Hey, my name is Mike, and I’m a musician in rural southwestern Ohio. Not a professional. I have a “day job”. At the tender age of 45, I decided to try to learn to play guitar for about the sixth time in my life. Having given up every previous time, I finally stuck with it because I set a goal of playing and singing at the tenth anniversary party for me and my wife, Angie. Mission accomplished. I also managed to talk my son (more about him below) into playing along with me on one.
Onward and upward. I just want to enjoy learning some new things. I grew up in a family where live music was always there at big family gatherings, and I still love hearing live music. Open Mic Nights, here I come!
I come from some very talented musical stock on both sides of my family, but I always thought I didn’t get the gene. I had tried to learn to play guitar five or six times before in my life, but never stuck with it. I decided to give it one more shot, setting a goal to play and sing at my wife’s and my tenth anniversary party in 2017.
My father was a very talented keyboard player and guitarist. When he was in high school, he was part of a local band called “The Mysteries”. In true small-town fashion, that five-piece band also included the twin brother of my mother, and my future sixth grade teacher!
My mom’s little brother, Dino Bradley, received 5 gold records and 2 platinum for his work on several albums with Hank Williams, Jr. He toured with Hank, David Allan Coe, and others. He was also quite proud of the fact that he appeared in an episode of “Walker: Texas Ranger” (titled “Plague”, season 5, episode 5) with Chuck Norris and Robert Vaughn. He released a solo album, “Black and White”, in 2016. Order Dino Bradley’s “Black and White” on cdbaby. Listen on Spotify. Dino passed away in December of 2017. At a January 2018 memorial service for him in Nashville, the organizers hosted an open jam. I decided that may be my one and only chance ever to play and sing on stage in Nashville, so I did it. Even better, my uber-talented son, Ben, played later in the service on that same stage.
“Buford” was the town where I grew up and went to elementary school. The school mascot was “The Bulldogs”. Therefore, when it came time to don a persona for a little bit of performing, “Mike Buford and the Bulldogs” seemed like a good choice to honor that past.
Mike Buford and the Bulldogs 