It was 7:30 on a Saturday, and the regular crowd was shuffling in. People came from far and wide this weekend just to hear one man with a guitar. Of course, that man is Roy Atkinson, a former regular at the Rolls Touring Company before his semi-retirement to Maine in 1996. Yet, five years later, people waited more than an hour to make sure that they got a prime seat for his annual Mother’s Wine Emporium performance.
What could be so special about one man and his guitar? The publicity poster for this event called Roy "an excellent guitarist, sensitive vocalist, consummate entertainer, and a funny guy." Yet, that only begins to describe him. Whether he is covering traditional standards such as "Fiddler’s Green" or playing "Reason to Smile," one of his own musical endeavors, the soothing tone of his voice and the lyricism of his guitar invite the listener inside for a longer look. Once there, he captivates you with his unique wit. Experiences such as taking an audience member’s cracking joint and turning it into a song about the perils of hauling firewood, or forgetting the words to one of his standards but substituting words of wisdom from the Swedish Chef and Rocky the Flying Squirrel, sum up his offbeat humor.
The performance on Saturday had a little for everyone. Roy started off his first set after an introduction—even though the emcee noted that Roy didn’t need an introduction—with "Rusty Old American Dream," a David Wilcox song about a 1958 DeSoto on its last legs, but still with enough in the tank to take you anywhere you want to go. The first set jumped around from there, including covers of the "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic" and Bruce Springsteen’s "Fire"—reggae style—to the classic folk tune "Circle Game" by Joni Mitchell, to Roy originals "To See the River" and the closer "In Annie’s Eyes," written for his wife.
A 30-minute intermission followed—just enough time to catch up with old friends and to stop over at Ben & Jerry’s for a scoop (or two) of ice cream. Roy then returned to the stage with the traditional folk tune "The Water is Wide." The second half included a little bit more from Roy’s humor side, both musically and in his stories. In "Me and Julio," he changed the last chorus from "me and Julio down by the schoolyard" to "Ernest and Julio down by the vineyard," in reference to the winemaking Gallo brothers. He also managed to convert an Alexander Pope quotation into a rather catchy blues song. There were poignant moments as well, including Roy’s own "Changing World" and the Rolling Stones’ "Ruby Tuesday," complete with waving lighters—or pagers, cellular phones, and computers, whatever would produce light—in the tradition of rock concerts.
After his second set, Roy tried to escape, but continual applause brought him back for an encore, highlighted by Billy Joel’s "Piano Man." More applause brought him back a second time for a short encore, but after three and a half hours, he finally sent everyone home with smiles on their faces.
Roy says on his website that in some of his regular engagements, he got to know the people on the other side of the microphone as well as a performer can. The one thing that keeps his fans checking to see when he’s coming back is that the same can be said for us about him. He lets us inside the person on the other side of the microphone; he lets us feel what he’s feeling and thinking through his words, his voice. And, he keeps us coming back for more.
