Quick Facts
Biography
Mike Whitten, also as Miles Whitten was an American guitarist and old-time musician. During the 1920s, he was a member of Georgia strings bands The Hometown Boys, Skillet Lickers, and Hapeville String Band.
Mike Whitten had two brothers, Charles ("Charlie") and W. L. Whitten, who were also musicians.
Little is known about Whitten before 1918 when he joined an Atlanta, Georgia, string band The Hometown Boys with fiddlers Clayton McMichen (1900—1970) and Charles Whitten (Mike's brother); mandolinist/banjoist Ezra "Ted" Hawkins; and guitarists Mike Whitten and William Haygood "Boss" Hawkins (Ted's brother). The Hometown Boys made their radio debut on September 18, 1922. In the following years, Whitten went on tours with The Hometown Boys. During that time, he competed in a fiddlers contest in Macon, Georgia, and won second place in the guitar competition.
From 1922 onwards, Whitten also played with another Georgia string band the Hapeville String Band. With both bands, he made regular appearances on radio He was mentioned in a local newspaper The Atlanta Journal, referred to as "Miles". Whitten.
Between 1926 and 1930, Whitten played with another Georgia string band The Skillet Lickers with fiddlers Gid Tanner and Clayton McMichen; guitarist Riley Puckett; banjoist Fate Norris; and mandolinist/banjoist Ted Hawkins. With The Skillet Lickers, he also performed in Georgia road shows.
Whitten also worked with another fiddler Lowe Stokes, also a member of The Skillet Lickers. In 1929, they recorded "Katy Did" and "Take Me Back to Georgia" on Columbia Records (15486-D). He did not make any recordings with The Skillet Lickers.
Information about Whitten after 1930 is not available.
References
- Tony Russell: Country Music Originals: The Legends and the Lost. Oxford University Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0-19-532509-6.
- Wayne W. Daniel: Pickin’ on Peachtree: A History of Country Music in Atlanta, Georgia. University of Illinois Press, 1990, ISBN 0-252-01687-4.
