In Search of Roy Book Binder: Part 1

When I was in high school, radio was different than today. Disk Jockeys would play a whole range of music. You could hear James Taylor, then Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan (acoustic) and then Black Sabbath. The mix was fantastic and fun to listen to. Nowadays playlists are so controlled that you could never hear The Eagles next to Led Zeppelin

I graduated from high school in 1974 but was always fascinated by the folk movement of the sixties, both musically and politically. There was a style of music buried in the folk scene that really did it for me that I couldn't identify. I wasn't sure exactly what it was but I kept looking for it.

I loved guitar that was fingerpicked like Gordon Lightfoot, Ian & Sylvia, Phil Ochs, Tom Paxton, etc. As much as I loved it, there was something missing and I got even closer when I discovered John Prine. He used a form of Travis Picking that I really liked and also had a great lyrics. I got all John's cds and knew I was zeroing in.

I started playing guitar and then it took off. I got some teaching videos that featured Mississippi John Hurt. Then I went on to Mance Lipscomb. Now I was zeroing in on exactly the kind of music that I'd always looked for. I found I loved acoustic blues music from the twenties to the sixties. I didn't care for the electric blues of people like Muddy Waters but show me the early stuff like the first recordings of R. L. Burnside and I was in heaven.

WKSU radio has folk music on the weekend nights and one night I heard a song by a guy named Roy Book Binder. It was an old Blind Willie McTell song Statesboro Blues done with an acoustic guitar that was driving and exciting. It was nothing like I had heard in high school with The Allman Brothers. The next night I was listening to WCPN radio and they have blues on weekend nights. They played a song by Roy called St. Pete Blues. Who was this guy?

This was before the internet so I was limited. I went to the local music stores and didn't find any cds. Finally I went out to Westlake's Borders Books & Music where I found his Travelin' Man cd. This was what I was looking for. A few months later I heard on the radio that he was coming to Wilberts in downtown Cleveland. I got there a little early and after I sat down a very tall and thin man came up to me and offered a free ticket. At first I thought I was being hit on, this being the big city, but he explained he won tickets from WKSU and had no one to share them with.

Tom and I became fast friends and I found out quickly that he is a veritable encyclopedia of folk (and all things acoustic) music. I also found him to be a fine guitarist and thoroughly enjoyed his rendition of Hoyt Axton's Boney Fingers.

The show at Wilberts was eye-opening. He did his own songs but also songs by Bo Carter, Billy Joe Shaver, Reverend Gary Davis, Charlie Patton and others. I immediately bought his teaching videos titled Blues By The Book. I liked his easy teaching style and learned more than I ever thought I would. Because of Roy I started to listen to many of the older artists and styles.

Over the next few years Roy came to the Happy Days Visitor Center in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. I took my minidisk recorder and got every show. It was interesting to upload the shows to the computer and compare different versions of the same song. Plus I noticed how much looser he was at the shows in taverns, probably induced by the more relaxed crowds (and his penchant for irish whiskey).

That year Tom invited me to the Emerald City Folk Festival nearby with an acoustic bluesman I'd never heard before, Guy Davis. He is the son of the actors Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee. I didn't expect much figuring it was just some actors son trying out the music thing. I couldn't have been more wrong. Guy not only played great blues guitar and sang, but played incredible harmonica. I took this picture of him at the festival.

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