BY1NO1

Mike Johnson created Roughshod Records in June 1987. James Adelsberger came aboard in August 2012, first as a musician & studio engineer. James' CD Single "Back Home Again" - "The Holy River" is the label's 42nd CD and in June 2013 he became the label's co-producer.

On 15 November 2014 James' 13-song CD "Old Time Country Songs Are They Really Dead and Gone?" was released alongside Mike Johnson's 12-song "Doggone It I've Written a Sad Song Again." These are the label's 49th and 50th CDs and both became part of the Recorded Sound Reference Center's "Mike Johnson" music collection in the Library of Congress on 18 December 2014.

Mike Johnson began his long distance trucking career with Newlon's Transfer in Arlington Va. from September 1981 to December 1994 [Newlon folded after 40 years] but he only had a Silent 8mm Movie Camera and didn't get much footage. He got his 1st VHS Camcorder in 1995 while driving for Interstate Van Lines of Springfield, Va. [1995 to 1996] He then drove for Apple Transfer of Woodbridge, Va. from 1996 to 2003. His trucking career ended in November 2003 when he suffered a Cervical Spinal Cord Compression. [3 neck vertebrae collapsed on his spinal cord]

Mike Johnson joined the NTCMA in 1994. He attended the week-long festival from 1999 to 2002 when it was in Avoca, Iowa. Then in 2003 in Missouri Valley, Iowa, and in 2009 & 2010 in LeMars, Iowa, after recovering from a 2003 neck injury that ended his 20-year trucking career. He was inducted into America's Old Time Country Music Hall of Fame at the 27th NTCMA Festival in September 2002 in Avoca, Iowa.

The NTCMA was created by Bob Everhart around 1975 to promote and preserve Old time Country, Gospel, Bluegrass and American roots music. Steadfastly true and dedicated to its commitment August 2014 will mark the 39th year of NTCMA and its annual week-long festivals which have been attended, literally, by musicians and fans from around the world.

In April 1981 Mike Johnson did his 1st. professional recording session at Jim Maxwell's Globe Recording Studio, then on Dickerson Road. He recorded 5 songs from which came his 1st. release, a 45-rpm single, "King of the Fish" on Side-1 and "Please Don't Squeeze the Charmin" on Side-2. When Globe Studio moved to White House, just north of Nashville, Mike was sent to Champ Recording Studio on Church Street, run by Jim "Hobe" Stanton, founder of Rich-R-Tone Records. Jim taught Mike how the industry worked and he recorded there until Jim's untimely death in 1989. The Lawrence Family, owner of Lawrence Record Shop, John & Lois Shepherd, Robert Moore [founder of Robert's Western World] and Norma Boyle [owner of Dusty Road], are just a select handful of folks that Mike met in 1981 and became lasting friends with.

Following Mike's 1981 recording session Lawrence Record Shop became the first retailer to sell his new release and has been handling his releases since.

Joe Arnold, Roughshod Records

Mike Johnson has written over 150 yodeling songs and 114 of the became part of the Library of Congress Recorded Sound Reference Center's music collection in April 2007. It was his unique combinations of the Jimmie Rodgers, Cowboy, and Swiss yodeling styles that earned him the title of Country Music's No.1 Black Yodeler. "Yeah I'm a Cowboy" re-elevated Mike's yodeling status when it appeared on Bart Plantenga's 18-song "Rough Guide to Yodel" CD in September 2006. Plantenga authored the 2004 book "Yodel-Ay-Eee-Oooo, the Secret History of Yodeling Around the World" and Mike is profiled on pages 30-31 in Bart's December 2012 follow-up book, "Yodel In HiFi."

During the 1990s, Mike Johnson's friends Ed & Barbara King in Santa Fe, Texas introduced him to a string of little Oprys along Highway 6 running south our of Houston, Texas; The Alvin Opry, Pearland, and Manvel Opry where he met a lot of talented and interesting musicians, one of whom was DJ Hall of Fame member Smokey Stover. During his trucking runs through Houston he would bunk at the King's compound where he had access to their studio. Barbara owned BJD Wishing Away records, and Ed published the Country Western Corner Magazine and had a couple of trained catfish.

Mike Johnson wrote his first song in 1957 and has since written over 1200 songs. He didn't become seriously interested in music involvement until the mid-1970s and in April 1981 he did his 1st. recording session at Globe Recording Studio in Nashville. Over 200 of his published & released songs are registered in his BMI catalog and have been playing on Independent Country Music Radio Stations internationally for more than 30 years.

James Adelsberger's "Old Time Country Songs Are They Really Dead and Gone?" was awarded "Pure Country CD of the Year" by the Rural Roots Music Commission on 31 August 2015 at the 40th Annual Old Time Country Music Festival in LeMars, Iowa.

Roughshod Records was created in June 1987 by Mike Johnson, Country Music's No.1 Black Yodeler. It's 1st release was in September 1993, a 12-song cassette album titled "Black Yodel No.1 the Song the Songwriter." It was re-released in June 1999 as the label's 1st. CD, followed in July 1999 by the 10-song "Did You Hug Your Mother Today?" In November 2012 James Adelsberger was featured on the label's 42nd CD, a 2-song Single, "Back Home Again" & "The Holy River."

On 15 November 2014 the label's 49th and 50th CDs were released. James Adelsberger's 13-song "Old Time Country Songs Are They Really Dead and Gone?" and Mike Johnson's "Doggone It I've Written a Sad Song Again." James does a yodeling duet with Mike on his release, whereas Mike's release has no yodeling.

Both CDs became part of the Recorded Sound Reference Center's "Mike Johnson" collection at the Library of Congress on 18 December 2014, along with You and Me Records 1st. release [4 December 2014] "SideKicks Christmas Special" a 2-song CD Single featuring Mike Johnson and James Adelsberger.

You and Me Records was also created in June 1987 by Mike Johnson for his non-country songs, but somehow most of them got recorded on the Roughshod label with a country twist.

Roughshod Records, P.O. Box 100933, Arlington, Va. 703-671 0935 - http://roughshodrecords.webs.com