Mike McClure and I met for the first time in the Fall of 1999 while I was still in college in Manhattan, KS and he was still fronting The Great Divide (the first time). Along with working towards my degree, I was trying to figure out how to become a songwriter and musician, and he was a guy doing just that. He graciously took time to visit with me and let me pick his brain every time they came through town as I slowly built my own little career in music. He was also gracious enough to make a cameo appearance on my first record on a song I’d written called “Til I Find Myself”.
In the years to follow, I meandered my way through 15 years of gigs, mostly as a solo artist, and Mike’s career evolved into parting ways with The Great Divide, touring with his own band, becoming a producer/engineer and eventually starting his own recording studio.
After having not spoken to Mike in over ten years, it was really great to get to catch up with him through the podcast and bring the listeners the whole conversation. In this episode we touch on Mike’s impact on the scene, not only as an artist and songwriter, but also as a producer.
He recounts many good stories from his career in this episode including getting songwriting advice from Guy Clark, having a song cut by Garth Brooks, producing records from Red Dirt and Texas Country staple acts like Cross Canadian Ragweed, Turnpike Troubadours and more.
If this episode affects you like it did me, you’ll find yourself digging through some old CDs from your college days! Enjoy!
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