One of the joys of growing up in western North Carolina was the unexpected pleasure of discovering the music of Mike Cross. Born in Tennessee, Mike grew up in Lenoir, a town with a strong musical legacy, thanks to Captain Harper and the Lenoir High Band. Mike graduated a Bearcat but never marched onto a football field at halftime as a member that group. He was into other things at the time, like sports.
He went on to Chapel Hill to play on the golf team, perhaps study law, it really didn’t matter. In his junior year, he got sick and was trapped in a dorm room with a friend who played guitar. The friend taught him some chords and Mike took it from there. From that unlikely beginning, Mike Cross became a convert to music.
In 1976, the album, Child Prodigy became his first release, a bit of a joke in its own right since Mike Cross only learned to play as an adult. But what a player he became. On that first record, he showed tremendous ability as a picker, a singer, but mostly as a songwriter. The tracks, as are true of all his dozen releases fall into three groups. First are the instrumentals, some folk traditional tunes that demonstrate the proficiency of his playing, not just on the six-string but also as a fiddle player. Also, there are serious/philosophic songs that could bring you to tears, and the funny stuff.
Photo: Mike Cross, Appalachia’s choice for favorite hippie hillbilly folk singer.
From his debut album on, his songs revealed just how uniquely this guy looked at the world. In concert, he once said that when he went north, folks just saw the grits flying out of his mouth and wanted to know about the two sacred subject of Appalachia, moon shining and marrying your cousin. “Elma Turl” from Child Prodigy deals humorously with one of those subjects. This column does not have enough space to do justice to all the incredible songs penned by Mike Cross. A loyal legion of fans, most of whom joined the ranks by seeing him play live, have their favorites. I only saw him accompanied by another musician once. Generally, he was a solo act.
But just in case you want to head to Youtube to get a get a taste, probably “The Scotsman” remains among his most popular. On that one or any other you find, notice the word play, how he deftly builds a picture without being graphic. It’s quite a talent.
From the 70s through the early 20th century, Mike Cross enchanted audiences with his exuberance for life through his music. He brought a lot of pleasure to crowds all across the country, inviting them into the western North Carolina world from which he came.
Unfortunately, in 2012 a “tick borne infection” took him off the road. Then, in late 2023, his wife and sound engineer for all of his concerts, Cindy passed away. Those were tragic circumstances for a musician and entertainer who may never have had a national hit but was incredibly important to folks who loved what he did.
He once call himself a hippie hillbilly folk singer and that’s probably as good a label as any for a gifted jokester, multi-instrumentalist, gifted writer to call himself. Pick any song and you will be entertained. One of them is just waiting to become one of your favorites.
