Today we’d like to introduce you to Mikey David Ballard.
Hi Mikey David, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I am a musician and a tattooer. I grew up in and around Baltimore, MD. My life as a musician began when I was 7, and my grandfather put a guitar, an accordion, and a stick welder in my hands (not all at once). Of the three, guitar stuck, and he began by teaching me the ragtime song Alabama Jubilee and the Carolina murder ballad Tom Dooley. As a teenager, I ventured into many musical directions, including punk, sludge metal, and EDM. Still, eventually, I picked up a banjo and began learning Appalachian old-time music, bluegrass, and early jazz standards and used those influences as a songwriter. Around this time, I started getting tattooed frequently, and many of my friends were becoming tattooers. I was painting, drawing, and writing graffiti, but it wouldn’t be until my late twenties that three things would completely take over and shape my life: the fiddle, the mandolin, and the tattoo machine. I got in with a tattoo mentor through a friend; I had to leave the life I had built in California, pack my car, and move back to Maryland and eventually Philadelphia. In 2020 I began visiting friends in Tennessee frequently and joined a band called Desert Honey. I was traveling back and forth between Tennessee and Philly until the end of 2021, when I moved here. While continuing to play with Desert Honey and the Faraway Dogs as their fiddler and mandolinist, I also started a band with Elijah Wyatt and Grayson Cupit called The Weeping Marys as an outlet for my songwriting. It consists of a three-piece with a piano, upright bass, and an alternating mandola/tenor banjo.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It’s taken a lot of careful partitioning of time and energy to juggle these endeavors. I often drove 1500 miles round trip while living in Philly to make it for one 45-minute set with Desert Honey. Why? Because it feels so damn good playing with them, and it feels right. Like if I fought against it, I would be fighting myself. The Weeping Marys drove up to Philly and Baltimore for just two gigs, one in each city. We haul an electric baby grand piano into every show. But it’s all worth it, and has yet to feel otherwise.
Thanks for sharing that. So, you could tell us a bit more about your work.
I am a tattooer and a songwriter, and I play the 5-string banjo, tenor banjo, fiddle, mandolin, mandola, and guitar.
Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Calculated risk is everything. Creative jobs are often based on a fluctuating income, and I don’t have a safety net, health insurance, trust fund, or college degree. I trust that larger entity that comprises all of us, and I trust it to communicate and steer my intuition and to provide the strength to act upon it.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.weepingmarys.com
- Instagram: Band – @theweepingmarys, Tattoo – @mikeydavidtattoo
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089710130314
Image Credits
Billy Sunday
