I’m having coffee with Carl Franzen tomorrow. As you may know he is the writer of “On The Road” and longtime friends with Michael and John Denver going back to before Denver, Boise & Johnson. Anyone have any questions you want me to ask?

Cedarburg Cultural Center
Cedarburg, WI 2/12/1993 Audio only

https://youtu.be/hH50oJOI1oM

Songs: Why It Kills Us to Compromise, Nothing Sweeter than Sin, Jacques Cousteau, Recovery, Dirty Hands, Dirty Faces, It's My Job, Empty Hearts, White House Pet, My Old Yellow Car, Company Man, Ain't Dis Da Life, Unconditionally, That's That, Back in the Lone Ranger Days, The Last One Singing the Blues, Love is a Cross, Roller Coaster Run (Up Too Slow, Down Too Fast), Bristlecone Pine, Drops of Water, The Moon is Still Over Her Shoulder, Give Me Wings, Got You Covered, Bluer Than Blue, Rooty Toot Toot for the Moon

Songwriters: Tab Laven, Scott Nelson & Mark Muller
Visit Scott at halfnelsonmedia.com - thanks for Scott "Scooter" Nelson for the permission to post these songs
Sleeping With the Fishes CD by The Music Workshop for Kids

Song 2 of 2

https://youtu.be/rWGI8995a1Q

I Can't Sleep 1996
Songwriters: Michael Johnson & Scott Nelson
Visit Scott at halfnelsonmedia.com - thanks for Scott "Scooter" Nelson for the permission to post these songs
Sleeping With the Fishes CD by The Music Workshop for Kids

Song 1 of 2

https://youtu.be/_t4GglWoLzU

Cindy, I tried to edit my profile to include my entry in the the 'Favorite Song' frame and it is still not showing on my profile. I've seen this frame on others but mine is a no show???

What am I doing wrong?

Driving Through the Hills of Mexico
March 22, 1968 
Songwriter: Michael Johnson
I have a 1976 concert tape where he might have told the background of this song. Another tape to find...
https://youtu.be/9Wfc1GTxfxQ

You can download the mp3 of this song at:
https://www.mjblue.com/songs/Drivin_thro..._hills.mp3

Photos: MJ's Nashville home studio 6/16/2005
I try to match up photos with the date of the audio but I don't have much before 1995. So here are 3 photos out of a collection he sent me of his room conversion to a home studio in Nashville. I asked his family for more photos a few weeks ago but no reply to my email.

Michael Johnson - In Concert 12/26/1985
Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis MN

https://youtu.be/lvEw8QJwGfU

1981 Photos by Todd L. Winge
Songs: O.B. Glad (Michael Johnson & Mark Henley), Circle of Fifths (Raun MacKinnon), Never Gonna Look Back (Bill LaBounty & Michael Johnson), Drops of Water (Bill LaBounty, Roy Freeland), Life's a Bitch (Thom Schuyler, Fred Knobloch), No One Can Hurt You Like a Friend (Don Lange), Troubled For You (Ted Sherman), The Sunset Years (Mark Henley), White House Pet (Mac McAnally), Mr. Arthur's Place (Thom Bishop), Thanks to You (Jesse Winchester), Empty Hearts (Michael McDonald), Old Fashioned Love (LaBounty & Freeland), I'll Always Love You (Tom Snow & Eric Kaz), Twenty-Five Words or Less (LaBounty), It's My Job (Mac McAnally), Departure (Hugh Prestwood), Sailing Without a Sail (LaBounty & Freeland), Sermonette (Jon Hendricks), Yellow Car (Thom Schuyler), People Still Fall in Love (Thom Schuyler), Temptation (Randy Goodrum), Lucky Stars (Raun MacKinnon), It Goes Like It Goes (David Shire & Norman Gimbel), Rosalee (Stuart Harris), Give Me Wings (Rhonda Fleming & Don Schlitz), Hangin' On (Mickey Jupp & Chris East), I Can't Get to You From Here (F.O. Knipe & S.D. Chandler), Magic Time (Jamie O'Hara & Kevin Welch), The Moon is Still Over Her Shoulder (Prestwood), There's a New Kid in Town (Don Cook, Claude Putman, Keith Whiteley), Walk Me Round Your Garden (Richard Pinney), One Note Samba (Carlos Jobim)

I Will duet with Mary Jane Alm
Vocals: MJ & MJA, Guitar: MJ, Demo 8/23/2008

https://youtu.be/WzFxEXLX8NI

Mary Jane messaged me:

Bless your beautiful heart!! We did I Will at the state fair and then just went into the studio and laid it down in one take with our friend, Tom Tucker at the helm, who passed away a few years ago as well. We always intended on doing a real recording but never did.

Below are a couple photos she sent me of them at the fair.

Thank you Cindy, for uploading the video of Michael and Mary Jane Alm's duet, "I Will". It is such a hauntingly beautiful song .  Peter

Cloudy - Michael Johnson & Ted Sherman duet
Mike at Kuehn's 6/9/1968
Background: Ted was Michael's lifelong best friend, writer of "Troubled For You", co-writer of "Wilson Girl" with MJ and Mark Henley. He still resides in Denver.
This was recorded at The Kuehn's residence; they're a family in Wisconsin, friends of MJ's. Laurie Kuehn was a 13 year old when she co-wrote "Circus" with MJ, with help from John Denver. MJ's "Annie's First Rain" was written about Annie Kuehn. Many more to come from this recording session.

https://youtu.be/Kpyp4BGgwV8

Bridge Over Troubled Water - In Concert at the College Inn in Denver, CO April 25, 1970
As I say in the YouTube description, he was projecting for the concert audience rather than recording a demo.

https://youtu.be/EuAzh_6H7zM

This is the 3rd and 4th in a YouTube series of Simon & Garfunkel/Paul Simon songs.
If I can find the cassette with him singing Koachrome in a Sioux Falls dressing room in 1975, I'll upload it, too. If not, this will conclude the S&G series. It's a huge bummer I don't have a recording of him singing "American Tune," which just happens to be my favorite Paul Simon song. He performed it at the Guthrie in Minneapolis in June 1974.