Michael Perry's Voice Mail

Howdy folks:Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 317. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.In this episode I share how fixing my snowplow led me back to one of the most popular live humor excerpts from my book Truck: A Love Story, as well as a piece I used to perform at open mics when I was long-haired and much younger.Thank you for listening. Scroll down for photos, marginalia, and subscription info.MikeMARGINALIA(Annotations from books Mike is reading, or annotations related to the episode)This little dude did the joystick trick.Me welding with Dad’s farm truck in the background. A few years later I’d be using it to go on dates.In time that old F-100 got a little worn out. Maybe because, as shown in the oddly deteriorated slide below, it was occasionally overworked.The farm truck my dad got to replace the blue one. This is not a shot of it in the junkyard, this is a shot of it still in use. We got the most out of our vehicles.Do you remember?Regular listeners know I tend to read several books at once. I’m still a few pages from finishing Candide. I’m only about 1/8th through Steinbeck: A Life in Letters and expect to plow through that one intermittently over time. I’m underlining/circling/annotating far more of Steinbeck’s correspondence than I can share here, but having tussled now and then with editors over colloquial language now and then, I enjoyed this passage:I’ve been looking forward to Midwestern Death Trip by Meaghan Garvey ever since I read a piece by her in County Highway and now the book has arrived.I’ll say more when I’ve finished it, but so far I’m enjoying Garvey’s headlong pace, her attention to detail (and getting those details right) and it doesn’t hurt that she mentions Jim Harrison as one of her favorite writers. She also dives into the grittier sides of life in ways I am not built for. Bottom line? Anyone who still uses the phrase “tooling around” has my attention.Midwestern Death Trip is available at BookShop.org or Amazon.You can get Candide at BookShop.org or Amazon.Steinbeck: A Life in Letters is available on Amazon and BookShop.org.Those are affiliate links, we get a penny in the jar.Mike’s books and recordings and miscellany are here.His TikTok is here and his Instagram is here.If you’d like to receive all episodes of Michael Perry’s Voice Mail (most recently paying subscribers get advance reads, advance news, and materials not shared on social media), click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):You can share this episode with a friend:You can give a Voice Mail gift subscription:Above all, as ever: Thank you. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

*Kinda their real names kinda not. But definitely my real brothers.Howdy folks:Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 310. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen (and be sure to watch the related video in the marginalia section below).In this episode I acknowledge the ?spring? melt and revisit memories of my friend Ricky by reading and expanding on some passages from Coop.MikeMARGINALIA(Annotations from books Mike is reading, or annotations related to the episode)The uncropped photo of me with Ricky and my brothers:As you can see it is melt season. Ricky and I both have tin shovels in our hand. We carved our own river. Even built our own bridge. The white truck was a Tonka tow truck:What it looked like new (it appears we’d converted our to just a truck):We’d make “fields” and till them. When the top bit of sand dried out and turned white, we’d skim it off and haul it away with our Farmall toys.I almost missed it, but in the back there you can see our…well, I’m not sure what we called it, but as I recall you dumped sand in the top and it flowed down through a series of rockers.Here’s the post I wrote in 2009 when I uncovered some forgotten details about Ricky’s graveside service (it included firecrackers).And finally, here’s the video in remembrance of Ricky. Credit to Andy Moore and Wendy Woodard and Wisconsin Public Television.Regarding actual book marginalia, my reading continues to be omnivorous (or whatever you call it when you hippety-hop from one book to another). But after years of thinking I oughta, I’ve started this one:And made a few more notes in this one:Intent of my scribble: Write a book about a truck, sneak some existentialism (or poetry, or…) in there.As a prolific author who has never drawn a check from a university, I owe a significant debt to a wide range of academics. I have my reservations, but jeepers, Kierky—TAPEWORMS?You can get The Existentialist’s Survival Guide at BookShop.org or Amazon.You can get Candide at BookShop.org or Amazon.Those are affiliate links, we get a penny in the jar.All of my prolixity is here.We respect budgets (both financial and time) but if you’d like to receive all episodes of Michael Perry’s Voice Mail (last episode’s paying subscribers got advance news about an exciting new project involving Population 485), click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):You can share this episode with a friend:You can give a Voice Mail gift subscription:Above all, as ever: Thank you. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy folks:Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 304. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.In today’s episode I return to a piece I wrote about my daughter and the music of Lightnin’ Hopkins.Thank you for listening,MikeMARGINALIA(Annotations from books Mike is reading, or annotations related to the episode)Here’s the version of “Shaggy Dad” my daughter danced to:The following exerpts are from a much longer and excellent piece from Sonic Cocktails.The stories of Lightnin’s chord changes are profuse and legend. The late singer/songwriter Eric Taylor (who once bought me a ticket to his own show in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, because I drove three hours to get there and forgot my wallet) used to play bass for Lightnin’ and claimed he had a “tell” in which he’d stomp his foot slightly differently before a chord change…so Taylor spent the entire gig staring intently at Lightnin’s boot heel. Whenever Taylor told the tale, he quoted Hopkins as saying, “Lightnin’ change when Lightnin’ want to change. You just gotta be there when I get there.” I imagine my own band members nodding along (my guitar player has famously said I keep excellent time “but it’s never divisible by four”).Below, my elder daughter right around the time I wrote today’s essay:In 2013, I was asked to write the liner notes for the Blind Boys of Alabama album I’ll Find A Way. My daughter, by then a teenager as tall as I, accompanied me to one of the recording sessions, a profoundly moving experience I wrote about in the book Roughneck Grace and spoke about in Episode #145 (paid subscription required). Then we attended the album release concert together in St. Paul.Been continuing to read the paper versions of Devouring Time, the new Jim Harrison biography, and continue to dip in and out of The Power of Myth, but I’m on the road and traveling light this trip so starting this one on my Kindle:I read it way back in the mid-1990s when I was trying to figure out how to make it as a writer from the middle of nowhere with no connections. I’m reading it again now towards a piece I’m working on about folks you’d never guess were inspirational to me—the punk singer Henry Rollins among them. Later I would detour from a magazine assignment to see him perform spoken word in Seattle, one more step on my path to taking my books from the page to the stage.I’ve barely dipped into it yet, but already made these three highlights:My most recent book didn’t include Henry Rollins, but it coulda.Devouring Time is available from BookShop.org and Amazon.The Power of Myth is available at BookShop.org and Amazon.Get in the Van is available at BookShop.org and Amazon.Those are affiliate links, we get a penny in the jar.To keep up to date between episodes, follow Mike on Instagram. His daughter also finally got him set up on TikTok.The Sneezing Cow webstore has all of Mike’s books, recordings, T-shirts, and merchandise (including the bestselling koozie).If you’d like to receive all episodes of Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):You can share this episode with a friend:You can give a Voice Mail gift subscription: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy folks:Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 300. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.As we hit 300 episodes I figured it was time to look back and talk about how and why this Voice Mail came to be (including the “unfortunately…” story), why I might be stuck in New York City, the advantages of being a paid subscriber, why all and any subscribers—paying or not—are welcome, what I mean when I say “value-added,” why I listen to the business news more closely than I do to politicians and publicists, and above all……above all……above all I will continue to sit down to this microphone once a week and do the very best I can to give you a little oasis of quiet, thoughtful, goofy, relaxed reflection.Sincerely,MikeMARGINALIA(Annotations from books Mike is reading, or annotations related to the episode)Most of the time when you hear me in a Voice Mail episode, it was recorded right here in my little room above the garage……but sometimes when I’m on the road or a family trip, I gotta make do. This was a closet somewhere in Montana.Sometimes I have to negotiate access.This was the face I made the time the Voice Mail link we sent to everyone didn’t work.Notes toward an early episode:The very first marginalia entry:Marginal entries are a conversation between you, me, and the author in question.OK. There’s the overview. Next week, back to regular programming. Thank you for looking and listening.All of Mike’s books (including his two most recent, Improbable Mentors and Forty Acres Deep) are available here. As are can koozies.If you’d like to receive all episodes of Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):You can share this episode with a friend:You can give a Voice Mail gift subscription: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy folks:Welcome to the Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 299. This one’s subscribers-only. Click the player above to listen.This one’s also longer than usual, so I just dove right in. It’s something I wrote for the Italians. About the Packers. You’ll see.There’s always next year. Although Joan Didion would warn you about that.MikeMARGINALIA(Annotations from books Mike is reading, or annotations related to the episode)And finally, I was sitting at home watching the Packers game one day when this photo popped up on my phone. It was my buddy, texting me from Lambeau to let me know he was reppin’ the brand. You will be perhaps not surprised to learn that his nickname is “Boozy.”This week I finished Blue Nights.Mostly this one caused me to reflect more than underline. These sections in particular caught me:I feel good, but time ticks on, and I have had a couple of minor (truly) health things lately, and it always feels like a surprise when things don’t work right, and what Didion really got me to thinking about is how we accept that we will age and die, but not today. Actually, I am much more open to the idea that I could die at any minute. But aging? That always seems like it’s around the corner. I’m definitely at the point—and these and other passages in Blue Nights reinforced this—where I need to begin work not so much on slowing down or giving up but rather thinking about how I’ll handle it when these things inevitably descend.I don’t feel grim about, and don’t intend to sound as if I am. It’s just one more thing to engage, and to be engaged is to be alive.Blue Nights is available at BookShop.org and Amazon. Those are affiliate links, we get a couple cents.The Sneezing Cow store is always open.You can give a Voice Mail gift subscription: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

PHOTO ABOVE: My nephew attempts to snow surf. He’s actually a very talented athlete, which makes the payoff all the more sweet.Howdy folks:Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 296. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.In this episode, I reference my recent success on the slopes (sadly only my failures were filmed so I can’t prove it) but then switch to a memoriam for Jerry Apps, a man whose contributions to Wisconsin’s arts, culture, and history are immense. I also talk of the kindnesses he showed me, especially in those early days.Thank you for listening. Next week, back to regular programming.MikeMARGINALIA(Annotations from books Mike is reading, or annotations related to the episode)It’s good when grandma’s front yard is a sledding hill:Birds-eye view of everyone set to go, including the dogs:Regrettably, while footage of my successful ride to the bottom of the hill does not exist, footage of one of my failures does:And I did make it to the bottom on this team run before tumbling:Next week I will return to marginalia from books I am currently reading. For now, in honor of Jerry Apps, I prefer to share the following:Jerry’s website, with a comprehensive summary of his work.Jerry’s amazing body of accomplishments.Links to Jerry’s shows on PBS.Thoughtful and comprehensive profile of Jerry by Barry Adams.The email I mention in the podcast:I was fortunate to have been among the thousands who benefited from this man’s work and example.The Sneezing Cow webstore has all of Mike’s books, recordings, T-shirts, and merchandise (including the bestselling koozie).If you’d like to receive all episodes of Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):You can share this episode with a friend:You can give a Voice Mail gift subscription: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy folks:Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 293. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.In this episode I wonder if humans getting back together again might be the secret to a new bliss, even though I wouldn’t call it that. I also explore the balance between the mystery of life and the mystery of what’s under the refrigerator. Scroll down for photos and marginalia related to this episode.Thank you for your terrific support of the new book, which has also put a bounce in the sales of Forty Acres Deep. Orders placed by December 12 should arrive by Christmas.In other news, what it’s like to go from pitching straw bales in Wisconsin to pitching scripts in Hollywood? How does an L.A. entertainment attorney take his parrot for walks? Why are people who supposedly don’t read, buying books? Why did the twine snap? What would my mother think of what I said in that meeting? What’s Louis L’Amour got to do with it? Is that really the best use of a snow plow? And what is veracity, and can it heal us?All of these questions and more are answered in an essay I wrote now available online in the “Stories of America” section at Panoptica. Click here to read (paying subscribers to this Voice Mail received advance readings of early drafts as I developed it).Once again, thank you for subscribing to Voice Mail.See y’down the road,MikeMARGINALIA(Annotations from books Mike is reading, or annotations related to the episode)The refrigerator situation:“Paralyzed,” by S. Carey:Below, the auditorium (I understand they now call it the ballroom). Imagine it candlelit with the band in the round down there where those chairs are. Oh, and electric candles, Fire Marshal Bill.The book cited in today’s episode:Notes toward the essay that may or may not arise from this:The Power of Myth is available at BookShop.org and Amazon. Those are affiliate links, we get a couple cents.Improbable Mentors & Happy Tangents is available in print and as an ebook. Also available as an audiobook.Forty Acres Deep is available in print and as an ebook. Also available as an audiobook.Prefer to support a local indie bookstore? Let them know we distribute this book through Ingram or wholesale directly through us.To keep up to date, follow Mike on Instagram. His daughter also finally got him set up on TikTok.The Sneezing Cow webstore has all of Mike’s books, recordings, T-shirts, and merchandise (including the bestselling koozie). Orders placed by December 12 should arrive by Christmas.If you’d like to receive all episodes of Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):You can share this episode with a friend:You can give a Voice Mail gift subscription: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy folks:Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 291. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.In this episode I reveal how I agreed to allow my children to have cats only after making it clear the cats would be allowed only under my rules—but of course rather than living under my rules they snuck under them. And over them. And around them. And through them. And that was just the first week. And never mind the house, these days they pretty much run my office (see photos and videos below).A big thank you to everyone who ordered the new book, which is now also available as an audiobook (read by me). It’s a little different, and that’s turned out to be good, because we’re meeting a whole new bunch of readers.Okey-doke. Gotta get this cat off my lap and back to work. Not that a cat ever works.Forward!MikeIf you’d like to receive all episodes of Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):You can share this episode with a friend:MARGINALIA(Annotations from books Mike is reading, or annotations related to the episode)The very definition of walking in like you own the place:Sometimes it’s just creepy:(The tinfoil-y stuff is a rescue blanket hung to reflect the late-afternoon sun, which otherwise bakes me out. The missing chunks are due to—you guessed it—the cats. And the mildew on the trim? Yes, I see it now.)They like each other:One thing we agree on? Office naps:I continue to read Always Crashing In the Same Car (available at BookShop.org and Amazon) and got a kick out of randomly running into an old friend:That feeling of familiarity is key to Montaigne and what I tried to convey in Montaigne in Barn Boots…even though he’s been dead for hundreds of years and even though hundreds of thousands (at this point, millions?) of people have read his work, he comes across like your friend. Your confidant.Improbable Mentors & Happy Tangents is available in print and as an ebook. Also available as an audiobook.Prefer to support a local indie bookstore? Let them know we distribute this book through Ingram or wholesale directly through us.For more cats and oddments, follow Mike on Instagram. His daughter also finally got him set up on TikTok.The Sneezing Cow webstore has all of Mike’s books, recordings, T-shirts, and merchandise (including the bestselling koozie).If you’d like to receive all episodes of Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):You can share this episode with a friend:You can give a Voice Mail gift subscription: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy folks:Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 285. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.In this episode, I describe how we arrived at the cover design for the new book. And what it’s got to do with rock ‘n’ roll posters.To see the images mentioned in this episode (and link to the fish story), scroll down.If you’d like to receive all episodes of Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):You can share this episode with a friend:Forward!MikeHere’s a link to Episode #207, the one with the story about Andy and me stranded at sea, and the fish picture. Here’s RT and some of the work he and Chris have done at Knorth Studios. They’re also on Instagram.Improbable Mentors & Happy Tangents is available in print and as an ebook. Audiobook is recorded and will be available soon (sign up here to be notified).Prefer to support a local indie bookstore? Let them know we distribute this book through Ingram or wholesale directly through us.Follow Mike on Instagram.The Sneezing Cow webstore has all of Mike’s books, recordings, T-shirts, and merchandise (including the bestselling koozie).If you’d like to receive all episodes of Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):You can share this episode with a friend:THANK YOU. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy folks:Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 280. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.In this episode I discuss my enduring affection for The Rockford Files, how I have failed to recruit my own family as fans of the show (but did introduce them to the music of Isaac Hayes), and share a piece of writing tying the art of Edward Hopper to International Harvester pickup trucks, The Rockford Files, and the Portuguese concept of saudade.Scroll down for marginalia supplementing the audio portion of this episode, as well as subscription information and book links.As ever, thank you for listening.MikeMARGINALIA(Annotations from books Mike is reading, or annotations related to the episode)More on Seven A.M. here.I also mention Hopper and Seven A.M. in this song. You can listen to it here.Hey folks, thanks as ever for listening and following along. I’m grateful to do what I do, and will keep at it.All of my books, audio, T-shirts, and miscellany (from PBS specials to can koozies) can be found here.The John Prine book is available from BookShop.org and Amazon.The Koozer/Harrison book is available from BookShop.org and Amazon.Those are affiliate links, we get a couple cents.If you’d like to receive all episodes of Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):You can share this episode with a friend:You can give a Voice Mail gift subscription:See y’down the road. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy folks:Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 275. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.In this episode, I celebrate the return of Truck: A Love Story to Wisconsin Public Radio’s longest-running program, “Chapter A Day,” by revisiting all the twists and turns it took to come up with a cover for that dang book in the first place. I hope you enjoy the behind-the-scenes story, and all the related photos below.And above all—thank you for subscribing, and thank you for listening.Double-clutch,MikeMARGINALIA(Annotations from books Mike is reading, or annotations related to the episode)If you’d like to receive all episodes of Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):You can share this episode with a friend:You can give a Voice Mail gift subscription:Mike’s signed books, recordings, T-shirts, and more available at The Sneezing Cow store. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy folks:Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 271. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.This episode is in honor of my mom—a mother to many. She passed away peacefully last Sunday.MikeAn earlier episode about mom (subscription required).An even earlier episode about mom (no subscription required).Thank you, folks. We’ll convene again next week.If you’d like to receive all episodes of Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):You can share this episode with a friend:You can give a Voice Mail gift subscription:Mike’s signed books, recordings, T-shirts, and more available at The Sneezing Cow store. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy folks:Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 269. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.In this episode I revisit the adventures of two cousins—Herbie and Delmar—and bid Delmar good-bye after over a century of a life well-lived. In the Marginalia section (scroll down) I share related photos and videos.I also have two announcements. One concerns my goddaughter Amy.The other concerns some current events.While recording today’s episode I was reminded for the forty-’leventh time how many rich experiences I have been allowed in this life. I hope I convey them in gratitude and joy, and I hope I convey how grateful I am for the time you take to read, listen, and follow.I never take it for granted.Thank you,MikeMARGINALIA(Annotations from books Mike is reading, or annotations related to the episode)After he finished recording, Jaime got a ride:The hovercraft I bought at Herbie’s auction is tattered and out of commission, but the one in the video below is the exact same model and color (minus Herbie’s crazy modifications):There’s a little more to the Herbie and Delmar story in Population 485.The airplane can be heard on the “Tiny Pilot” track of this album.The hidden track can be heard here.The airplane also appears in Coop.If you’d like to receive all episodes of Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):You can share this episode with a friend:You can give a Voice Mail gift subscription:Mike’s signed books, recordings, T-shirts, and more available at The Sneezing Cow store.See y’down the road! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy folks:This episode is free to all subscribers, and random. Did a lil’ soliloquy up there in the garage and decided to share it.Thank you. All of you.MikeIf you’d like to receive all episodes of Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):You can share this episode with a friend:You can give a Voice Mail gift subscription:Mike’s signed books, recordings, T-shirts, and more available at The Sneezing Cow store. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy folks:Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 263. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.In this episode I explore the evolution and nuances of the Menards rebate form and why some of us are so excited about the new version. Then I tell the story of the exploding pink tape measure. And then it all ends up back at Menards again.If you happen to be in the Eau Claire area on May 15, I’m doing a live event with my friend Frank Bures to promote his new book. If you can’t make it, the book is available at Bookshop.org and Amazon.All of my live events can be found here.Thank you for subscribing and listening.MikeMARGINALIA(Annotations from books Mike is reading, or annotations related to the episode)I have so many annotations related to today’s story that the regular book marginalia is on pause for this episode.Below, a sampling of my personal tape measure inventory. Note nothing in pink. The photo below diagrams the flight of the exploding pink tape measure. This image originally appeared in Voice Mail episode #223, “The Writing Shack.”The image below is a slide taken by my father the day our Menard pole barn arrived in pieces on a truck.Below you can see the pole barn as it stood completed on our farmstead:There are more Menard pole barn photos in Voice Mail episode #174 “Ashley C. Ford and Pole Barns.In this passage from the essay “A Way With Wings,” from the book Off Main Street, I refer to the crew who built our Menard pole shed:This snowy picture of the peak of our Menard pole barn (which I can see from my little room above the garage) is the central to the birth of the book Forty Acres Deep.The Menards jingle. You grew up around these parts you know that baby by heart.An icon in the Midwestern pantheon: Ray “the Menards guy” Szmanda.The passage about the Menards jets is in Coop.Then there was the time I did this.If you’d like to receive all episodes of Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):Know a Menards fan? You can share this episode with a friend:You can give a Voice Mail gift subscription:Mike’s signed books, recordings, T-shirts, and more available at The Sneezing Cow store.See y’down the road! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy folks:Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 262. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.In this episode I sit down to read about canoes with a cup of coffee at hand, wind up reading an essay about autodidacticism and have my day lightened by a line about dandelion fuzz I wish I woulda wrote.If you happen to be in the Eau Claire area on May 15, I’m doing a live event with my friend Frank Bures to promote his new book (pictured above). If you can’t make it, the book is available at Bookshop.org and Amazon.Thank you for listening. We don’t take it for granted.Forward,MikeMARGINALIA(Annotations from books Mike is reading, or annotations related to the episode)Random notes made while reading the Elisa Gonzalez piece mentioned in today’s episode:If you’d like to receive all episodes of Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):You can also share this episode with a friend:You can give a Voice Mail gift subscription:Mike’s signed books, recordings, T-shirts, and more available at The Sneezing Cow store.Information on the May 15 event with Frank Bures. The book is available at Bookshop.org and Amazon. Those are affiliate links, we get a couple cents. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy folks:Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 258. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.In this episode I talk about a brief and impromptu neighborhood get-together, then head off in a slightly different direction than usual and request your input. I also reveal the phrase I used last week to describe why I’ll never be a fashionista and why there will always be limits to my refinement.In random news, a few years ago we gave the chicken coop from Coop to the neighbors. They have since moved and the new neighbors have offered to let us have it back. So I’m gonna head down there and see if it’s still in any shape to be moved. This is how we moved it when it was brand new:From Coop:The tractor moves across the yard with the coop in tow. In a rare moment of foresight, we removed the windows so they wouldn’t bust in transit, and Buffalo is riding crouched in the window waving at the kids like an underweight troll, his head of curls and big black beard flopping in the wind. For my part, I keep ’er steady with the tractor, one arm raised and pointing to the distance as if I am Hannibal headed for the Alps.As ever, I remain grateful for your time and attention.Thank you.MikeP.S. Scroll down for MARGINALIA section.If you’d like to receive all episodes of Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):You can also share this episode with a friend:You can give a Voice Mail gift subscription:This episode mentions Population 485 and Montaigne in Barn Boots.Other signed books, recordings, T-shirts, and more at The Sneezing Cow store.MARGINALIA(Annotations from books Mike is reading, or annotations related to the episode)Had some airplane time recently, and began re-reading Eric Linklater’s Magnus Merriman on my Kindle.Looking at what I highlighted in the Introduction, I chuckle how some of it winds up being relevant to today’s Voice Mail episode:Magnus Merriman is available via Amazon. That’s an affiliate link. If you use it I am compelled by law to let you know Sneezing Cow gets something in the tip jar.In the department of additional full disclosure, the photo at the very top of this episode was taken back in June of 2023. The sun was filtering through Canadian wildfire smoke. Two days after I took it, I took another, in New York City. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy, folks:Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 253. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.In this episode I start out to share my latest dunderheaded derp-stunt only to realize I already covered that in this episode, which we have switched to free so you can access it without a subscription.Then I switch gears to discuss eggs and chickens and then why I’m not a farmer which leads me to a passage from Visiting Tom about harvesting oats with a scythe while my toddler daughter eats windfall apples. The piece concludes with Tom (figuratively) yanking me back down to earth when I wax a tad too poetic.Many related photos below.Thank you for giving this your time. I don’t take it for granted.Forward,MikeSigned books, recordings, T-shirts, and more at The Sneezing Cow store.If you’d like to receive all episodes of Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):You can also share this episode with a friend:You can give a Voice Mail gift subscription:Here’s another free episode about how DERP!!! is a way of life with me.MARGINALIA(Annotations from books Mike is reading, or annotations related to the episode)Sneak peak of a new thing I’ve got coming out. Just sent the manuscript in with final corrections:Signed books, recordings, T-shirts, and more at The Sneezing Cow store.If you’d like to receive all episodes of Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):You can also share this episode with a friend:You can give a Voice Mail gift subscription: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy, folks:Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 250. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.In today’s episode I go from talking about snow to talking about a first responder call I just made to talking about the mockumentary “Best in Show,” then share an essay about dog shows, as if I know anything about that. And tell a funny story about me and my merchandise manager Tony.Lots of dogs in this episode, so I went with some dog photos.Also, this is Tony.And here’s more info on the Zoom event. We’d love it if you joined in. I’ll be broadcasting live from the little room above the garage.Thank you for listening,MikeMARGINALIA(Annotations from books Mike is reading, or annotations related to the episode)Signed books, recordings, T-shirts, and more at The Sneezing Cow store.The mushing story is in this book.The Zoom event info is here.You can give a Voice Mail gift subscription:If you’d like to receive all episodes of Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):You can also share this episode with a friend: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy folks:Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 245. In honor of the final week of the NFL football regular season, this one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.In this episode I explain how the very first time I attended a professional football game, I was on the field with the team. As has often been the case with my career, I got there by coming at things from an angle. For the rest of the story (and to find out just how big them fellas look up close), please click the player above to listen. For a photo series of how the game ended and to see this week’s marginalia, please scroll down.And thank you for listening.Forward!MikeIf you’d like to receive all episodes of Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):You can give a Voice Mail gift subscription:You can also share this episode with a friend:To shop all of Mike’s books, recordings, and Sneezing Cow merchandise (including the small town T-shirt) (freshly replenished after selling out), please visit the webstore. MARGINALIA(Annotations from books Mike is reading, or annotations related to the episode)Thanks to a gift from my wife, I spent much of the week reading this:Okey-doke, folks. See y’down the road. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy folks:Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 243. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.In this episode I start out to wax poetic about my snow plow truck then detour into talking about my tour van instead. There is also a hubcap update. And be sure to scroll down…and finally, please scroll down to the Marginalia section where I share a few highlights from a book I started reading out in my deer stand.Forward!MikeToday’s episode draws on the essay “Van Again” from the book Hunker.DVD copies of Mike’s PBS documentaries (including “Michael Perry On The Road,” starring the van in question) are available here.The subject of today’s marginalia, the book Daughter in Retrograde, is available from BookShop.org and on Amazon. (Law requires me to let you know we catch a little commission if you order through those Amazon and BookShop links. Are we good, law?)You can give a Voice Mail gift subscription:If you’d like to receive all episodes of Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):You can also share this episode with a friend:MARGINALIA(Annotations from books Mike is reading, or annotations related to the episode)I’m just a few chapters in, but am enjoying Kersten’s take on Midwestern culture—for better or worse.I highlighted the line below because I wish I’d’a thought of it first:And here we get into the idea of discernment as opposed to doubt, and where it leads us.For the record, I’m not cynical about midwestern pleasantries. There’s a lot of sincerity to be found hereabouts, especially when we work face-to-face and neighbor-to-neighbor. But I also know what it is to smile benevolently whilst curling my toes and grinding my molars, and the passages above convey that nicely.I’m eager to see where the rest of the book leads. Off the cuff, what I think I’m liking is I like to read critical takes on the culture I’m immersed in as it gives me food for thought, a reason to look in the mirror a little more closely, and above all I like it when those critiques arise from within as opposed to the election-season local cafe parachute job we are so often subjected to.Okey-doke then. Nice ear muffs. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy folks:Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 242. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.Ten years ago I wrote a book called The Scavengers. Then I started the sequel. And then…well, as you’ll hear in today’s episode, some life came up. But I’ve kept pecking away at it, and am currently powering through, bound and determined to hand it in before my editor retires.Also in this episode: A couple of sneak peeks into the sequel, including a passage written after I discovered the nickname I had quite innocently given one character had some other…connotations.Scroll down for additional photos. And marginalia.As ever, thank you for listening.Forward,MikeMARGINALIA(Annotations from books Mike is reading, or annotations related to the episode)The poetry of Emily Dickinson plays a central role in The Scavengers (and does in the sequel). Maggie and her mother bond over the poems, but Maggie (Ford Falcon, as she prefers) also draws strength from Emily’s example. As this passage from Brenda Wineapple’s White Heat: The Friendship of Emily Dickinson and Thomas Wentworth Higginson, indicates, Emily was up against it:The highlight in the passage below echoes what I tried to create in the character of Maggie/Ford Falcon: a young girl who loves and craves solitude, values her independence, is stubborn, and takes no guff:Okey-doke folks, off I go. Thanks again.The Scavengers is available in hardcover, paperback, and audio. The sequel is available…well, we’ll see.White Heat is available through BookShop.org and Amazon. (Law requires me to let you know we catch a little commission if you order through those Amazon and BookShop links. Are we good, law?)If you’d like to receive all episodes of Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):Know someone who’s an Emily Dickinson fan? Or might be interested in The Scavengers? You can share this episode:You can give a Voice Mail gift subscription: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy folks:Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 236. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.Today I found myself drawn to revisit a piece I wrote about a song called “The Healing Day” by Bill Fay. It’s the piece from which the title of the book Peaceful Persistence came. And because the piece mentions sheep—and in particular my father’s sheep—I dug into the family archives for some of my favorite sheep pictures.Thank you for listening,MikeShare this episode with a friend:The song by Bill Fay:This was a free episode. If you’d like to receive all episodes, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):Share this episode with a friend:Give a Voice Mail gift subscription:Mikes’ books, recordings, and related merchandise available at the SneezingCow store. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy folks:Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 235. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.Let’s say there’s a person whose work altered the course of your life in the best possible way. Let’s say that person is a songwriter, and one day you are given the opportunity to perform one of that man’s songs for him and a couple thousand strangers.And then let’s say you muff it.Then what?I hope you enjoy this episode and the related images below. Thank you for listening.MikeAnd here’s a phone video of the performance described in this week’s episode.MARGINALIAThis was a free episode. If you’d like to receive all episodes, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):Share this episode with a friend:Give a Voice Mail gift subscription:Mikes’ books, recordings, and related merchandise available at the SneezingCow store.NEW: LONG SLEEVE Peaceful Persistence and Never Stand Behind A Sneezing Cow T-shirts are available here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy folks:Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 234. This one’s subscribers only free in honor of the “OKAYEST HUNTER” podcast. Click the player above to listen.In this episode I head down to the pole barn and dig out a goofball essay I wrote in 1992 about how I wasn’t the greatest hunter ever. I had forgotten I’d even written it, so as I read it, I’ll be rediscovering it in real time right along with you.Mmmm…venison.Forward,MikeMARGINALIARelevant excerpt from the hunting chapter in Truck:And another:And finally, a couple of scribbles I made in the margins of Braided Creek: A Conversation in Poetry by Ted Kooser and Jim Harrison:Not available in blaze orange, but ready for cooler weather, we have Peaceful Persistence T-shirts in long sleeve now.Braided Creek (see marginalia above) is available at BookShop.org and Amazon.com. (Law requires me to let you know we catch a little commission if you order through those links. Are we good, law?)You can give a Voice Mail gift subscription:If you’d like to receive all episodes of Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm): This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy folks:Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 230. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.In this episode I answer a reader’s question about the etiquette of waving when you meet someone on a country road, and how that small civilized gesture heartens me on days when I need heartening.When driving, my preference is the one- or two-finger steering wheel raise, but there are other options, including the seed-corn-cap brim-brush salute, demonstrated below:Below is my dad, four decades ago, demonstrating his trademark “‘V’ for Victory” wave. His in his 80s now, but if you meet him on the road, you’re getting the same wave. (Scroll down to the MARGINALIA section for more background.)As ever, thanks for riding along—and waving.See y’down the road,MikeToday’s episode is built on “The Wave,” an essay in my book Hunker: Brief Essays on Human Connection, available here.Mike’s books, recordings, T-shirts, stickers and can koozies in the Sneezing Cow store.If you’d like to receive all episodes of Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):You can also give a gift subscription:Or simply share this episode with someone who might enjoy it:MARGINALIA This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy folks:Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 224. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.In this episode a thought about the magic of radio leads me back to revisit a time when I wrote about truckers and trucker radio. And I mention that the band and I are going to play a benefit for a unique local radio station. Join us if yer in the area!Oh, and a clarification: In today’s episode I mention 1997 and 2007 in a way that might be confusing. The main piece was written in 1997…the 2007 reference pertains to an explanatory addendum in Off Main Street. Either way, time flies like a brakeless truck down Wolf Creek Pass.Thank you,MikeInfo on the WHYS concert including the Long Beds.WHYS website.Dave Nemo talking about trucker songs.Long Beds trucking song.Long Haul Paul’s music.Interview I did with Long Haul Paul (slung some guitar).The source of this episode’s marginalia is the same book as last week, which I found thanks to a listener/reader recommendation: First We Read, Then We Write: Emerson on the Creative Process, available from BookShop.org and Amazon. (Law requires me to let you know we catch a little commission if you order through those links. Are we good, law?)MARGINALIAI keep dipping into First We Read, Then We Write. It’s one of those you can read that way. A chapter when time allows.Unlike Emerson above, I’ve never been good at keeping journals. Partly because I’m not that disciplined, and partly because when I did keep journals and went back to read them, they rendered me profoundly maudlin. I do keep reams and reams of jotted oddments, and physical object and pictures that trigger my memories and sprout stories. But there is also a chuckle for me in the above passage, as after 30 years of freelancing, I deeply appreciate the “cash value of an idea.” My finest mentors were those who told me what didn’t work.I often wish I was more organized. More disciplined in my approach. But it’s those tangents that yield up the rich stuff… This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy folks:Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 223. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.This one isn’t from any book, but it’s tied to a lot of books. It’s all about a little writing shack I had hidden on forty acres I used to own in the mostly middle-of-nowhere. And it’s got a lotta pictures, so: If the newsletter is truncated click on "View entire message" and you'll be able to view the entire post.And this week’s marginalia wasn’t scribbled on a book, it was scribbled on a desk.Thanks for tuning in,MikeMARGINALIAI used to write and date notes on the desk in that shack. If I took pictures of them, I don’t know where they are, but at some point I copied them down, and so herewith this episode’s “desk-inalia.”03/09/2005 – Cold (10 degrees) sunny, blue sky, gray tree trunks, snow crust strong enough that I walked atop it all the way out here even with a pack on. Bucked some firewood, split it, enjoyed the way the deep-frozen shack became cozy and warm. The dang mice have got to go. Didn’t mind when they moved into the roof, but now they’ve pooped and peed so much it’s leaking down the walls. The war is on.**I shot one with the 12 gauge but that plan has limitations.03/25/2005 – Amy, Anneliese, smiley face (written by Amy). Warm, sunny, lots of bright snow, we hiked out for lunch, had venison sandwiches and an MRE pack. Amy had her Mickey Mouse backpack and hiked happily. We had hot chocolate, then Anneliese and Amy headed back and I stayed to work on the truck book.03/26/2005 – Walked all the way out here because I got home last night and couldn’t remember if I shut the door. I had.08/10/2005 – Rode here on my mountain bike, sweating gobs on the floor. Was afraid to look inside the shack having not been here for over four months, but none of the mouse traps are sprung, everything as it was save for a few dead bugs and a sprinkling of turds on the cot. The truck book is not going well, Anneliese and Amy are off for a visit to Colorado, I am determined to hammer something out.08/13/2005 – Swept up, did find one mouse in a trap. Pretty much dehydrated. Working on truck book.09/06/2005 – [in my brother-in-law’s (cunado’s) handwriting] Para Mike: Thanks for bringing me to your secret place. Gracias for having a good, the best cigar with me. I know my kid will have one of the best uncles. Gracias tio Mike. Cunado Marcelino. [NOTE: this visit recounted in the “Tio Miguel” essay in Roughneck Grace.]04/27/2006 – Leaves just budding out. Maple leaves the size of quarters. First time out this year. Looks like someone took the single shot. Scared up turkeys on the walk in. [“Single shot” refers to the shotgun stolen from the shack. In 2007 we would move, and I would sell the land, the shack along with it.]Today’s episode is original, not taken from any particular book, but it references or is tied to several books:Population 485 (the one that brought me to the dance I’m still dancing)Truck: A Love Story (the one I was struggling with in the shack)Coop: A Family, a Farm, and the Pursuit of One Good Egg (the backstory of Tim)Roughneck Grace (the cigar backstory)Visiting Tom (more on Oscar and why he woulda got on great with Tom)Sneezing Cow everything else including can koozies, stickers, and T-shirts.If you’d like to receive all episodes of Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):You can also give a gift subscription:Or simply share this episode with someone who might enjoy it:Thank you! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy folks:Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 217. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.In this episode I tell the unpublished story of how I came to be a New York Times bestselling author, what that really means, and why your kids are gonna giggle at you anyway.The band and I are playing in Minneapolis tonight, if you are in range and see this in time.This week’s marginalia…well, you’ll see (scroll down).Meanwhile, thank you.MikeThe book that got me on the charts, Visiting Tom.The video mentioned in the letter above.The rest of the books, humor and music albums, T-shirts, and can koozies, cuz I still gotta get one kid raised.Playing with my band in Minneapolis tonight if it’s still tonight when you read this.The Alexander Chee book mentioned in the marginalia section (scroll down) is How To Write An Autobiographical Novel: Essays. It’s one of my favorites, and it’s available at BookShop.org and Amazon (Law requires me to let you know we catch a little commission if you order through those links. Are we good, law?)We send this podcast out once a week, sharing news and stories and behind-the-scenes bits we don’t blast out across the regular “socials.”If you’d like to receive all episodes, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):You can also give a gift subscription:Or simply share this episode with someone who might enjoy it:MARGINALIAEach week I share notes I’ve scribbled in books I’ve read, or excerpts from journal pages, or rough drafts. I make a couple of comments and folks react. It’s a way to show how writing and reading is part of my life behind the scenes—not just in the “official” places.Once again, thank you for looking and listening. I don’t take it for granted. See y’next week, Lord willin’ and the crick don’t rise.Mike This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy folks:Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 211. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.Last week I climbed into a big ol’ tractor and helped my brother with the planting (short video here). I was in a troubled state of mind, and that tractor helped. It also brought back a flood of memories, many of which I revisited in the book Coop, the memoir from which today’s reading selection is taken. Above all, I was a fortunate boy. And last week on that tractor I once again felt like that fortunate boy.This week’s marginalia (scroll down) is from one of my old writing journals.Thank you for listening. See y’next week.MikeThe book Coop, in all its iterations—print, ebook, audio—is available here. Paperbacks ordered directly from the site are signed by Mike.My most recent book—Forty Acres Deep—deals with the darker side of farming. And mental health. But is also filled with scenes of what it is to farm close to the land. Available here.Some of this episode’s marginalia is from the Rick Bass book The Traveling Feast, available from Amazon.com here.All the books and recordings and Sneezing Cow can koozies here.In the spirit of the theme, a goofy video by a group I wrote about back in my country music journalism days, The Tractors:MARGINALIAThis week’s marginalia is culled from one of my old writing journals:Okey-doke. See ya.P.S. As I am obsessive and discovered it late, the fourth line of today’s episode should be, “That doesn’t mean I don’t need to sometimes find a way to shake it all.” This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 207. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.In today’s episode I share the story of heading down to Alabama to tell stories and sign books in roadhouses and meet a friend I’d never met before. It all began thanks to a tornado and a guy who used to live under a bridge. And although we didn’t read Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, we coulda, and probably even finished it during the three hours we found ourselves adrift in the Gulf of Mexico.It’s not my usual episode, but I hope you’ll enjoy tagging along as I introduce you to a fellow who went from living under a bridge to selling 20 million booksNone of this would have happened if Andy hadn’t stopped by Arcadia Books.All about Andy Andrews. And Andy’s books.All about Mike’s books (including the Montaigne one).A special thank you to Austin Andrews who opened for us at the Flora-Bama. Stunning singer/songwriter. Hear three of his songs here.Bill-E’s, the place with the amazin’ bacon.Mike’s recent YouTube visit with Andy:This was a free episode. If you’d like to receive all episodes, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):Share this post with a friend:Give a Voice Mail gift subscription:MARGINALIAFrom Andy’s book The Bottom of the Pool (which I marked up on the flight home). This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy folks:Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 203. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.In today’s episode I’m fresh back from a side-trip to Los Angeles which got me somehow to thinking about my short-lived punk rock career and the most important lesson I ever learned about playing guitar. There is also a passing mention of prairie oysters and sousaphones. And a band named Toxic…well, you’ll hear. My mom listens to this podcast, but sometimes you gotta just tell it the way it was.Scroll down for more photos (including the one referenced in the podcast) and this episode’s marginalia.Above all, thank you. I’ll keep at it. The writing, that is. The punk rock, that’s over with.MikeThe previous band-related episode I mention is here.If the Long Beds are playing near you, it’ll be listed here.And whether it’s a new book, Mike appearing solo with stories, or the band, you’ll hear about it in advance if you’re on the mailing list.All the books mentioned in this podcast can be found here.This was a free episode. If you’d like to receive all episodes, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):Share this post with a friend:Give a Voice Mail gift subscription:TODAY’S MARGINALIA: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy folks:Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 197. This one’s subscribers only. Click the player above to listen.Today I got to thinking—and then talking—about thank you cards and thank yous and how whether you mail it or you click it you can never say thank you enough. Although taking the time to use pen and paper and a stamp do add a special degree of sincerity to the act.And for today’s marginalia, rather than the usual notes from the text of the book, I stuck with the “thank you” theme and annotated the acknowledgments page from Montaigne in Barn Boots.Today’s essay is from the book Million Billion. The paperback, Kindle and other ebook versions, as well as all of Mike’s other hardcovers, paperbacks, and audiobooks are here at the Sneezing Cow store.All the books (including the ones featured on the postcards below) are here.Also, posters and koozies.Voice Mail gift subscriptions:MARGINALIA:Thank you, folks. Yes. Thank you.Mike This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 196. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.In today’s episode, I introduce a good friend of mine, Mary Cutrufello. I’ve mentioned Mary before, usually when talking about my band the Long Beds (named after the truck in Truck), but since we’re going to be doing some shows as a duo this year (The Mike and Mary Situation), I figured maybe it was time to share some background. Scroll down and you can see a video of Mary on The Tonight Show back in the day.This week’s marginalia is…well, scroll down for that too.This episode is from scratch, and not in any of my books. Until I write the one about the band…If you’re in the Twin Cities area and want to catch Mary’s live shows, this is the place to start.Mary and I have three shows coming up: February 9 in Minneapolis, February 24 in Bayfield, Wisconsin, and then in St. Paul, Minnesota in May. For best details, make sure you’re on the mailing list—we’ll let you know.“As a duo, Perry and Cutrufello are as at ease with the audience as they are with each other. The songs hit directly and cleanly, the harmonies contrast like worn leather and rough-cut lumber, and the stage banter plays like a conversation between two longtime road-wise friends who’ve taken their lumps and their chances, whose trade is words and music but know what it is to work a loading dock or a pitchfork, and who figure if life ain’t played out exactly as you drew it up, you might as well laugh about it, sing about it, and get on with it.”For subscription options to this Voice Mail, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):Today’s episode isn’t from any of my books, but if you’re looking for them, they’re here. Including this little number, which not everyone knows about:We were all younger once…here’s Mary on The Tonight Show:Here’s a Long Beds television appearance from 2018 that features Billy and Mary. MARGINALIA:In the spirit of my comments in this episode’s recording about freelance work and ideas that never see the light of day, I thought it fitting to share this checklist I came across in a journal (undated, but based on the entries, I think it’s about 5-6 years old) and update you on the progress (the check marks don’t mean completed, they mean I either completed them or moved them to the next day’s list) (a process that worked for a few months then dwindled):Daughters Book: 70% done, currently on pause.WHS backlist plans — indies: Don’t recall, but it has to do with my Wisconsin Historical Society Press books From the Top, Roughneck Grace, and Danger: Man Working. And independent bookstores.Prince Piece: Finished that one, it’s here. And parts of it wound up in the Montaigne book.Poetry Editor?: Don’t recall. Maybe thinking of writing poetry again? Would love to, but hard to pay the rent with it.Cheese Chapter?: I wrote a sample chapter for a book about cheese. Put together a whole book proposal. Spent months on it. Put in a lot of time and travel. My agent shopped it around. Nobody bit.Colonoscopy: This wasn’t a reminder to get a colonoscopy, this was a reminder to finish writing my article about getting a colonoscopy—without any anesthetic. It was published in Men’s Health magazine. I just had another colonoscopy. This time I took the juice.Montaigne paperback: Musta been getting ready to tour this.WSJ column: Wrote one of those a week for nine-and-a-half years. It was always on the to-do list.Agri-View: We were in preliminary discussions to have them syndicate my “Roughneck Grace” column. It didn’t work out.Film/TV (POP/JC): Was working out how to pitch Population 485 and The Jesus Cow as film projects. Nothing yet, but I did recently sell a script and sign a development deal for an unrelated project.WHSP audiobooks: I own the audio rights to my Wisconsin Historical Society Press books, but so far have only recorded From the Top. I gotta get on that.Scavengers: The sequel to this. I’m actually making a lot of progress on it lately.Okey-doke. That’ll do’er. See y’down the road,MikeFor subscription options to this Voice Mail, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm): This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy folks:Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 194. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.I recorded today’s episode after running the snow plow and just before stoking the wood stove in anticipation of the first good long run of subzero temperatures, which reminded me of a piece I wrote about the subtle ways deep winters push us over the edge and into behaviors warm-weather outsiders might view as odd, but we view as just gettin’ through it all. So I pulled on my stocking cap and told that story into the microphone.Today’s essay is from the book Roughneck Grace, available in print and ebook form here, along with all of Mike’s other books, music, shirts, koozies, and stickers at the Sneezing Cow store.Also, because the last batch sold out, we just printed up a fresh batch of the “Summer Here” poster featuring the opening lines of Population 485 and a beautiful collage by the artist Lori Chilefone, who lives just down the road.Here’s a new interview published just this week (“It’s Not Just A Farmer Thing”) Mike did about the unexpected reach of—and reactions to—his latest book, Forty Acres Deep.Today’s marginalia is from Poor Charlie’s Almanack, available on Amazon or support an indie by getting it through BookShop.For subscription options to this Voice Mail, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):THIS EPISODE’S MARGINALIA:As reported in last week’s episode, I’m still reading Poor Charlie’s Almanack:Thank you for listening and looking, folks. It’s nice to stay in touch.Forward,MikeFor subscription options to this Voice Mail, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):You can also give a gift subscription:Or simply share this episode: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy folks:Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 189. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.In today’s episode the death of a childhood friend sent me back to the days of bikes with “sissy bars” and banana seats, and how the last time we saw each other it was for a funeral, but most of all how his memory is tied to the days when we neighbors would all hay together, sharing equipment and time, and—as the photo above shows—relying on each other to get unstuck.I also mention how some folks didn’t care for what I wrote about haying and why I’m glad I did.The Jimmy excerpt at the beginning of today’s episode is from the essay “Catching At the Hems of Ghosts,” in the book Off Main Street, available in signed paperback and eBook here. Also at Amazon and BookShop.org.The haying excerpt is from Coop. Signed paperbacks available here (as well as links to audio and ebook versions). Also at Amazon and BookShop.org.Today’s marginalia—down below these photos—is from Mistress to an Age, the 1958 biography of a woman whose name I don’t know how to pronounce. THIS WEEK’S MARGINALIAThanks for looking and listening, folks. We enjoy sending this podcast out each week, sharing news and stories and behind-the-scenes bits we don’t blast out across the regular “socials.”If you’d like to receive all episodes, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):You can also give a gift subscription:Or simply share this episode with someone who might enjoy it:With gratitude,MikeReader reviews of Mike’s latest book, Forty Acres Deep:This book is a little masterpiece. Not only is it physically beautiful but also it is like nothing else I’ve ever read. Thank you so much.The opening chapter of this book hits you like a 300 pound defensive lineman. A literary decleater.To say that it’s a banger is an understatement- it’s a hot mix of Midwestern intellectual, our hardwired shame and guilt and resolve through action.(Feed mill operator): I told a pastor friend this morning to read it as a means to help better understand some of the rural folks he's trying to minister to.Signed copies and links to ebook and audiobook formats here.Available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook from Amazon.Available in paperback from BookShop.org. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy folks:Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 184. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.In today’s episode I talk about how a writer winds up with a band and how the writer’s wife has one very important rule about that and how being in a band has become one of my dearest joys, even as I know that my main job is still to write words meant to make their own music. Other details include how members of my band have won Grammys, played on The Tonight Show, and can invoke the Ottoman Empire. Whereas I know four or five chords and two rhythms.This episode’s marginalia is kinda stretching the definition of marginalia but seems suitable to the occasion. The band in question and I will be playing in Minneapolis very soon. Details here.Long Beds music here. And here we are gettin’ after it:Above all, thank you. This little podcast continues to grow, and has turned into a nice way to share news and stories and behind-the-scenes bits we don’t put out there on the other socials (that’s what my kids call it—the “socials”).If you’d like to receive all episodes, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):Okey-doke. Thanks, folks. Photos below. You maybe figured that out.See y’down the road,Mike This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy folks:Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 177. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.In this episode I reveal why little ol’ agnostic me is a St. Jude fan, why I find poetry in words like supplication, how chance encounters and friendships echo long beyond the moment at hand, and how the simple gift of a journal led to words shared with thousands. And above all, how grateful I am to be allowed this erratic knockabout reflective life. Buncha related photos below.MISCELLANEOUS SHOW NOTES: * Yah, sometimes I say “me” where I oughta say, “I.” Sometimes I write how I talk, sometimes I talk how I write.* The pareidolia research was for The Jesus Cow.* Here’s a decade-old post from one of those deals Drew and I did together.* Some of Drew’s back catalog. And on Spotify.* Drew today.* The song at the heart of the piece:Thanks to the whole bunch of you. This episode’s essay is from Million Billion. For all the books and whatnot, please visit the Sneezing Cow store.See y’down the road,MikeFor subscription options to this Voice Mail, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):Share this episode:Give a gift subscription:For subscription options to this Voice Mail, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):Share this episode:Give a gift subscription: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy folks:Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 176. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.Today I lighten things up with humorous marginalia courtesy of the late Jim Harrison (a friend of the late Jimmy Buffett). Story for another time, but Harrison’s essay collection Just Before Dark played a significant role in my getting a book deal for Population 485. Then I revisit a humorous piece about me and my roughneck brothers in “Cellphone Connection,” an essay from Peaceful Persistence (see images related to this week’s episode below).And then as always, I thank you all for giving of your ears, your eyes, and your time. I never take it for granted.Thank you,MikeP.S. They’re popular, so we keep printing more Peaceful Persistence shirts...and there’s this book/shirt combo deal.P.P.S. This is where all the books and recordings and live events and news and whatnot can be found: SneezingCow.com (brand new home page pic)For subscription options to this Voice Mail, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):Share this episode:Interested in the weekly version of Voice Mail? Please consider a subscription upgrade: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 171. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.In this episode I recount how my dear late friend Billy yanked my chain once when it needed yanking (as one’s best friends will), and why that incident wound up in my book about the French philosopher Montaigne. This week’s marginalia is drawn from Mark Twain, and I also reference Apollo and Prince.Depending on when you receive this, the concert I mention may or may not already be over (it’s happening Sunday, August 6 at 7:30 pm Central), but just in case, here’s a link to the event.And here’s a link to the ticketed livestream. You can watch from home.You can find Montaigne in Barn Boots in hardcover, paperback, audiobook (CD and digital), and Kindle and other ebook versions and all of Mike’s other hardcovers, paperbacks, and audiobooks here at the Sneezing Cow store.Thank you for listening. It’s nice to visit.See y’down the road,MikeThis is a free episode of Michael Perry’s Voice Mail. If you’re interested in receiving all weekly episodes, please consider hitting the subscribe button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):If you’re willing to share this episode with a friend, here y’go:And finally, you can give a gift subscription: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 168. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.I wrote this up as a fresh “Roughneck Grace” essay. Then I recorded it during a thunderstorm. The plan was to talk about turning back to books. Which I did. But I also invoked pigeons, ping-pong balls, and parkour. I then veered into a light consideration of queasy unease. After a few other meanders, I wrapped it up by revisiting some marginalia from my copies (yes, plural, as I explain in the recording) of this book:In today’s recording I also make passing reference to a song I find deeply moving—“If Christopher Calls,” by Foy Vance. As ever, folks, I take neither your time nor your attention for granted. I hope that comes through. Thank you for listening in today. Barring the Great Unexpected (it’s actually completely expected, just never sure when), I’ll sit down in the little room above the garage here and record another one next week. Meanwhile, all the books and things are here.This is a free episode. If you’re interested in receiving all weekly episodes, please consider hitting the subscribe button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):If you’re willing to share this episode with a friend, here y’go:And finally, you can give a gift subscription:And finally, finally, several years ago I met this fellow in a coffee shop. He was drawing little pictures. He has done amazing things since.Okey-doke. See y’down the road,MikeStart writing today. Use the button below to create your Substack and connect your publication with Michael Perry's Voice Mail This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy folks:Adding something new this week. This is still Michael Perry’s Voice Mail. Episode #164, to be specific. This episode is available to subscribers and non-subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.In each episode, I’ll still be reading and reflecting on a passage from the past (today, a painfully relevant passage from Montaigne in Barn Boots). But if you look down there below, we’re also adding a new section: “Mike’s Marginalia.” Marginalia are the little notes we make while reading a book. Sometimes in the margin, sometimes between the lines, sometimes on a separate scrap of paper, sometimes in a journal, or—more and more frequently, in my case—electronically in an eBook. And for the sake of this project, I’ll expand the definition to include underlined and highlighted passages. Over the years I’ve created miles and miles of marginalia…and revisited only a fraction of them (it?). “Mike’s Marginalia” gives me an excuse to dig through the bookshelves and book stacks and refresh my mind. Maybe learn something. Or more likely, re-learn something. And share it with you.THIS WEEK’S READINGIt’s from the “Confound the Fool” chapter of Montaigne in Barn Boots, which is all about absentmindedness. In this case, I’ve chosen a pair of passages that relate to books and marginalia—specifically, how I have to read and re-read things because I don’t retain them, and even more specifically the story of how my absentmindedness led to my losing the best book’s-worth of marginalia I ever marshaled.MIKE’S MARGINALIAToday’s marginalia is from the book Montaigne and the Quality of Mercy.The cover suggests it won’t be a carefree romp:Well, folks, as ever, thank you for continuing to listen to these Voice Mails. If you’d like to subscribe, click the green button (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):If you’d like to share the experience with a friend, you can give a gift subscription:You can also share this episode:You can find Montaigne in Barn Boots in hardcover, paperback, audiobook (CD and digital), and Kindle and other ebook versions and all of my other hardcovers, paperbacks, and audiobooks here at the Sneezing Cow store.Well, I s’pose…Mike This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy folks:Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 162. (Ignore Mike saying it’s episode #161, he’s off by one week, which is better than average, and we’re not gonna tell him for at least another week.)This episode is available to subscribers and non-subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.NOTE: The Neil Gaiman story anchoring this episode originally appeared in a subscribers-only episode back in January of 2022, but Mike wished to revisit and share it more widely as a memorial to his late friend “ALR.” Also, the original episode did not include the bit about Mike chasing a cat-abusing red fox in his underwear.Included in today’s installment: Mike revisits two of the oddest television-related coincidences of his life, as described in his book Peaceful Persistence.After you listen, you may be interested in this note Mike wrote when his friend Al (mentioned in this episode) died.In the Tweet above, Neil Gaiman was referring to this book.The book Mike mentions at the end of this episode is Forty Acres Deep. More info here.P.S. They’re popular, so we keep printing more Peaceful Persistence shirts...and there’s this book/shirt combo deal.For “Voice Mail” subscription options, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):Share this post with a friend:Give a “Voice Mail” gift subscription:For more, please visit SneezingCow.com and the store. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy folks:Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 157. This one’s available to subscribers and non-subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.Included in today’s installment: Soon to speak at a writer’s conference and then do a show with his band, Mike talks about how he came to have a band in the first place, how his first-ever show went, and how things have gone since. Also included: The best musical advice he ever received (from a two-time Grammy winner). Then he closes with the essay, “Roadworthy,” about being on the road in a band in a van in a traffic jam.Below is a brief clip from a recent show (watch Mike very professionally smack his mouth on the microphone but just keep rollin’) (link also here):Music video of a song Mike wrote for his daughters.Music video for the song “Forty Acres Deep.” (A title Mike used again for this book). Here’s video from an in-studio Long Beds set recorded for PBS five years ago.Today’s essay is from the book Peaceful Persistence. (Also still selling well, these Peaceful Persistence shirts...including this book/shirt combo deal.)And thanks again for the ongoing response to the newest book.See y’down the road!Share this post:For subscription options, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):Gift subscription info: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy folks:Welcome to the Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 153. This one’s available to paying subscribers and free subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.Included in today’s installment: Mike begins the day with a coffee whoopsie, which leads him back to his writing about the French philosopher Montaigne’s thoughts on absentmindedness. Mike also does his Dylan Thomas impression, something you might never have heard unless you’ve been to a Long Beds soundcheck.You can find Montaigne in Barn Boots in hardcover, paperback, audiobook (CD and digital), and Kindle and other ebook versions and all of Mike’s other hardcovers, paperbacks, and audiobooks here at the Sneezing Cow store.Oh, and regarding the mention of a soundcheck in today’s episode, Mike and his band the Long Beds will be live in Oshkosh soon—info here (he also shoots the breeze and signs books at these events).If you wish, please share this post with a friend.And if you’re interested in the weekly version, please consider a subscription upgrade (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):Thank you for listening. It’s nice to visit. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy folks:Grateful to say we’ve had a surge of new subscribers. So today’s episode is a general welcome from Mike, in which—drawing on the photo above and those below—he recounts just how unlikely it was that he’d wind up writing and performing for a living, and how his blue collar, working class, roughneck, whatever-you-wanna-call-it upbringing turned out to be perfect preparation for what is, after all, basic self-employment.This episode is available to paying subscribers and free subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.For subscription options, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):For information on all the books and recordings mentioned (and the truckload of them not mentioned) click here.And thanks.The book that started it all.The latest book.Everything else.Mike’s bio.If you wish, please share this post with a friend.And if you’re interested in the weekly version, please consider a subscription upgrade:Thanks again. See y’down the road. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy folks:Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 142. This one’s available to subscribers and non-subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.Included in today’s installment: Mike is missing his daughters and pondering the price of eggs. This moves him to revisit a piece from Peaceful Persistence addressing both of those topics and including a reference to Lawry’s Seasoned Salt.Bonus link to a video of Mike’s younger daughter leading a flock of chickens across the yard.Thank you for listening. We don’t take your time or interest for granted.Forward,Mike and the Sneezing Cow crewP.S. Sometimes people ask Mike, "Why—in blog posts, or social media posts, or this Voice Mail—do you sometimes refer to yourself in the third person, as if you were a professional athlete?” Answer is because although most of the time what you are reading on those platforms is typed up by me (Mike in the first person), I also have a helper who prepares some of our communications, and also sometimes it’s just more expeditious to use the third person for general announcements and whatnot. That said, first person or third, Michael Perry intends to continue giving it 110%, taking it one game at a time, and giving all credit to his teammates. P.P.S. New book out.For subscription options, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):Share this post with someone you think might enjoy it… This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 136. This one’s available to subscribers and non-subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.This is a fresh “Roughneck Grace” essay, never before printed nor recorded. In this one, Mike shares how he and his friend Evan wrote a new song they’ll be debuting at two live shows this week. A “scratch” vocal (in this case an unedited take recorded directly into a phone) is attached to the end of the piece so you can hear how the song turned out…so far. (Lyrics at the bottom of this email.) NOTE: Due to a gremlin in the file conversion, the piano might sound ill. I assure you the piano is fine.Tonight’s show is sold out, but if you’re going to be in or around Minneapolis this Saturday night (December 10), tickets and info on how to see Mike, Evan, and Mike’s band the Long Beds (including a live performance of the new one—with the piano sounding great) are right here.For subscription options, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):Share this post with a friend…You can find all of Mike’s books, recordings, and live events at SneezingCow.com. Thank you from Mike, and thank you from the Sneezing Cow crew. See y’down the road.STAY BEFORE YOU GOPurple teddy bearIn a little red chairFor years I’ve just left him sittin’ thereCoffee’s gone coldOur one for the roadI know I gotta let you goCHORUSWe raised you up to flyI feel you pulling for the skyBut oh, the undertowStay before you goI kept you from harmIn the crook of one armI cradled your head in my handNow you stand tallAt the edge of it allAnd I am just your old manCHORUS/BRIDGE/CHORUS This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy folks.We’ve had a rush of new subscribers. Welcome! I recorded this episode to show you around the place. Or talk you around, because as longtime subscribers know, this is more like a voice mail message than a newsletter. Subscription and sharing information are posted at the end of this email. Anyways. Click on the player above to hear what this is and isn’t. Relevant links and photos below.With gratitude,Mike and the Sneezing Cow crew.In order to keep the mortgage paid (also, I’ve two daughters: one’s in braces and one’s in college), I’ve written twenty-some books (with more on the way), and recorded several music albums and live humor performances. Here’s a comprehensive list.Here’s a bio reflecting the fact that I never planned on any of this stuff (I have a nursing degree!).If you want to know when I’m headed your way for a live performance, please consider signing up for our mailing list.I do my best to keep this Voice Mail Substack low-key, like a neighbor dropping in for a visit. And for paying subscribers, we slip in a few extras, including early peeks at—or listens to—new projects before they’re released, as well as written and audio material not available outside of Voice Mail.For subscription options, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm). Episodes are released weekly—if you’ve signed up for a free subscription, you’ll receive a Voice Mail once a month or so:Please consider sharing this episode:Again, thank you. I don’t take your time for granted. See y’down the road.Mike This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy folks:Welcome to the Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 129. This one’s available to subscribers and non-subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.This was supposed to be the monthly “ramble” episode. Then I remembered I had written a piece about Halloween in 2017. So I read that and also did a mini-ramble expanding on the essay and the photos below. I also reveal why—for me—this Halloween will be a quiet—but happy—one.(The Halloween essay is from the book Million Billion. The paperback, Kindle and other ebook versions, as well as all of Mike’s other hardcovers, paperbacks, and audiobooks are here at the Sneezing Cow store.)This post is public so feel free to share it.For subscription options, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):Thank you for listening. See y’down the road.Mike This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelperry.substack.com/subscribe