Music Drifts Along this River
By Mike Jurgensen
Margaret
Biography:
Michael Jurgensen has lived in the Tampa Bay area since 1968, when he moved from his native Chapel Hill, NC. Mike began playing the guitar when he was seven years old, but it was not until 1992 that he began performing in public seriously. It was then that he discovered the Iron Horse coffee house in Tarpon Springs, where he began playing open mics. Over the next two years he branched out to do open mics and feature sets at other Tampa Bay area coffee houses and restaurants, as well as regularly emceeing the Iron Horse open mics.
He has also played at several local fairs and festivals, and he has been the featured artist a number of times on various live radio shows on WMNF in Tampa. Although Mike had written several songs prior to 1992, he has only been writing seriously since 1992. Mike was a finalist in the 1994 and 1996 South Florida Folk Festival song-writing competitions, and he won the Best New Florida Song award at the 1998 Will McLean Festival.
In April of 1994 Mike joined the well-known Florida acoustic group, Myriad, which had been together for about 4 years at the time. Together with Myriad, he played concerts at coffee houses, radio shows, benefit concerts, and festivals around the state. The group also has several recordings including two CDs, “Song Circle” and “New Strings.” Mike also has a solo recording project.
In recent years he has performed as part of the trio known as 2PM featuring Mike, Pete Price and Pete Hennings. The trio has performed at a wide variety of Florida festivals and music venues and has three CDs: “Keepin’ Time,” “Let’s Just Play One More,” and their newest project, “Writing on the Wall.”
More information on Mike’s group “2PM” is available at their website. To hear more of Mike’s music click here. Mike can also be reached by mail: 6985 Coronet Dr. / New Port Richey, Fl 34655