In the early morning of August 23, I was rousted out of bed

with a phone call that left me both shocked and sad

beyond belief. Ed King, my brother, musical mentor and

songwriting collaborator had passed the previous night.

I can't really describe how I felt, or how I'm still feeling.

This is the first time I've been able to comment publicly about

his passing.

 

Ed was one of those guys that comes along once in a lifetime.

A "touched by the hand of God" guitarist, a fantastic songwriter,

and gifted teacher that was always willing to pass on his

experience and knowledge to those less experienced and

knowledgeable. I count myself as one of the luckiest people

ever to benefit from his vast talent and ability. I got to sit

across from him and watch him work his magic, for days,

weeks and months on end as we hammered out new song

after new song. We rarely disagreed, and if we did, he'd listen

to my side of the argument. He WANTED me to stick to my guns,

and give him the reason or reasons why it should be done the

way I was thinking. I, of course, afforded him the same courtesy.

 

He and I both felt the writing and recording we were doing

was of utmost importance, and it was. NOTHING got in the

way of our songwriting mission. We'd write and/or record

anywhere...on the bus, in his giant Chevy Suburban, hotels,

restaurants, at the gig, hanging out and watching the OJ trial

or our favorite "Mary Tyler Moore Show" re-runs at his house or

mine. We traveled a lot whether we were touring or not, to

get our heads in the right space to write and record.

I have a lot of memories from Florida to Maine and Texas

to Ohio and all points in between. One that sticks out was

when he taught me his secret to his slide guitar tone and

technique when we were in St. Augustine, Florida.

What an eye opener THAT was. I never would play slide in

front of him, but that information set me on a new path.

If it weren't for that one lesson, I never would have even

played slide guitar. I played slide all over our last CD. For me,

that was huge, and just one example of how he influenced

me. For him, it was an an hour of playing. For me, it was

a life changing event.

 

There was a hotel room in St. Louis with a huge bathroom that

had an amazing sound for recording mandolin parts that he loved.

We turned his room at the Residence Inn in Brentwood, TN into

our writing and recording base for a time before we could both

move to Nashville permanently. Ed rubbed off on me as a complete

foodie. He turned me on to great BBQ, Mexican food, steakhouses

and his wife Sharon's home cooking was some of the best you could

ask for. I'm a total food snob to this day thanks to my brother Eddie.

 

Ed was totally happy for me that I'm able to continue my career

as a musician and have a band that can tour as extensively as

Skinny Molly does. He almost joined us a time or two, but his

health was always a major concern. Ed did play on some of our

recordings, came by rehearsals, and was going to play on our

upcoming CD on a song or two that he and I had written.

 

I'm really thankful that Ed and I kept in touch and continued

to work together some over the years since we both were

out of our former band. That was always important to me

and I think to him too. We always loved working together.

The last thing we did together was his solo on a song

we wrote together called "Make it Easy" on Skinny Molly's

'Here for a Good Time' . The song was completely finished

except for his solo. Once he recorded it, I had to go back

and sing it again because I felt that his solo had kicked my

vocal's ass, and I needed to step it up. He was always good

for a swift kick in the pants.

 

Ed's passing has left me in such  a state that I have found it

beyond extremely difficult to finish the band's CD. I DO know

that he would want us to go out and do this upcoming tour with

all the fire that we can muster up, though. So we are going to do

just that. We are going to put at least one new/old "King/Estes"

song in the set that will be on the new CD.

 

King Edward (one of about 30 nicknames I had for him)

I dedicate this tour to you, as well as our up coming CD.

Thank you for all you've done for the world musically,

and for me personally.  I hope you know the impact you had.

Mikee