Mike Deasy: All God's Children

I remember seeing Mike Deasy’s first album in the record stores in the early 70s, but never purchased it. I did play some of his later records with his wife Kathie at WKCC. Over the years, I lost track of the Deasys and their music – until YouTube allowed me to reconnect. Mike and Kathie are still performing; and as his Facebook page touts, “Mike Deasy once played guitar for the King of Rock N Roll, Elvis. Now he plays guitar for the King of Kings . . . Jesus.” From that first album, here’s Mike with “All God’s Children.”

One of the things I remember concerning Mike’s debut solo LP, “Letters to my Head,” was the picture of his guitars. I was especially enamored by his two custom carved Fender guitars a Stratocaster and Broadcaster. Doug Rowell, a sculptor and wood carver, has beautified numerous guitars with custom carvings with these two as examples of his work.

According to Rowell, “The body is a biblical scene with Jesus, staff in hand, laying a blessing hand on the bridge of the guitar. The real jewel encrusted pick guard (jade, sapphire & star sapphire) displays a laughing face of Christ. One blue sapphire is set in Christ's eye.”

On the Fender Broadcaster, Rowell explains: “The body is a scene of Christ's tomb. The stone has been rolled away and Christ is ascending to heaven surrounded by a dozen angels. Mary stands in front of the open tomb. The pick guard is black on black . . . engraved in it is the text of "John 3:16." On the headstock, the original decal was copied in bas relief, preserving the word ‘Broadcaster.’”

While Mike still owns both guitars; however, the Strat was out of his possession for over 25 years as it had been stolen.  Five years after it was stolen, it was sold to an individual who owned it until his death 20 years later. A reward posted on the Doug Rowell's web site prompted its return.  Following the owner's passing, his brother saw to it that the guitar was returned to Mike after reading about its fate on the Internet.