Michael Weston King - Absent Friends (Live) (2022)

b. 1961, Southport, Merseyside, England. King is best known as a member of the UK’s leading alt country band the Good Sons, which released a string of well-received albums during the mid- to late 90s, but this somewhat overlooks the fact that he has been making music since the late 70s.

Raised in Southport, Merseyside, King left school at the age of 16 and relocated to nearby Liverpool where he played guitar with a number of under-performing indie bands. He abandoned the scene in the mid-80s to join UK country rock singer Gary Hall, playing as a member of his backing band the Stormkeepers for four years before they disintegrated in 1991. Undeterred, King performed in local folk clubs for a couple of years before forming the Good Sons in the mid-90s, completing three fine albums before the band was put on hiatus in 1999 after a series of mishaps that threatened to completely derail their career. King took the opportunity to record his solo debut, God Shaped Hole, a brooding, folk-tinged album that included a tribute to the late Townes Van Zandt, ‘Lay Me Down’.

Following a series of solo tours around Europe, King reconvened the Good Sons to record, Happiness. The relative failure of their fourth album led to a more permanent break-up, leaving King free to concentrate on his solo career. A low-key live set was released in 2002, after which King teamed up with producer Jackie Leven to record the excellent A Decent Man. The 2005 release Absent Friends contained stirring live performances and a number of rarities.