Mike White and Dave Mattheiss Songs & Good Times!
Jamming together since 1986!
Maryland Entertainment
Hall of Fame Inductees
VIDEOS BELOW
The evolution of Mike and dave
Mike and Dave are in their 40th straight year of performing together as a duo. They first met when Mike was in eighth grade and Dave was in high school. Dave worked behind the counter at the Govans Music Studio for his mentor, Joe Noto. Mike walked by the shop on his way home from school each day and would often stop in and see the quiet, smiley guy behind the counter. It turns out Dave was the secret weapon to selling guitars. He’d pull a Harmony guitar off the wall and show it to the customer and when they heard him play it they were sold. They didn’t realize that he already had a special talent and that they would probably never get the guitar to sound that way. Although lessons were offered there, Dave did not teach - he was the secret weapon.
Dave teamed up with his friend Mike DiMenna in the 60s and early 70s and had success as a primordial Mike and Dave duo, named Mattheiss and DiMenna.. Mike White actually hired them to play at the Loyola College coffeehouse.
Mike White began playing professionally in 1978 in a duo named Southbound with Don Wickham on harmonica, evolving into a house band at the Manor Tavern. Mike began playing solo steadily in 1983 and was featured on the cover of Maryland Musician Magazine in 1985 as a prominent solo acoustic act. During this time Dave played guitar and bass for the band’s Trespassers Will and Gentle Times, and sat in frequently with local musical acts.
In early 1986, Mike was working as a physicians assistant at Johns Hopkins Hospital and while standing in the recovery room was approached by a nurse who came up and pointed her finger in his face and said you “should be playing music with my husband.” She invited him over to dinner, the boys started playing and the songs flowed.
They began playing as a duo right away and have never stopped. Marriages have happened, children have happened, Mike became a dentist, both guys moved to multiple homes, life played out. Through it all Mike and Dave have performed steadily, first full-time from 1986 until Mike started Dental school in 1989 and they have never stopped.
Both are now neighbors in Delaware, rehearsing once a week and gigging each weekend. They still finish each job hugging and telling each other how lucky they are. It’s been nothing but easy and a source of great joy and fulfillment to make music with such a good friend for 40 years.