Melroys minus one will play at Kenny Rogers telethon

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Less than a month after the untimely death of singer/songwriter/guitarist and Scott City native Randy Leiner, the remaining members of The Melroys will play their first show in Southeast Missouri since the death of the band's voice.

The Melroys will be playing Saturday at the Kenny Rogers Children's Center Telethon from 3 to 4 p.m. at the Sikeston Field House. The performance will be broadcast live on Channel 5 Public Access in Cape Girardeau, as will the rest of the telethon. They will follow that with a night gig at Cheers in Sikeston at 9 p.m. with proceeds from the show going to benefit the Kenny Rogers Children's Center.

The performances will be the band's first as a trio and only their second since Leiner's death in Feburary (they opened for 1964 The Tribute March 4 and 5 at The Pageant in St. Louis with guest musicians).

Making the transition has been hard for The Melroys, whose members are Leiner's son Jordan and long-time friends of the late singer Marble Hill, Mo.-native bassist Gregg Hopkins and Cape Girardeau-native drummer Michael Enderle.

Leiner wrote all the band's original music in twangy Americana style and was the lead singer and guitarist.

"Well, we're trying to look forward to the future," said Hopkins. "Randy left us with a lot of music to play. It's some that we've already recorded, some we were planning to record and we feel like we need to move forward with that.

"We're all musicians that have done this for a long time and it's what we want to do and feel like is the right thing to do. It's sad to be on stage and not see Randy there but we have his music to play and his son is part of the band so we feel good about going forward with it."

Taking over songwriting duties will be Jordan Leiner. The Melroys have had great success on Americana radio stations across the country since releasing their first album, "The Melroys," in 2004 and are still under contract with 95 North Records out of Boston.

Hopkins said the studio recordings will keep coming, as will shows in the St. Louis area and the band's local base of operations, Broussards.

The group's fans have been extremely supportive in such a tragic time, especially those in the members' Southeast Missouri home, Hopkins said.

"We had the outpouring of sympathy during that first week or two, and when we played the show in St. Louis, quite a few people came up from Cape Girardeau. Everybody's just been very supportive."

Following the Saturday performances, The Melroys will return to Broussards on March 26 at 9 p.m. for a Cape Girardeau show.

msanders@semissourian.com

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