Remembering Mike Byers
air date: Saturday, May 10 at 8pm EST
This month on Acoustic Blend we are remembering former host, songwriter, and man-of-many-talents1 Mike Byers. I’ll be joined by Joe Peters and Chuck Whittemore, longtime friends and musical pals of Mike, each of whom will share a bit more about his art, inspiration, quirkiness, and his (sometimes odd) sense of humor and wit.
I met Mike through my involvement with the Songwriters Association of Mid-North Indiana (SAMI), where Mike often made substantial contributions to the Shirley Martin Scholarship for Young Songwriters. I always looked forward to SAMI’s monthly song sharing meetings, where I might hear some hilarious new tune from Mike or be otherwise inspired.
An hour-long radio program only begins to capture the breadth and depth of Mike’s heart and life, but I hope that as we venture together you’ll glimpse some of the beauty that was cherished and is missed by so many in Greater Lafayette.
Vietnam
We’ll begin our hour with an introduction from another former host of Acoustic Blend, as Joe Peters shares about how he and Mike met and their connection to Vietnam:
My mother, Billie Peters, is the one who encouraged me to meet Mike Byers after my first trip to Vietnam in 1997 [...]
Mike had gone through ROTC at Purdue during the Vietnam War, so he was sent to South Vietnam as a United States Air Force forward air controller pilot. After a year he joined a covert operation in neighboring Laos, a CIA-run outfit known as The Ravens. I bought the book The Ravens by Christopher Robbins for my father, since Mike and Dad were buddies because of both being pilots. It was a good read and mentions Mike Byers with some frequency.
The “mail sack” episode that forms the central part of Mike's poem in “Faces from the Book of the Fallen,” a song I wrote inspired by some fused glasswork and photos that Mike had created, is recounted in that book.
Bailiff’s Hollow
From there, Joe will lead us to Mike’s homeplace in rural Warren County, Bailiff’s Hollow — where we’ll also get our first look at Mike’s wild imagination:
Mike and Pam used to live in rural Warren County in an area known as Bailiff's Hollow, also the name of a Celtic string band Mike was in with bandmates Mary Lawson, Paula Dillard, and Chuck Whittemore.
Their home was a unique build of two A frames, in the shape of a cross from above, and a massive deck out over the hollow. Mike, ever the resourceful fellow, one year decided to make a Japanese temple gong by slicing the bottom off a gas cylinder and hanging it on an outdoor crossbeam.
Just down the road a piece from them, across the hollow, and up the other side, and keep going, there was the former site of a VX nerve gas repository. Mike's proximity to this toxic area prompted his imagination to write the script for the brilliant short film, Heart Shot, about an IU professor who illegally harvests unicorn horns to make medicines to save lives in light of mysterious ailments and creatures, including the dreaded Bloodskipper.
Nearby their former home place is the railroad crossing featured in Mike's narrative poem “Bell Crossing,” about a fairly haunted stretch of railroad track. Yeah, to say Mike had an imagination that sometimes tended to the dark side would not be wide of the mark.
After “Bell Crossing,” you’ll hear the catchy tune “A Visit from Uncle Sean” (lyrics by Mike Byers), due out this fall as part of the next installment of the Joedai Collaboration series (see Collaboration [2020] and Beyond Collaboration [2023]).
Corn Sharks (and other laughs)
Mike’s longtime musical pal Chuck Whittemore also joined me in the studio at REC Room to chat about his friendship with Mike and to share a few stories. The one I keep returning to is about Mike’s enterprising “corn shark repellent” business. The corn shark story is a great segue into Mike’s humor and creativity:
The Parting Tide
As we wind down the hour we’ll hear Chuck play “The Sweeps” (Mike’s favorite hornpipe) and “Ian MacDonald’s Aire,” which Chuck performed at a memorial service for Mike last year. We’ll close with a moving Irish tune written by Mike, followed by the last song he wanted to hear as his time on earth drew to a close. Here’s Joe:
When Mike was on his deathbed [in early 2024], the last song he wanted to hear before passing over was “The Parting Glass” by the High Kings. This version of this song is, in fact, the last song Mike wanted to hear in this earthly existence, and according to his wife, Pam, he got his wish. This song is also the soundtrack to a memorial slide presentation that I put together for Mike's celebration of life.
Mike wrote many wonderful songs, both before and after we became musical pals, but perhaps none is as poignant, and just like a traditional Irish song, as his song “The Parting Tide,” undoubtedly inspired in no small part by “The Parting Glass.”
A life as large and varied as Mike’s is impossible to fully capture in an hour-long radio program (especially since so much of his work was visual). All the same, I hope this prompts your own imagination as we recall him fondly together.
Acoustic Blend airs this Saturday, May 10 at 8pm EST on WBAA AM 920 in Lafayette / West Lafayette, and streaming live on wbaa.org. Many of the songs are unavailable on streaming services, but you can view the full playlist below. Enjoy!
Remembering Mike Byers
01. Joe Peters - “Faces From the Book of the Fallen”
02. Linda Hicks & Joe Peters - “Flight of the Hawk”
03. Linda Hicks & Joe Peters - “Wild Geese”
04. Joedai Trobairitz & Troubadours - “Bell Crossing” #
05. Joedai Trobairitz & Troubadours - “A Visit with Uncle Sean” # *
06. Bailiff’s Hollow - “Coilsfield House”
07. Warriors, Joedai Pilgrims, Zombies - “Zombie Basketball” #
08. Michael Longcor - “Schrodinger’s Cat” ^
09. Mike Byers - “Shamrocks & Leprechauns” (feat. Sharon McKnight) ^
10. Chuck Whittemore - “The Sweeps”
11. Mike Byers - “Indiana Farm” ^
12. Chuck Whittemore - “Ian MacDonald’s Aire”
13. Mike Byers - “The Parting Tide” (feat. Mary Lawson) ^
14. The High Kings - “The Parting Glass”
# lyrics by Mike Byers, music by Joe Peters
^ written by Mike Byers
* from upcoming Collaboration 2025 album, to be released this fall
Dynamic always-current playlists: Spotify | YouTube
See Mike’s obituary for a bit more of his story