to Mousie here, and you're going up to front porches and you're learning songs.

Segment Synopsis: Johnathon talks about the bleak music career prospects in Mousie, Kentucky because there were no restaurants and clubs around. He turned to Pete Seeger's successful example of performing at schools. After spending 6 months in Mousie, he started performing at schools using Seeger's template he had found in Mother Earth News magazine. He sang songs about earth, environment, respecting the past, and cleaning up streams. He recounts in detail his first performance at a school in Allen, Kentucky, including how thrilled he was to receive $1600 for it. His music was well received and he was asked to play at other schools too.

Keywords: Allen (Ky.); Folk music and environment; Folk music in Kentucky; Folk music in schools; Mousie (Ky.); School folk music concerts

Subjects: Allen (Ky.); Folk music; Mother earth news; Music--Performance.; Musical performance; Musicians; Seeger, Pete, 1919-2014

Partial Transcript: And I was standing outside one day and I was looking, I was looking at the ground...

Segment Synopsis: Johnathon recounts getting an idea - after having done school concerts where students were charged for their ticket - to ask eastern Kentucky's Pepsi bottler owner to sponsor the school concerts. He talked to the president of the company, who agreed to sponsor his performances in all the schools in the area. He was performing 2-3 concerts a day, 5-6 days a week, for four years. He called them Earth Concerts. He thought it was an extraordinary movement, and quite successful. The concerts spread to 14 states.

Keywords: Corporate sponsorships; Earth Concerts; Pepsi and folk music; Pepsi in Kentucky

Subjects: Folk music; Folk songs; Music--Economic aspects.; Music--Performance.; Musical performance; Musicians; Pepsi-Cola Company

Partial Transcript: And I wasn't running after the record deal, that was like my mantra.

Segment Synopsis: Johnathon talks about wanting to follow the trend of having an album. He talks about his first album that he recorded in Whitesburg, Kentucky. It was called "The Blast." He soon realized that it was not the kind of thing he wanted to do. He again persuaded the Pepsi bottler to sponsor his high school concerts on preventing suicides. He talks about an incident involving child molestation by a parent. He found this work meaningful and satisfying.

Keywords: Appalachian music; Corporate sponsorship of folk music; Folk music and social issues; Sponsorships; The Blast (Album); Whitesburg (Ky.)

Subjects: Child sexual abuse; Folk music; Music--Performance.; Musical performance; Musicians; Pepsi-Cola Company; Records.; Sound recordings.; Sound--Recording and reproducing

Partial Transcript: And, uh, that's when I came up the idea of doing something a little more positive.

Segment Synopsis: Johnathon talks about coming up with an idea to film a docudrama on the book "Miracle on Caney Creek." The Pepsi bottler who had supported him earlier again sponsored the project. After he shot the music video, he got calls from major record companies. He signed up with a subsidiary of Capital Records, but soon after he was done recording for the album, he wanted to be let out of the deal. They allowed him to keep the recordings. He founded Poetman Records to release that music.

Keywords: Alice Lloyd; Alice Lloyd College; Capital Records; Miracle at Caney Creek (Book); Music videos; Poetman Records; Record labels; Sponsorships

Subjects: Folk music; Knott County (Ky.); Music videos; Music--Performance.; Musical performance; Musicians; Pippa Passes (Ky.); Records.; Sound recordings.; Sound--Recording and reproducing

Partial Transcript: What was the thing though, I mean what, still, it's a really hard pressure, I am sure, to be thinking...

Segment Synopsis: Johnathon talks about the reasons that led him to pull out of the record deal with Capitol Records. He thought he didn't belong in the world of commercial artists. Though he wanted to popularize folk music, he was not prepared to accept the drastic changes that the record company made to his music. He felt that the music industry didn't recognize artists like him. He talks about the record producer Jack Holsman, whom he liked.

Keywords: Commercial music; Folk music industry

Subjects: Capitol Records, Inc.; Folk Singers; Folk music; Music trade; Music--Performance.; Musical performance; Musicians; Record labels; Records.; Sound recordings.; Sound--Recording and reproducing

Partial Transcript: But, when, when I got out of the deal, I wanted to go back in the world I was comfortable with.

Segment Synopsis: Johnathon talks about his environmental song "Water of Life," which he wanted to record with a chorus of 1000 children. He persuaded the governor's office in West Virginia to allow him to bus school children to the capitol for a field trip. He recorded the chorus in Charleston, West Virginia. He concludes with some reflective statements about his life.

Keywords: Children's chorus; Chorus; Folk songs on environment; Water of Life (Song)

Subjects: Charleston (W. Va.); Folk music; Folk songs; Music--Performance.; Musical performance; Musicians; Records.; Sound recordings.; Sound--Recording and reproducing