Michael Lee Firkins is an American musician born in 1967 in Omaha, Nebraska. His father was a lap steel guitarist and his mother a pianist, leading him to embrace music at the age of eight, starting with the acoustic guitar. Self-taught for the most part, he took additional lessons at an Omaha music store. By 1979 Michael had shifted to electric guitars, playing in local bands and in church until the age of 18. In 1985 he started touring the US with cover tune bands, but quit after becoming frustrated with playing cover tunes.