Tell a little about yourself and your family? What is your vocation and your hobby?
Mike and Nancee Micham are touring musicians, storytellers, entertainers. Professional touring artists who also own a farm in Missouri believing in heirloom vegetables and heritage farm animals our pioneer ancestors grew and raised. They believe in educating our future and present generations in traditional music and practices is
important and also having fun along the way.
What is your interest in storytelling? How did it begin?
Storytelling thru song began early for both Mike and Nancee. Mike began learning the guitar at age 12 and right away knew it just wasn’t about the fancy licks, it was about the songs that spoke to him, that painted a picture of human lives, that told a sometimes not-so-pretty picture of our human condition. Nancee, coming from a theater background, didn’t realize until later she was already a storyteller just through monologues and characters. Both came to formal storytelling thru Richard and Judy Young, storytellers at Silver Dollar City. Their mesmerizing performances influenced them to get involved with formal storytelling and then Steve Otto came along!
Why did you decide it was important to be a member of Missouri Storytelling? How can MO-TELL improve?
We are afraid that storytelling is not dying but less important in this fast paced world. We are trying to do our part to keep it alive, viable and important. We wish there were more venues and places that support the art form. Improvement? More outreach somehow. Maybe a workshop on writing grants for those who want to help and are just not sure how.
What tellers have been influential in your life?
As said before, Richard and Judy Young were the first tellers we heard telling traditional stories. Then we were gifted in hearing Steve tell WOW. And then Steve saw Nancee tell on the porch of McHaffie’s Homestead and The Ozark Celebration Festival in Springfield and then invited her and Mike to the Kansas City Celebration as Regional Tellers and we were hooked. When seeing for the first time National Tellers in 2005 and being exposed to great stories and spellbinding tellers we have not stopped in our learining of the art and sharing it in our way.
What is your favorite story, song, film, joke?
Story: Nancee & Mike, both: The Golden Arm
Song: Nancee: On My Father’s Side; Mike: Christmas in the Trenches
Film: Nancee: West Side Story; Mike: Little Big Man
Joke: the next one
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