Mike Crickenberger plays keys, electric and acoustic guitar, and sings in LadySmyth.  Prior to moving to Richmond from Pennsylvania, Mike played in several bands in the Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey area.

Mike comes from a musical family - Grandma Gracie played the organ and piano in church (could not read a note of music), his brother is a bass player, his sister plays the piano and sings, and his father was a bluegrass fiddle player.  Mike took piano lessons for about five years when he was ten, but felt the pull of the guitar and switched to guitar.  He played in multiple bands beginning when he was 14 in the Shenandoah Valley and through his college years as well.

After college he accepted a job at DuPont in Wilmington DE and took about a year off playing music, but quickly became bored and found an established popular horn band in the Wilmington area and played guitar with them.  Then babies arrived, the day job with DuPont became more demanding and going to school at night for his MBA became a little too much and Mike had to leave the band.  That lasted about a year, then the band approached him and asked if he would play keys for the band.  So he switched to keyboards and played in the band until DuPont started the process of job transfers around the country and the world (West VA to Michigan to Canada to Michigan to England to Switzerland to Pennsylvania to Washington DC to Pennsylvania) which meant music was on the back burner for about 30 years.  

Mike retired (early thank goodness) in 2015, bought a new Stratocaster as a retirement gift and started back in the music scene, playing local blues jams, meeting local musicians.  He briefly played with a classic rock band (initially guitar/vocals, but then also keys), started a blues band, and joined an all 80's band based in New Jersey.  Mike and his wife Kris moved to Richmond in 2019 to be closer to family and are enjoying the area immensely.

In addition to music, Mike enjoys snowboarding, traveling in the US and abroad and spending quality time with Kris and family and friends.