Somewhere tonight, Mike Felten is stepping up on another stage.He has been doing this for decades. . The Illinois Entertainer tells us he is the "real deal". He tells us that the weathered Martin guitar in his hand is his shovel and that the old Harmony Sovereign waiting for the slide is his plow. He is a workingman; a Johnny Lunchbucket. What he does isn't folk, a kind of blues, a bit of rock. All the influences forged in the tempest like a late night omelet at some ancient diner. The stories come like another cup of joe at a Ron-Ric or a Standees. Some names you recognize. Muddy Waters and Buddy Guy. Nelson Algren and Gene Autry. Maybe even a Paddy Bauler or a Hillary Rodham..Open mics when a John Prine got up and did three. Pete Seger and Utah Phillips listened. Some names you never heard before but some you'll never forget. Short Pencil Lewis. Benny Peeps or Trailways Barkle. shares his stage. There are the places too. The hardscrabble neighborhoods of Chicago. The years in the copper country of Michigan, hauling your own water and cutting your own wood. All the long highway nights getting to the next gig, the next town. All the fleabag motels and character building one nighters at the K of C or some Elks Lodge. A thousand dive bars and a bunch of sit down theaters. Parking lots and farmer's markets. Under the bridge and up in the ski lodge. He sings to remember and sometimes to forget. There are four albums. Landfill, Tossin' It Away, AKA Johnny Lunchbucket and No 2nd Rides. Coming soon will be Diamonds and Televisions and a bare bones + Man + Guitar + Dog. It never seems enough. It is never complete even though the arc has to winding down. Now is the time. Folkways legend Bob Everhart tells us that "Woody Guthrie would've been proud". Mike doesn't know about that stuff. It is just the shovel. It is just the plow. "Great, visual songs about industrial Chicago and real life, wrapped up with lots of story." - Kaleidoscope Coffeehouse Picture