After leaving the Monkees in 1970, Nesmith continued his successful songwriting and performing career, first with the seminal country rock group the First National Band, with whom he had a top-40 hit, "Joanne" (1970).

[2] He created one of the first American television programs dedicated to music videos, PopClips, which aired on Nickelodeon in 1980, and was soon after approached to help develop the MTV network, though he declined.

She took temporary jobs ranging from clerical work to graphic design, eventually attaining the position of executive secretary at Texas Bank and Trust.

[4] Nesmith attended Thomas Jefferson High School in Dallas, where he participated in choral and drama activities,[5] but enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1960 before graduating.

Learning as he went, he played solo and in a series of working bands, performing folk, country, and occasionally rock and roll.

In October 1965, Nesmith's confident, carefree and laid-back manner impressed the producers and he landed the role as the wool-hat-wearing guitar player "Mike" in the show, which required real-life musical talent for writing, instrument playing, singing, and performing in live concerts as part of the Monkees band.

[citation needed] Later, "Some of Shelly's Blues" and "Propinquity (I've Just Begun to Care)" were made popular by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on their 1970 album Uncle Charlie & His Dog Teddy.

[citation needed] Even before Colgems and Don Kirshner's surreptitious release of the Monkees second album, without the knowledge or consent of the four musician-actors, they came to be frustrated by their studio-manufactured "bubblegum" image.

During a group meeting with Kirshner and Colgems lawyer Herb Moelis, in a suite at the Beverly Hills Hotel, each actor received a $250k royalties check, yet Nesmith still threatened to quit.

Weeks later, due to a breach of (verbal) agreement over the next single release, which was promised to Nesmith by Rafelson and Schneider, Nesmith led the charge in ousting musical supervisor Don Kirshner, effectively giving the four youths complete artistic and production control of their output, and the group finally worked as a true four-man rock group on 1967's Headquarters, despite Jones and Dolenz having limited instrumental skills, studio time being pricey and retakes costly.

[11] During the band's first independent press conference, Nesmith called their second album, More of the Monkees "probably the worst record in the history of the world", partly due to rushed, shoddy studio engineering.

Prior to the official kickoff of The Monkees '89 tour (on July 1 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada) all four Monkees gathered in Los Angeles, California, making two live radio appearances (KLOS-FM: The Mark and Brian Show on June 28 and KIIS Radio on June 30) to promote their reunion concert at the Universal Amphitheatre where they appeared together as a foursome live on stage on July 9.

[14] In 1995, Nesmith was again reunited with the Monkees to record their studio album (and first to feature all four since Head in 1968), titled Justus, released in 1996.

Backed with a seven-piece band that included Nesmith's son, Christian,[15] the trio performed 27 songs from The Monkees discography ("Daydream Believer" was sung by the audience).

The tour was cut short four dates out due to Nesmith having health issues (he was flown back home and proceeded to have quadruple bypass surgery).

[citation needed] Nesmith followed up with The Second National Band, which consisted of Nesmith (vocals and guitar), Michael Cohen (keyboards and Moog), Johnny Meeks (of The Strangers) (bass), jazzer Jack Ranelli (drums), and Orville Rhodes (pedal steel), as well as an appearance by singer, musician, and songwriter José Feliciano on congas.

[citation needed] Nesmith then became more heavily involved in producing, working on Iain Matthews's album Valley Hi and Bert Jansch's L.A. Turnaround.

The staff band at Countryside also helped Nesmith on his next, and last, RCA Victor album, Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash.

Nesmith recorded a number of LPs for his label, and had a moderate worldwide hit in 1977 with his song "Rio", the single taken from the album From a Radio Engine to the Photon Wing.

[8] In 1979, Nesmith released the single Cruisin', also known as "Lucy and Ramona and Sunset Sam", which was popular on AOR rock stations and in New Zealand.

Television Parts included many other artists who were unknown at the time, but went on to become major stars in their own right: Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld, Garry Shandling, Whoopi Goldberg,[8] and Arsenio Hall.

On February 3, 1999, a jury awarded Nesmith and his company Pacific Arts $48.875 million in compensatory and punitive damages, prompting his widely quoted comment, "It's like finding your grandmother stealing your stereo.

[31] In the early 1980s, Nesmith teamed with satirist P. J. O'Rourke to ride his vehicle Timerider in the annual Baja 1000 off-road race.

[32] During the 1990s, Nesmith, as trustee and president of the Gihon Foundation,[8] hosted the Council on Ideas, a gathering of intellectuals from different fields who were asked to identify the most important issues of their day and publish the result.

Nesmith produced Wonderland's version of Robert Johnson's "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom" on her album Peace Meal.

[citation needed] In 2014, he guest-starred in season four, episode nine, of the IFC comedy series Portlandia in the fictitious role of the father of the mayor of Portland, Oregon.

[37] In 2018, he announced that he would be doing a five-date tour of California with a revamped version of The First National Band, including a date at The Troubadour, where he performed before The Monkees.

[40] After recovering from his health scare, Michael Nesmith and the First National Band Redux went on a tour of the U.S., with mostly the same lineup and setlist as the southern California shows.

[citation needed] In 2019, Nesmith toured in a two-piece configuration with pedal steel player Pete Finney, focusing on his 1972 album, And the Hits Just Keep on Comin'.

In an interview with Rolling Stone published on July 26 of that year, Nesmith said he had undergone quadruple bypass heart surgery, and had been hospitalized for over a month.