As I said on the last page I was introduced to Roy through John's recordings. John always found the most musical folks to help him create his brand of hillybilly jazz.

" LOVE IS A FOUR LETTER WORD FOR MUSIC " ..... K. S. "SLAP CITY" © Ken Spooner 1986 -Performers : Roy Huskey Jr Bass, Joe DIffie Vocal, Roy Yeager Drums, Russ Pahl Elect Gtr. Ken Spooner. Acoustic Guitar

1977 ALLEY KATS

Out in the alley behind The Soundshop Studio

Front Four: John Hartford, Jimmie Culvard, Henry Strezeleki, Benny Martin

Rear Guard: Sam Bush, Larrie Londin, Not Sure?, Mike Melford, Buddy Emmons, Rich Adler, Roy Huskey

I was in Nashville about a year when I got the opportunity to do some studio work with Roy & Roy. The whole session was an overload of excitement for this wide eyed newcomer and it was Roy Huskey who kept me from just floating off the earth. I mean I had a pocketful of tunes I had written that were being considered for placement in a new television series called Elvis, The Early Years ( Priscilla Presley was the executive producer). Along with Roy & Roy I had Jim Hoke on keys, Russ Pahl on Electric gtr, and for vocals veteran Larry Keith & newcomer Joe Diffie. And for background vocals the ultimate for a project like this, Gordon Stoker, Neal Matthews, Duane West, & Ray Walker better known as The Jordanaires.

The three of us were to lay the basic rhythm track in Roy Yeager's new studio. I had met Roy Yeager a few nights earlier at the Station Inn and he gave me his card. Huskey's entrance into the studio was nothing short of hillbilly spectacular unless you knew him and for those who did I suppose it was quite normal. He bursts through the door dragging his doghouse bass and the first words out of his mouth are GOLLY....and he is hunched over it jamming a matchbook cover into a newly discovered crack in the top. Ten minutes of whacking away at it and getting the buzz out and he's ready to listen to what we were gonna put down. "JUST RUN THE NUMBER, HERE'S THE TIME" ....what a thrill for me to be in the middle of these two guys who acted like there was one brain controlling both of them. I was digging into my strings for all I was worth and having way too much fun.

The basic tracks were over way too soon for the amount of fun I was having...aw gee ride over already? But more surprises were in store watching Roy's face listen to the playback. And when I gave him his check, he said Oh No.... I just came by to help Roy shake down the new studio... I had to explain to him...NO WAY JOSE...I had a budget for this and to me it was worth triple scale for the honor of playing with him.... He finaly took my check .....but he NEVER CASHED IT!

Music Industry Photographer Jim McGuire Has A Very Fine PORTRAIT of Roy Located Here

The last time I worked with Roy was at Rich Adler's studio on October 12, 1992. He had left his gig with Emmylou and was back in town full time. The reason I know the date is, I went into the closet and dug out the 24 Track reel of "Old Hat" and that's what Rich wrote on the box. That morning session was just the two of us. A beautiful fall day probably too nice to be inside recording. At least Rich's studio in the loft of a barn had windows in it so we could see and hear the colors .

One acoustic guitar and one acoustic bass. About as intimate a recording as you can get. We probably did as much shootin the breeze as we did recording that morning and Roy could talk about ANYTHING. Vocals and fiddle were added later along with great laid plans for John to add his Hartford "Timber Tone" banjo. And you know what they say about great laid plans....They went the way of the gazebo I was gonna build on the lake behind our Florida home in the 1980's. Perhaps John felt he had already added enough with helping straighten out the last verse? Anyway you can hear "Old Hat" on the original Remembering John & Marie Hartford Pagewhich I'm trusting or is it assuming you have read and listened to by now.

On September 6, 1997 Roy M. Huskey died of lung cancer. He was 40 years old.

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Roy Charting One Out At Rich Adler's Studio early 1990's

Country star Marty Stuart told The Tennessean newspaper, "Roy Huskey was a pure original state of the art, bona fide, textbook example of a bass-playing genius, truly irreplaceable."

"I feel like I've just lost a part of my family," said Emmylou Harris.

Sam Bush: When Roy first started playing sessions, I happened to be there. It was on a John Hartford record. I was very fortunate that when Emmylou (Harris) started the Nash Ramblers, I suggested we get Roy. She said we could never get him because he didn’t like to go on the road. But we couldn’t get him without asking. We asked and luckily he agreed and joined us for two years. He was one of my best friends musically. We feel a void here in Nashville. His father, Junior Huskey made the style that became the sound of bass in country music. Roy continued it on the same bass that his father played.

"YOU CAN STILL HEAR IT THUNDER FROM THE OPRY STAGE"

Sam Bush was probably the last person to record with Roy . It's the full version with the seldom heard beginning of "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" done instrumentally. It is on Sam's Album "Howlin At The Moon" But also on that album is a masterpiece of songcraft .... "SONG FOR ROY"...which will put a lump in any listners throat and torque wrench to anyones heart who was ever lucky enough to have met Roy...

MIRROR IMAGE OF HIS FATHER BEFORE HIM

THE NOTES FLOWED THROUGH HIS VEINS

BOTTOM SO BIG YOU CAN STILL HEAR IT THUNDER

FROM THE OPRY STAGE

WORKED HIS FIRST MASTER WHEN HE WAS JUST 16

THE BOY COULD SLAP A KAY

KING EDWARD SPECIALS ON HIS LIP AND IN HIS POCKET

HE SMOKED IT EVERDAY

HEAR THE COLORS WRAPPED IN FLANNEL

FOREVER WEDGED IN MY MIND

HEAR THE COLORS NO HE AIN'T CRAZY

JUST RUN THE NUMBER, HERE'S THE TIME

HE WAS A BROTHER, HUSBAND AND FATHER

A DAMN GOOD MAN, A RAMBLER AND A FRIEND

SO HERE'S A SONG TO SAY FAREWELL REST IN PEACE

UNTIL WE PICK AGAIN

NEXT: "THE GRILLED CHEESE INCIDENT"