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Meet Your Instructor
Mike Leatherman has been involved in the music and entertainment industry for over 40 years. He started learning the banjo when he was just 7 years old. By the age of 9 he was on stage playing and singing with his family's bluegrass band. Since then he has performed in almost every musical situation imaginable for crowds in upwards of 80,000 people.
During his early years, Mike performed countless family friendly events throughout California. At the age of 21 he started playing large country music nightclubs where he opened for several country music superstars. After gaining the experience needed, it was only natural for him to move to Nashville, TN where he would spend five years playing banjo, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and keyboard on tour with country music superstar John Michael Montgomery. During this time he was fortunate enough to perform multiple times at the legendary Grand Ole Opry. While in Nashville he also toured with female country recording artist Jo Dee Messina. Mike's career has taken him many places, allowing him to meet and perform for many notable figures such as President Bush, Keith Urban, Alan Jackson, Roy Clark, and Kelsey Grammer of the hit TV show "Frasier" just to name a few.
Mike Leatherman's early years were mainly centered around bluegrass and country music. Later he became extremely versatile in a wide variety of musical genres including Pop, Rock, R&B, and Hip Hop. In addition to being a vocalist, Mike is skilled at playing multiple instruments including piano, keyboard, organ, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, bass, drums, banjo, violin, and mandolin.
His music related abilities extend beyond live performance to include song writing, song transcription, creating chord charts, and writing tablature. He also has vast experience with live sound and recording equipment, and has owned and operated a multi-track ProTools recording studio for decades.
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