[8] Mike's mother, Belle Mickelson, decided to start a music camp in Cordova to encourage her son to practice and play.
Todd helped teach the band more advanced techniques, timing, rhythm, and he worked on the singing and phrasing, concentrating on details.
[12] The Alaskans were joined by Californian Odessa Jorgensen (fiddle, vocals) at the end of 2008, after Annalisa Tornfelt[13] left the band to spend more time with her family.
The second time through, to the delight of many, they toured in break-up boots in classic Alaskan style, all except for Jorgensen, who at their performance in Talkeetna voiced her disappointment at not having been informed of this unorthodox dress code.
A very much reconstructed band then moved base to Nashville, Tennessee, and with new members Nora Jane Struthers, P. J. George, and Todd Grebe, produced the album American Story in 2011.