Former Scott City musician dies

The Melroys guitarist was known as a gifted singer and songwriter. ~ Southeast Missourian

Musician and Scott City native Randy Leiner died unexpectedly Sunday at his home in Imperial, Mo. He was 51.

Leiner's band The Melroys was popular in St. Louis, where it sometimes played the Pageant and Blueberry Hill, and in Cape Girardeau, where Broussard's was its home base. Last June, the band signed a contract with 95 North Records, a Boston-area independent label that produces blues and Americana music.

The band's CD, titled "The Melroys," received steady airplay on Americana stations nationally. It finished the year ranked 70th in the Top 100 Americana CDs of 2004. The Melroys were preparing to go into the studio to record another album.

Leiner was known as both a gifted musician and songwriter. He wrote all the original songs on the Melroys album and was the band's lead singer and lead guitarist. His son, Jordan, also played in the band along with Leiner's longtime friends Greg Hopkins and Michael Enderle.

While in college at Southeast Missouri State University, Leiner played in a popular band called the Chimes of Freedom and later with Easy Street.

After college he worked as a brakeman on the Cotton Belt Railroad out of Scott City, a period that produced a railroad song, "Hotbox Blues," recorded by the late country singer Boxcar Willie.

In the early 1980s, Leiner toured with Lou Hobbs, now a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.

Hobbs, who lives in Cape Girardeau, said Sunday that Leiner was a crowd-pleaser and a fine singer and songwriter.

"If I had to take one person on the road with me it would be Randy Leiner," he said.

Living in the St. Louis area years later, Leiner formed the Leiner Brothers Band, which included his wife, Sally, and their sons Jordan and Noah.

Marble Hill, Mo., native Greg Hopkins, who plays bass in the Melroys, said Leiner was probably the most talented of the 50 musicians he has worked with in his career "and one of my best friends -- ever."

Enderle, the band's drummer and a Cape Girardeau native, said Leiner was a perfectionist. "He didn't get the recognition he deserved, but we had a lot of fun with what little success we had," he said.

The last time Hobbs saw Leiner perform, the band was opening for Chuck Berry in St. Louis. "The crowd loved him," Hobbs said. "When he stepped off the stage I told him, 'You tore them up, man.'"

Leiner is survived by his wife, Sally, and their sons Jordan and Noah.

Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Amick-Burnett Funeral Home in Scott City. The funeral will be at 11 a.m. Thursday at the funeral home.