Cracker Barrel Assortment show for veterans

TRAVERSE CITY -- In the 1800s, the cracker barrel was used as a shipping container for a wide variety of goods. You never knew what might be inside.

For Mike Micham, the term aptly applies to his high-energy country humor band, the Cracker Barrel Assortment, which he's bringing to the Cherryland VFW Post in his old hometown today and Saturday night.

"People think of the restaurant, but it was a container with who knows what in it, and that's basically what we are," Micham said. "We don't know what's going to come out of it -- like a box of chocolates."

Micham and his wife, Nancee, are veterans of the "hillbilly" gigs of Missouri, both having played in The Homestead Pickers, a house band in the Silver Dollar City theme park near Branson.

The Pickers have visited the Cherryland VFW post several times over the past few years. Meanwhile, Mike and Nancee split away recently after moving to Taneyville, Miss., starting the new group. It helps support their sustainable Front Door Farm Market on 80 acres.

"They were here three years ago, and at that time they were the Homestead Pickers," said Terri Korb, the VFW Post club room manager. "It's very high-energy. It was a good variety of everything there and comedy. You'll see it again."

The Cracker Barrel Assortment is a four-piece band, with Mike on guitar and upright bass, Nancee on mandolin and penny whistle, Dave Krusdell on dobro guitar, fiddle and banjo, and Paul Asher on Opry-style vocals.

They mix country humor, danceable bluegrass and traditional folk, with music that is largely Celtic and Irish Ozark folk. Lots of parody songs are played and sets are 45 minutes, but Micham said it's not unusual for the band to get going for two hours or more before realizing the time on the clock.

"It's a family show," he said. "We don't get blue. I think the closest thing to off-color is when Paul does a recitation, like a Baxter Black, about a cowboy going in to buy his wife a brassiere. Got to be one of the most embarrassing things a person can do."

Mike is a Traverse City St. Francis alum who moved away in 1979. He's spent the last 17 years performing with Nancee, becoming the lead guitarist and humorist for the Homestead Pickers. His wife told stories, provided vocals and cooked on an old woodstove in the theme park.

They are well-schooled in the "hillbilly" gigs: ho downs, pig-roasts and other folk entertainment.

"The music kind of sustains the farming when the farming doesn't sustain us," Mike said. "We'd much rather not even be on a stage. We'd rather be right down in the middle of a campfire or out doin' a pig roast."

Doors open at 5 p.m. both days, and the shows start at 7. Admission is open to the public, with tickets at $15 and food and beverages available for purchase. Proceeds benefit veterans programs.

The Cherryland VFW post is located on Veterans Drive in Traverse City. Call 946-7317 for more information.

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The Cracker Barrel Assortment will perform in benefit concerts for veterans that are open to the public at the Cherryland VFW post in Traverse City tonight and Saturday night.