When Mike was nine, he, his father, and his grandfather began playing fiddle. His family joined the Idaho Old Time Fiddlers Organization and soon he was playing around Idaho with the Junior Jammers. The Parsons Family Band formed and ten-year old Mike, his mother, sisters, and brothers played barn dances, gyms, and shows across Idaho. Mike won the Junior Idaho State Fiddle Championship in 1973 and the Golden Spike Fiddle Championship that same year.
Since then, Mike has continued to play professionally with a variety of bands and added mandolin, guitar, banjo, bass, dobro, and steel guitar to instruments he plays. Most of all, Mike has been a patient and passionate teacher of music for more than 40 years. His enthusiasm for sharing bluegrass music shows throughout the Bluegrass with Friends series.