Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

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ROBERTS, Roy

(b 22 October 1942, Livingston TN) Guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer and label boss. He listened to Nashville radio as a boy, and  'Baby, What You Want Me To Do' by Jimmy Reed was one of the first things that turned him on to music. At age 14 he worked on a farm to earn enough money to buy a Sears Silvertone guitar through the mail.

Still a teenager, he moved to Greensboro, North Carolina to live with an uncle, and began to gig locally; he picked up some tours and cut a few singles on local labels in the 1960s and ‘70s. During the dark years of disco he sang country music, and toured with O.B. McClinton (who called himself 'the other one,' Charlie Pride being a much better known black country singer). Roberts built a studio in Virginia in 1989 and recorded gospel music; then he heard Robert Cray on the radio and said, 'That guy’s got my style!' and returned to the blues, his first love.

He started Rock House Records in Greensboro, and puts out his own records as well as producing and recording CDs by Priscilla Price, Lou Pride, Chick Willis, Skeeter Brandon, and Floyd Miles. In 2001 he was named Artist Deserving of Wider Recognition by Living Blues magazine (he was pushing 60 years old, but that’s the music biz for you). He was also named Producer of the Year, and his Willis CD From The Heart And Soul was named Best Blues Album. He appeared at blues festivals in Europe in 2003; in 2004 the CAMMY awards (Carolina Beach Blues Academy in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina) named his 'I Slipped, Tripped And Fell In Love' Blues Song of the Year and his own Daylight With A Flashlight was nominated for Blues Album Of The Year.

Albums include Introducing Roy Roberts 1995 on New Moon, Every Shade Of Blue 1997 on King Snake, and (all on Rock House) Deeper Shade Of Blue 1999, Burnin’ Love 2001, Daylight With A Flashlight 2003, Partners & Friends 2004 (with Johnny Rawls), Sicily Moon and By Request: The Best Of Roy Roberts Vol. 1, both 2006. He also operates Roy’s Place at 850 N. Liberty Street in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. There is now a highway sign in Livingston defining the town as the birthplace of Roy Roberts.