Countryfied persona of
Mike D from the
Beastie Boys.
The storyline was that right after the
Ill Communication sessions Mike got a
bump on the head and was convinced that he was a
country musician, and he and the rest of the group recorded 13
country songs, with the
intention of releasing the album under the title
Country Mike's Greatest Hits.
During the "amnesia" period the group also made a guest appearance on a Thurston Moore-hosted episode of MTV's 120 Minutes, and Mike came out in full country outfit. Towards the end of their visit, they even played a version of "Country Mike's Theme". Shortly afterwards the project was shelved and disavowed by the boys. They dispelled any of the recording of the album as rumor.
In 1998 the tracks were unearthed and reportedly donated to Garth Brooks. Apparently there was also a promo copy pressing of the album on vinyl and CD. But the sessions were still publicly unaccounted for, even after The Sounds of Science anthology, released in 1999. It contained two of the Country Mike songs, the previously played theme song and "Railroad Blues".
In 2000 the 11 remaining tracks, along with a live version of one of the songs("We Can Do This") was leaked by an anonymous source on the internet. Personally I think the Beasties leaked it themselves.