The atmosphere was very informal and comfortable, and the room was filled with RPI alums of seven or more years ago. The alums that I had attended the performance with explained that Roy originally used to perform predominantly in the Troy area, while they were still students at RPI. Years later he still had a fairly large following, and I deduced that I was probably in for a very good show.

And I was not disappointed. Roy’s style can best be described as "eclectic guitar," as he played a little bit of everything.

He first started off with the "earliest known rap song" which didn’t really remind me of rap, but the words were fairly easy to learn. Throughout it he encouraged audience participation, mostly in the way of singing.

However, it was in the break following his next song (a cover of a Tom Rush song) when his true interactivity with the audience shone. As some of his loyal followers were taunting him about his age, his string broke. While he sought for the elusive replacement string he shared several short, humorous stories and chatted with the audience.

Still failing to find the string, he took revenge upon the guitar for its years of abuse and used it as a drum to accompany his rendition of the "Banana Loaders’ Song," complete with audience singing. Just as he was threatening to continue the evening "Aco-poc-a-lo," he managed to find a replacement string and dove back into his music with "The Hurricane," a cover from David Wilcox.

But then he decided his songs were too long, and started inserting periods of random short songs into his program. The shortest song he knows consists of one line: "If I give my heart to you, I’ll have none and you’ll have two." The rest of his short songs consisted of the same kind of offbeat creativity and definitely added a lot of humor to the show.

Eventually, he sang some longer songs of his own, including "See the River." He considers "See the River" a folk song, the definition of which, according to Roy, is a song you teach to someone who teaches it to someone else, and on and on until it gets more "folked up" as you go along until no one knows who wrote it, and no one cares. He finished the first act with "Garbage Barge," a song he wrote about an ambitious young sailor.

He started the second act with a cover of a Jonie Mitchell song, which was promptly followed by a "dubious claim to fame," "Milk and Cookies Around the Campfire," spawned by a line in a John Denver song: "I’m sorry for the way things are in China." My brain could not quite wrap around the warped explanation given for the link between the two, but the song was hilarious, complete with a big fanfare ending.

He then went on to another short song, and explained that there is only one Irish song. The lyrics are "We’re drinking and fighting and fighting and drinking …" and these words are set to various tunes, whether it be the upbeat or tragically slow Irish tune.

Towards the end of the evening he took a few requests, but mostly chose the songs that he sang. "Pay the Bill in the Morning," self-written, was a very rich song with an intricate guitar accompaniment.

For his encore he sang "Ukulele Lady"; he seemed like he was in a musical. It was hilarious. Then he slowed things with a version of "As Time Goes By," which is one of Roy’s favorites. Finally, he and the entire audience sang "Fiddler’s Green," and the show was over.

The music itself wasn’t my favorite part of the show, though. Roy is a great performer—he interacts well with the audience. Also, he tends to be very expressive; his voice takes on a different quality for each style he sings, and his facial expressions portray the tone of a song very well. His stories are humorous, and the audience just loves him. Even if he weren’t a very skilled guitarist and singer with an incredible voice, it would be well worth seeing his show for his audience interaction.

Speaking of which, Roy plans to be performing at Mother’s on either February 22 or 23, when, he is certain, the Players will be closing another performance (as is his tradition apparently). For more information on Roy, and perhaps even to