Off The Beaten Track Interviews:

Mojo Nixon with his buddy Skid Roper was the undisputed King Of Psychobilly ( a hybrid of Rockabilly and Punk) during the late 1980s. Best known, perhaps, for Elvis Is Everywhere, Mojo carved a unique career path in popular music, with an emphasis on novelty. Mojo Nixon, born Neill Kirby McMillan Jr. in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, became the persona by which he achieved fame, fulfilling and at times surpassing all the excesses of a crazed white boy from rural America on his run out of town! While Elvis Is Everywhere was a favorite MTV Alternative track, Stuffin' Martha's Muffin, not so much, as it was Mojo's love ballad, sort of, to MTV VJ, Martha Quinn. Such musical milestones as Debbie Gibson is Pregnant With My Two-Headed Love Child and Don Henley Must Die would soon follow.

Mojo was tightly wound and ready to bust loose on this hot August night in 1987, when he sat down (most of the time) with Michael Thurston to be interviewed for Off The Beaten Track. Ilene Barg from Enigma Records coordinated the interview who basically said, if you show up, he should be there!  It was green room time as Mojo got ready to play a club in Binghamton, New York.

Mojo talks at length about his quest to get out of town, the things that drove him crazy, and why his musical approach to life  suits him so well. He was out on the road promoting his album Bo-Day-Shus!!! which had been released just days before, and is widely considered to be his signature album. The single Elvis Is Everywhere was largely responsible for putting this album (and Mojo) on the map. 

In later years, Mojo Nixon would migrate to some film work and find a new career at SirusXM, hosting programs on their Outlaw Country channel. In fact, it was on an Outlaw Country cruise, performing and carrying on to excess in his Mojo Nixon way, that his heart gave out and he died in his sleep at 66 years of age. The date was February 7, 2024. 

Mojo Nixon was all about the celebration of life and the outrageousness of it all. 

Enjoy the conversation as Mojo outlines his particular view of the universe...and oh yeah, hang on tight!