'Righteous Rocker'

It isn’t every day you encounter someone who began life in the Florida sunshine, trekked up to the Windy City and led a life of decadence on the rock scene in San Antonio before finding happiness in the small town of Smiley. But you are about to get the pleasure of meeting Eric Estes.

Estes went through various phases including working 70 hours a week cleaning carpets, playing in clubs every night for $170 per week and even waking up in jail —but that’s all in  “a past life”.

Today, Estes is happy in a new dream home he built for his family in which he can also play music for God — who he says gave him a second chance.

Originally from Miami, Estes moved his parents from Chicago to San Antonio in 1985. After enjoying the change in climate, he took up residence there as well.

“I about froze to death up there,” he said. “Once I got some of the sunshine down here, that was it for me.”

Estes soon joined a cover band in San Antonio, and began playing live shows extensively throughout Texas as well as several other states. The temptations of the road, however, took their toll on the young bassist.

“I developed a drug and alcohol problem,” he said. “It wasn’t until I found myself in jail and looking at doing time when I discovered God.”

After spending about three years in Alcoholics Anonymous “strapped to a chair” as he puts it, Estes met the love of his life, Eloise.

“She and I met in San Antonio, and I was running my own carpet cleaning business,” Estes said. “I had dropped everyone I knew because they were still partying, and I wasn’t into that anymore.”

After marrying Eloise, Estes found a new life with her and her two sons, Michael and Matthew. They moved to Smiley in 1999.

“In August we will have been here 15 years,” he said.

So then Estes decided to turn his home – which could have been plain and ordinary by anyone’s standards – into something unique instead.

“The property was a vacated chicken farm, so we bought it for practically nothing,” he said. “We ripped the old house down and built a mobile for $2,000. I decided to fix it up, so I got my saw, lever, hammer and drill and – with a lot of prayer – God gave me the strength to build our home.”

The tin on the roof came from one of the old chicken houses; everything else was bought new.

“A friend of mine told me he loved vaulted ceilings, and I do as well,” he said. “So I built an extra wall, braced everything and just took it one rafter at a time.”

Braced upon 171 concrete piers just four feet apart, the home is a bastion Estes says can hold its own against the cracking dirt of the dustiest drought as well as the funkiest of floods the late Stevie Ray Vaughan ever strummed about.

This house ain’t goin’ nowhere.

“And I built the ceilings without falling down!” he added. “I carried a semi-and-a-half full of materials, up a ladder, one sheet at a time.”

For Estes, 10 years of hard work has yielded a home interior laden with slate tables, archways and countertops.

“I also did the bar and entertainment center,” he noted.

But it didn’t end there. Estes, though detached from playing gigs and his partying past, still feels the call of music. Invariably, this resulted in him building a custom music room – a “God Cave” as he puts it – a haven designed not necessarily for the purpose of escape – but for the natural inclination to explore his own mind for uncharted musical territory. The strategy to change from bass to guitar echoed his resolve to build his ceiling one rafter at a time.  Now he was making a musical transition one string at a time.

“After years of playing bass in all those bar bands, I still wanted to play music,” he said. “The bass has four strings – the guitar has six. So I bought a guitar and an amp and told God if he taught me to play it I would play it for him. How’s that for a deal?”

Estes then began teaching himself how to play the drums, keyboards and also how to sing. These excursions into the relatively unknown led to him practically becoming a one-man band. He soon bought a keyboard, electronic drum set and 16-channel recording/mixing board. Since then, he has recorded a demo of original material. It should come as no surprise that Estes’ lyrical content in general encourages others to not only follow their dreams, but to do things themselves when necessary.

“This musical project I’ve been developing covers everything from relationships to finances to creative stuff. You’ve just gotta get out there and do it, man. It’s not that hard – you’ve just gotta put one foot in front of the other.”