Beginnings
From the very beginning it seems I’ve played the guitar almost every day of my life. After many years of study I thought, WOW, I want to do this for the rest of my life. I really get a kick out of learning something new to play every chance I get. The possibilities are limitless, the techniques immeasurable, the challenge just that- challenging to say the least. As guitarists we all know that very challenge and the great thrill we get when we finally accomplish something that was once difficult.

Stepping on Stage
The first time I performed in public was in fourth grade at an assembly at Mulberry Elementary. Remembering back, it was probably all easy tunes. But they never heard fingerstyle guitar before, so I think it wowed them. I continued picking guitar through junior high and high school. When I graduated, I worked with my dad in the jewelry business as a diamond setter and fine jewelry designer to support my wife and son, and to be responsible in the real world.

Starting My Journey
In the early 70’s I started taking trips to Nashville to seek my dreams as a guitar player. Greyhound and I made many journeys together from California to Tennessee. Then I met my guitar hero Merle Travis around 1974. He handed me his Bigsby D-28 Martin acoustic guitar and said, "Flog me a tune, son." Merle and I were friends for the next four or five years while he still lived in California. He gave me his phone number and said, “Call every couple of weeks and we can talk about the guitar.” I enjoyed being friends with him as he was the first guitar player I heard on records when I was very young. He encouraged me to “keep pickin',” as I did with no problems whatsoever. Merle was such an inspiration!

I then went on to play in bars, and private parties, and did gigs at many coffee houses; then I played on radio and won my first contest at a nightclub in Hawaiian Gardens, California. It was on KLAC AM Radio, home of Cliffie Stone and the California Country Show. More shows, more journeys and then the 80’s came. I tried my hand at recording in a studio. To my surprise, all those machines made me sound really horrible. Imagine that, my first of many educational failures! I went out and got myself a metronome. Hiding in my room I spent many, many months practicing with it and guess what? It improved my live performance skills.

Live Television
In 1986 I got my first break when I auditioned for the United Way Telethon. I did five years with them. What an experience that was! It was a real honor to give of myself and to play my guitar to help people. I went on to play at hospitals bedsides for terminally ill patients and in assisted living facilities, which I continue to do to this day.

As Time Flies
In 1991 I started playing at the trade shows for D’Aquisto Strings, both in Nashville and California. It was my first endorsement. Yes! In 1994, Marcel Dadi introduced himself at one of the NAMM shows and we became like brothers after that. Six months later, Marcel asked me to tour with him and six other guitar players in France. That changed my life forever. I met Dr. Mark Pritcher on that trip and he asked me if I would teach a Travis tune at the Chet Atkins Appreciation Society (CAAS) in Nashville; of course I accepted. To date, I have taught twelve straight years and a dozen Travis tunes there. What a blessing! Tragically, Marcel Dadi perished on Flight 800, but even in death he had a profound influence on me.

CDs and Publications
In 1997 I finally recorded my first CD called Michael’s Guitar Christmas. Since then I have recorded two more CDs, Hand Picked and Tennessee Sunshine. Stephen Rekas, a music and text editor for Mel Bay Publications, approached me at the 1997 Chet Atkins Appreciation Society convention and offered me the opportunity to publish a fingerpicking song I wrote for our friend Marcel Dadi. I called the tune “Spirit of Brother Marcel”. Later, Stephen encouraged me to write Getting Into Travis Picking for Mel Bay Publications. Since then, Mel Bay Publications has released my performance DVD, Michael O’Dorn: In Concert. To date, my endorsements include D’Aquisto Strings, R. C. Allen Guitars, Bernie Rico Guitars, Aphex Systems, Fred Kelly Thumbpicks, and String Swing.

A Stroke Followed by Therapy
On a Sunday afternoon in early February 2007, I lay my head on my wife Linda’s lap to watch a wonderful old black & white movie. All of a sudden the lights went out and I jumped up and ran in circles for a few minutes. Linda put me in our car and drove me straightaway to the hospital. At eleven o’clock that night after many tests the doctor came in and said, “You’ve had a stroke on your left side.” Of course, Linda, my daughter Sky and I cried for awhile and then they admitted me to the hospital.

When that dreadful smoke cleared, I became aware of the fact that I had lost my ability to play the guitar. The stroke damaged my left arm and hand, my left hip, and my lower leg and foot. Within the week I was scheduled to start physical therapy in a room full of other folks each with their own calamities, back-to-back with a one-on-one specialist for occupational therapy zeroing in on my left hand and arm. My physical therapy consisted of a regimen of several machines for a full-body workout. The therapist had me walk on a treadmill at a slow pace, and then switched me to a machine that I pushed with my legs and pulled with my hands to straighten out my back. Then they had me sit on a large rubber ball to move forward, backward, and side to side for my lower back. Next they put me on a stationary fan bike for awhile, and then they would hand me a medicine ball to play catch. Then they laid me on my back on a machine that made me push my body laterally forward to strengthen my legs.

Occupational therapy was also interesting. I was instructed to stretch rubber bands out using my left-hand fingertips, doing many repetitions. I also had a rubber ball to squeeze with my left hand and some real stiff putty for squeezing my thumb and fingers together. The therapist also gave me about four pages of tabletop hand exercises and had me push down some keys similar to an old typewriter for dexterity practice. When my therapist asked me what I do for a living, I said, “I play fingerstyle guitar.” The doctor said, “Well, that could be the best therapy for your hand to recover, because your heart would be in it.”

Of course I wasn’t allowed to drive yet so Linda repeatedly had to take time off from work to drive me three cities away up to four times a week for all of my appointments. I need to say at this point that I was in the world’s biggest pity party and bursting with depression. All the while, I was in bed for nearly a month and going to doctor visits and taking pain drugs as Linda and I received literally hundreds of calls from around the planet from folks I know and people I don’t know, sending their prayers and good wishes; I’m still answering emails.

One sunny morning Linda woke me up at eight a.m. to kiss me goodbye as she was leaving for work; I got out of bed and went to the living room and sat on the couch. My Kirk Sand short scale nylon-string guitar was close at hand. I looked at it for awhile and then picked it up and found that I couldn’t even play a simple D chord. The guitar was slightly out of tune so I tried to tune it, but without much success. I couldn’t even turn the tuning keys! I was pretty bummed out, and at that moment I believe with all my heart that the Lord turned the whole picture around.

I kicked the pain drugs that day. Linda saw to it that three machines like the ones at the hospital were delivered to our back patio- a treadmill, a fan bike, and a machine that stretches my back by pushing and pulling- and my occupational specialist sent me around eighteen exercises for my left hand and arm that I could do at home.

I began studying Chet Atkins' arrangement of “Vincent” by Don McLean and a very special song in my life that I could never figure out called "Classical Gas", written and performed by Mason Williams. Mason himself had given me the 9-page sheet music to “Classical Gas” and during my recovery, I'm very fortunate to have had a couple of lessons with him on the telephone concerning the timing and left-hand positions of this masterpiece. I truly believe that these two songs saved my life and my sanity. Since then, I’ve been able to recover some of my Travis repertoire plus other songs I have always played, and I’m studying new tunes I have never played before.

And now the good news! With all the love and prayers I received, encouraging me from that day in March ‘til the present, I now play my guitar a minimum of eight hours daily; on weeknights I grab my walking stick and Linda and I walk a mile before dinner.

A Comeback Performance
I constantly work on my hand exercises. The four fingers on my left hand were pretty curled up and although there is damage on the right side of my brain, I’m overcoming my troubles and refuse to let this issue get me down. I’ve lost forty pounds, my blood pressure is now on the button, and I must say I’m feeling better.

Although “rumors of my death were greatly exaggerated”, the press has been very kind to me and my fans and friends have supported me from day one. God Bless you all for that. I'm very happy to say I have my plane tickets in hand and that I will be performing a full concert on the Main Stage at the Chet Atkins Appreciation Society in Nashville at the Music City Sheraton Hotel [July 11-14] as I have for the past twelve years. Thank you Dr. Mark Pritcher for believing in me!

Finally, I’d like to take this time to encourage you, the reader- that no matter what happens in this life, you can overcome it if you just believe and are willing to work at it. There is much work still ahead, so if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to get busy and play my guitar.