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MJ: Actually, I started with guitar and it was a full-size guitar, so I look kind of small in
comparison, but yes, you know, as a kid, I loved doing it. I didn’t even really think about it.
There was no real stage fright. I was really into practicing, which I guess was a good thing. I
didn’t even question the idea of spending hours working on instruments to get better at them.
So yes, it was just second nature really for me and it was very easy to kind of just realise that
that was going to be what I was going to do the rest of my life.

BiTS: Eventually, you settled down as much as you’ve been able to in Florida. Is that when you
started having your own studio, or how did you go about recording back in those days?

MJ: Oh well, I lived in Tennessee. I spent most of my life in Tennessee. I grew up around the
panhandle of Florida as
they call it – Northern
Florida, and we travelled a
lot obviously and then
Tennessee because I was
playing a lot like the Old
Broadway, somewhere
the tourists used to come.
I played for the Elvis
Presley Museum and did a
lot of that stuff. That was
kind of our settle down –
not on the road as much
and then later went to
California, which was a
wild adventure and back
to Tennessee. But yes, the
studio thing has been
great and especially in
recent years recording
here in Nashville. It’s really nice to just have downtime to focus on writing the material and

recording it.

BiTS: I gather from what I’ve read that you got labelled Mean Mary by the press from the first
song that you recorded, Mean Mary from Alabam. Have you ever regretted that? Is it a title that
you’d like to get rid of, or are you happy with it?

MJ: [Laughing] Okay, yes, there have been some times in my life that it’s like, oh my gosh, am I
ever going to get rid of this, the nickname? Especially when you’re 16, 17 years old and you
want to be cool and Mean Mary just didn’t seem like it was that cool, but, you know, people
remember it. It’s something from my childhood, you know, the first song I ever wrote, so it has
that history to it. It’s not just a random made-up thing [laughing], it’s grown on me through the
years, and I accept it.

BiTS: Now, we’re going to be talking in a moment about your actually couple of new albums
but have you any idea how many albums it is you’ve made?

MJ: You know, I have it written down somewhere because my first album I did when I was six
and that was on cassette tape and then there were historical albums I did. I think that this
newest album might be 17, but I’d have to double-check on that one, but it’s somewhere up
there.