Photos of Canadian Steeler Jimmy Roy at Britt Festival

Al Gershen · Post by **Al Gershen** » 21 Jul 2001 3:46 pm

Hi group:

Here's a link to photos I took at the Everly Brothers concert last night (7/20/01) where the opening act was Big Sandy and the Fly Rite Boys.

http://www.rvi.net/~aldg/Aldg's%20Photos/With%20JVC%20GC-S1U/Britt%20Everly%20Brothers%20Concert/Big%20Sandy%20&%20Fly%20Right%20Boys/

The pedal steel player with the group was Canadian Jimmy Roy, playing a very old Sho-Bud pedal steel guitar with 4 pedals (I couldn't tell if there were any knee levers).

I talked to Roy after the concert and he told me he has the guitar tuned to a C-6th and E-13th tuning. He really a non-pedal player (who came to the instrument from the lead guitar) who is now exploring the use of pedals in his playing.

When I first saw his guitar on the stage (from around a distance of 300 to 400 feet), I didn't recognize it at all. I couldn't read the manufacturer's name on the front of it and at first I thought it was a non-pedal steel guitar.

It has one pedal at the far left, than a space or two, and finally three more pedals. I had to ask Roy what kind of pedal steel guitar he was playing to get the real answer. He said that his guitar was made by Buddy Emmons when he was with Sho-Bud. This puts the instrument around 1957+.

Roy replaced </b>Lee Jeffriess</b>, who according to my brief discussion with Big Sandy, left the band a few months ago to spend more time with his family.

Roy's playing was very exciting. He used a lot of open string/bar moving riffs and he also used various volume levels to play with the dynamic range of his instrument.

I heard a little Speedy West in his playing but much of his sound appears related to the way the instrument sounded in the 1940s and 1950s, before pedals. He is playing thru a Fender Twin-Reverb amp with a JBL speaker(s?).

He used his pedals sparingly in his playing and when you heard them, they sounded like the E-9th AB pedals going from a I to IV chord.

I believe that Jimmy Roy is a bright spot amoung the new breed of steel guitarists and I expect we'll be hearing much from him in the future.

I hope that you enjoy the photos.

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Regards,
Al Gershen
Grants Pass, Oregon. USA
Fender 1000 (1957),
Fender PS 210 (1972) &
Gibson Electraharp EH-820
(1962)
Pictures of PS 210 &
EH-820 at http://www.rvi.net/~aldg

Tele · Post by **Tele** » 22 Jul 2001 2:18 am

Al,

the steel in question is a 1957 D-8 that used to be Big Ben Keith' guitar. There was a bit of discussion about it over the last two years. I had the pleasure to own it for a while and never thought about selling it but Jimmy talked me into a tempting trade. I'm really glad that I finally agreed since it now gets played each nite and gathers no dust.
It is an outstanding guitar and anyone interested in more info click on my link below or email me.
All of you that will have the pleasure to talk to the boys please do me a favour and say hi to Jimmy and Ashley from Andy in Germany

AW

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1961 Sho~Bud D-9:1962 Sho~Bud D-10:1966 Sho~Bud D-10 : 1969 Sho~Bud D-10 : 1969 Emmons D-10 : Bigsby T-8
My steels
ShoBud Gallery

Bobby Lee · Post by **Bobby Lee** » 22 Jul 2001 7:38 pm

Whoa! There's a piece of rack gear resting on top of Buddy's guitar!. Some roadie needs to be taken to the woodshed!

Very interesting Sho-Bud. Is there a Big Sandy record with Jimmy Roy on it yet?

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<small><img align=right src="http://b0b.com/b0b.gif" width="64" height="64">Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs
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Chris DeBarge · Post by **Chris DeBarge** » 23 Jul 2001 6:31 pm

For those of you unfamiliar with him, Jimmy used to play with Ray Condo outta Vancouver or somewheres nearby. Jimmy's a great guy and a great picker. Bob, no recordings with Big Sandy yet, but pick up some of Ray Condo's albums, like "Swing Brother Swing" and "Door to Door Maniac", great stuff.

And just seeing Ashley Kingman cracks me up, thanks Al!

Adam · Post by **Adam** » 24 Jul 2001 5:53 pm

There aren't any recordings of Jimmy Roy with Big Sandy,but I highly recommend the Ray Condo stuff that he plays on.The latest is called "High and Wild" on Joaqin records.I had the pleasure of sharing the bill with Big Sandy and Jimmy Roy last wednesday in Seattle.They have gone through some major lineup changes and sound a little different,but they are still the best band around.Jimmy Roy is an amazing steel player.They had just played on the Opry recently too.