G'day, this time I hand the reigns over to a special guest....Brother Norm, so go on enjoy his work....Recky
I first encountered SKINNY MOLLY through a friend of my wife, who in about 2008 said to her "Does your Norman know that the bloke from Lynyrd Skynyrd is playing a gig at The Three Tuns?"
Now when she Told me that i was, to say the least a little sceptical, "Could someone from my favourite band actually be playing a low key gig in my hometown.......surely not".........HOW WRONG I WAS
I Asked the wife to ask her friend to get 2 tickets & lo & behold the ticket said "SKINNY MOLLY FEATURING MIKE ESTES(LYNYRD SKYNYRD) so along we went & while standing at the bar waiting to be served i hear a voice like sweet molasses saying "Thats a really cool Blackfoot shirt man, where`d you get it from?" i turn around to see whos asking me about my shirt only to be confronted with EX LYNYRD SKYNYRD guitarist Mike Estes......
Well, to cut a long story short, the band played a hell of a set of mostly Skynyrd songs with a couple of their own thrown in & as i`ve seen them every tour since & this includes having to travel to London & Brighton when i couldn`t get time off work to see them at home the Skynyrd songs have lessened & the originals are now at the forefront of their set......
anyway, enough of my rabbiting, here`s a potted history of the band......Skinny Molly is a southern rock band from Nashville, Tennessee.
The band was formed in 2004 by guitarist/vocalist Mike Estes (guitar player for Lynyrd Skynyrd and Blackfoot), Dave Hlubek (guitarist and founding member of Molly Hatchet) and drummer Kurt Pietro. Hlubek rejoined Molly Hatchet in 2005 and was replaced by guitarist/vocalist Chris Walker and then Jay Johnson (formerly played with the Rossington Band and Blackfoot).
Nashville bluegrass and Grand Ole Opry bassist Luke Bradshaw joined Skinny Molly in 2007. This lineup continues to tour the US and Europe.
Mike Estes became friends with Rossington Collins Band while still in high school and that friendship eventually led him to write and play with Lynyrd Skynyrd in the early nineties. After leaving Skynyrd, Mike released two solo albums, Drivin’ Sideways and Brave New South, before teaming up with Dave Hlubek and forming Skinny Molly in 2004. Nowadays Hlubek is back with Molly Hatchet and their line-up consists of Southern Rock Allstars / Blackfoot guitarist Jay Johnson, and Grand Ole Opry bassist Luke Bradshaw along with Mike Estes and drummer Kurt Pietro.
Skinny Molly started by playing Skynyrd and Molly Hatchet covers but also performed their own songs occasionally. Their 2008 debut album featured many of these live favorites, including Whiskey And Cocaine Blues, Straight Shooter and High Price Of Low Livin’.
More popular in Europe than US, Skinny Molly are hungry for success on their home turf and released their second album “Haywire Riot” in 2011. A single entitled “Mr. President” which wasn`t on the album was available as a free download from their website.
Their latest release “Here For A Good Time” came out in 2014 and saw the band explore new genres such as country, blues, and americana along with good ol’ Southern rock .
If your interest has been peaked, here's the website to do some shopping at
2008 No Good Deed
2011 Haywire Riot
2014 Here For A Good Time
pics by Melodic Pixels , Skinny Molly Facebook , Halek Gurer and Brother Norm
