Drummer Mark Laws, who played with Little Jimmy Dickens, dies in Cumberland Gap shooting
Drummer, producer and band leader Mark Steven Laws was shot to death May 25 in Cumberland Gap, Tennessee.
Officers from the Claiborne County Sheriff Department have arrested Laws' stepson, Maxwell Madon, 25, and charged him with criminal homicide, Claiborne County Sheriff Bob Brooks told WRIL-FM.
Laws, 62, was pronounced dead at the scene, WRIL-FM reported. He founded The Curve Recording Studio and worked with some of the biggest names in country music. He played drums for Little Jimmy Dickens, Bill Carlilse, Larry Cordle and Pam Perry.
For the past five years, Laws had been working with American Idol alum Alex Miller (who was on the television show's 19th season) as a drummer and band leader. Miller is a recording artist for Billy Jam Records.
'I'm just heartbroken," Miller said. "A true friend is something rare and special. Mark will be missed beyond words. I ask that folks keep his family in their prayers.'
Laws was known in the music community as a good guy.
"Mark was a good dude," Stephanie Harris Bastin wrote on Facebook. "He was like family. Genuine. Good hearted. Prayers for all his friends, family, and bandmates. This is a huge loss for so many."
Another Facebook friend, Ashlee King, wrote: "I have been trying to wrap my head around this and try to find the right words, but I can't. Yesterday we lost a great guy, good friend, band mate and drummer. I have known Mark S. Laws since I was 12 years old. He always had a smile on his face and loved doing what he did."
Laws made a name for himself drumming for the Renfro Valley Barn Dance band.
In the 1980s, he invited Larry Cordle to appear on the barn dance program. Cordle is the well-known songwriter who wrote "Murder on Music Row" and was the leader of the bluegrass band "Lonesome Standard Time.
"They had a fantastic band," Cordle said in a text to The Tennessean. "I became a semi-regular for two to three years there. Mark was really good to me. I had a standing invitation, when I was up that way on the road, that I could stop by, get paid, get a room and a meal and come on back to Tennessee the next day. It was great for me and provided much needed gas money when I was hung on one-off shows up that way.
"Mark was always really kind to me and put me on a pedastal that I'm sure I didn't deserve to be on. I had not seen him since that band dissolved years ago, but I will miss him. He was a great professional, who I enjoyed knowing so much. God rest your soul Mark. Until we meet again."
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Laws worked with Bill Carlisle, Larry Cordle, Pam Perry and others
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