WOW. That was fast. ALL SOLD OUT. Thank you, thank you. The donation to Feed My People will go out this week!!!

Howdy Folks:

The pandemic has resulted in the longest stretch of time Mike has spent at home this century. The result of this homebound time: 3 new books, a fancy new t-shirt and a lot of overdue sifting through gems in the pole barn, aka Mike’s Magnificent Gift/Junk Shop. Also known as The Confluence of All Entropy.

These hardcovers were in the bottom of a box Mike hauled down to the pole barn a few years back (see photos at this link). When recently unboxed, they were found to be rumpled, scrunched, and slightly squashed…yet eminently readable and perhaps perfect for that summer cabin or ice fishing shack. There are only a handful of these coveted collector’s items, each signed by Mike and on sale for $9.99 plus we’ll throw in a Sneezing Cow sticker with each order and then donate $8.00 per book to Feed My People (that’s 16 meals per book). When they’re gone, they’re gone. Yep.

To get yours, click here.

Every week the Wisconsin State Journal runs “Roughneck Grace,” a weekly column written by Mike (many of the columns will be adapted from Mike’s Tent Show Radio monologues). This week’s column ‘Michael Perry: The need for speed undulates over time like a country road‘ can be seen online here.

New song…

This song began with me scribbling down the phrase ‘forty acres deep’ one day.

On a map, forty acres are flat. But when you come from my rural roughneck background, “forty acres deep” connotes being in debt to the bank, being isolated, being in a position where you’ve committed to something so deeply you can’t escape it.

I wrote the earliest drafts of this song using a Telecaster and a fuzzbox/overdrive pedal. I was trying to learn power chords and write a rock song. I had this vision of a man driving to the center of a farm field and pitching a diamond ring into the wheat. It got to where there were something like fifteen verses. I worked on it for a while and let it go. Mainly because it just didn’t feel right, me trying to sing in a rock style.

A few years later, my friend Evan Middlesworth shared a riff and rhythm track he’d recorded and wondered if I had any lyrics to fit it. I immediately thought of “Forty Acres Deep.” I slashed and burned the lyrics, cut them back to the bare unforgiving bones of the story. Then instead of trying to sing like someone I’m not, I just went with the darkness, and sang in the mind of yet another farmer losing yet another farm, and–even more importantly–the price paid behind the scenes by the rest of the family.

Here’s a link to all the places you can stream or download the song.

Why is Kyle of Ivy Media filming in my back forty after dark?

Watch this space for news on January 22.

Meanwhile, here’s a hint and the most recent thing we did with Kyle.

This week’s Voice Mail is about mercy, and you can listen whether you have a subscription or not.