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Mike Marshall was four when his family headed for central Florida. They emigrated from the Italian-settled area of Pennsylvania dubbed "Pencil-tucky" , looking for better opportunities and relief from those cold, northern winters. Mike's father found those things in Lakeland, a small town east of Tampa.

Mike was the second youngest of six children. "Being second to last seems like a pretty good place to be, because all the wars had been fought, and I could kind of slide through. In my family, there weren't a whole lot of musicians, but there were enough so that it seemed normal.

"A couple of my uncles sang and played guitar -- real crooners. And apparently my grandfather on my father's side played the mandolin . . . Albert Mocciarrello. That mandolin is still floating around the family somewhere."

Mike's father found work as a contractor on fire-damaged homes. "In fact, when Dad realized I was serious about music, he told me, 'You better get really good at that mandolin of yours, unless you want to do this for the rest of your life' -- putting roofs of houses in Florida in the middle of the summer! It really got me motivated."

Mike's parents started him studying music "to keep him out of trouble." Mike: "I was pretty hyperactive, and they wanted me out of the house, but supervised." Great good luck smiled on him, as he discovered the studio of dedicated music teacher Jim Hilligoss, who ran a music school out of a storefront in Lakeland.

"Jim was really great. He kinda started me over on guitar, and got me into the mandolin later.

He just made sure I was reading correctly and holding the instruments right, and he made us study all different kinds of good music. He also organized all of his better students into bluegrass bands."

During approximatley 1973-1978, Mike and his teenage friends (wearing polyester, matching, double-knit suits) toured around in their parents' Winnebagos, playing as the "kid band" at traditional bluegrass festivals all over the Southeast. The Sunshine Bluegrass Boys made two records, still in demand by collectors, or would be if anyone knew about them! Mike would like to burn them all.

"We cut Fox On The Run on both records. That's all I need to say."

Already the best musician in the area, Mike had vaguely moved out, eating at his folks' house but living and working in an outbuilding on the edge of his family's property, running Mike Marshall's Musical Instruction And Pickin' Parlor. Doing just fine, winning fiddle contests, performing all over the tri-state area.

"Artie Traum, the guitarist, came and played this little club in Lakeland, must have been around 1976. And he said that David [Grisman] had started a mandolin magazine. I'd already heard through the grapevine that Tony Rice, who I'd gotten to jam with at a festival, had moved out there, so I knew something was up, if 'T' had left the New South, which was the greatest band at that time.

"Anyway, Artie even gave me David's home number, and the magazine address. So I probably just sent David a tape of myself playing and a tune for the Mandolin World News -- it was an original called Blue Imp Blues, named after my car. It was that big Impala. And so when that first David Grisman Quintet (DGQ) record came out, that just took the top of my head right off. It seemed to leapfrog over so much stuff. You guys had obviously put in some time on that music.

"I'd already been a fan of Sam Bush for years and patterned my playing after his, and the DGQ just put this whole new spin into this acoustic music thing that had been brewing. I went out there to visit as soon as I could."

The decision to hire Marshall into the DGQ took all of four hours. Mike showed up at a difficult time, like an angel sent from String Band Heaven, with fresh attitude, joy and unbelievable skills. Tony Rice dubbed him "Gator Bait," after a TV show character, and put him up until Mike found a place with a fellow Florida emigrant in the East Bay.

Today Mike can be heard on the Car Talk soundtrack recording every week on NPR along with Earl Scruggs, David Grisman and Tony Rice. In addition Mike composed and recorded the theme music for the San Francisco based radio program Forum heard daily on KQED radio.

Darol Anger remains an important collaborator for Mike. To date, they have released 6 albums as a duo on Compass and Windham Hill Records. Together they have also recorded under the moniker Psychograss with guitarist David Grier, banjo player Tony Trischka and bassist Todd Phillips.

Over the past several years, Mike has also been collaborating Chris Thile, of Nickel Creek. The two mandolinists began performing together at festivals and eventually evolved into a duo, recording their first album in 2003. This cd, entitled Into the Cauldron, is a mandolin duet project performed entirely on mandolin and mandocello. Released on Sugar Hill records, this album was listed in the top ten of Amazon.com's favorite recordings for 2003.

Throughout his career, Mike has recorded with many different labels, including Rounder, Compass Records, Windham Hill, Sony Classical and Sugar Hill Records. In 2003, he decided to pursue his dream of producing his own music as well as new and exciting musicians who are arriving on the acoustic and Brazilian music scene, with his own label called, appropriately, Adventure Music. From samba and jazz to folk and world beat, a singular sound is emerging that connects the music of string band musicians from around the Americas. Additionally, Adventure Music has negotiated an agreement with the San Paulo-based label Nucleo Contemporaneo to release titles from its extensive catalog for the first time in the United States.

Whether he is producing, recording, or touring, Mike is continually exploring music and evolving as a musician.

Besides his formidable musical talents, Marshall is a fine and inspired cook and has been known to trade lessons (music for cooking craft) with some of the San Francisco Bay Area's finest chefs. He is also a well-known producer, with his Oakland-based Gatorland Studios responsible for some of the finest acoustic recordings in recent times. The combination of great cooking and cooking recording makes collaborations with Marshall at Gatorland one of the most sought after gigs in new acoustic music.

He is married to an exceptional violinist, Kaila Flexer, herself a prominent Klezmer musician. They have a lovely and precocious daughter, Lucy.