Mike McClure is quite arguably one of the most influential forces behind Red Dirt music. As a writer, a performer, singer, and producer, he has helped shape the music scene and become an integral part of its story. To look at the last few years of McClure’s life is to understand that there has been a life-altering awakening. It’s been a time of reckoning, renewal and growth for the artist — a five-year span that’s resulted in Looking Up, 10 tracks that find him getting sober, wrestling with insecurity, finding a new love for both himself and others, and working to understand the new light he’s found in discovering that the best moments in life come from being present.

“I started the climb up and out of unhappiness a few years back, and I started to look inside, and call things into the light. I used to pour booze or drugs on top of things that hurt me instead of admitting these things and getting to the root cause. It was a hard couple of years, to say the least, but I feel as though I’m up and out of it. Now it’s up to me to continue to do the work that will keep me in this space,” he says.

Mike got his start in Stillwater, Oklahoma, playing at the notorious "Farm" with legendary artists including Bob Childers, Tom Skinner, Steve Ripley, and Jimmy LaFave, and later was a founding member of The Great Divide. The band signed to Atlantic Records in 1998, and "I'd Rather Have Nothing," written by Mike and initially recorded by the band, was later recorded by Garth Brooks for his 2005 limited series box set, The Lost Sessions, which has sold over 2 million copies.

Mike was also the permanent producer for Red Dirt favorites Cross Canadian Ragweed, and "Fighting For," written by Mike and Cody Canada reached number 39 on the Billboard Hot Country charts. He has also produced albums by other artists including the Turnpike Troubadours, Stoney LaRue, Kaitlin Butts, Whiskey Myers, Tom Skinner, Jason Boland & the Stragglers, and many others.

Two decades as a touring musician and nine albums of his own later, he took a new route with his latest album Looking Up. He and his partner, Chrislyn Lawrence, created and produced the album on their own, at his Boohatch Studio in Ada, Oklahoma. It’s a different kind of collaboration for Mike, who worked closely with Joe Hardy, the famed ZZ Top producer and engineer, in the decade prior to Joe’s death in 2019.

"Looking Up is different because I didn't do it with Joe,” Mike says. “I met him in 2005, and we went on to collaborate up until his death last year. He was an absolute genius who taught me how to make a record. This time I’ve sat down with Chrislyn and not only did she give me a fresh look at how I do things, but she has also helped me grow so much emotionally that it bleeds over into the tracks.”

http://mikemcclureband.com