I met him in Toronto in the summer of 75. The Horseshoe was still Country and Western. I had moved in across the street in June and the Horseshoe had become my local and by then i had set up an after hours club. (boozecan).
It came to pass that Roy owed Morty Star (The manager of the Horseshoe) $3,000.00. so Morty hired Roy for the whole month of August. the idea that he could get his money back. He made strict rules that Roy could have no bar privileges and he wasn't to drink.
It came to pass that Roy owed Morty Star (The manager of the Horseshoe) $3,000.00. so Morty hired Roy for the whole month of August. the idea that he could get his money back. He made strict rules that Roy could have no bar privileges and he wasn't to drink.
So I am sitting in a booth in the east half of the huge bar. Drinking jugs of drafts with a couple of friends Roy was just setting up for the gig on the stage on the west side of the bar and Morty was behind the bar on the westside front of the bar. there was a half wall down the middle and I was on the other side. I was sitting talking and drinking when something grabbed my leg. I looked down at Roy under my seat holding up a dollar."Give me a beer will you?" He had crawled under about 5 booths to get to us and that is how we became friends.
Roy was mostly drunk or whatever and crazy but he knew all the country stars and introduced me to many like Billy Joe Shaver etc. He could write a song in minute I watched him write one about the bar menu. But he wrote two truly great songs. 'I wouldn't take a million dollars for a single Maple Leaf' which he wrote when he was in the Canadian Army in Egypt. And 'There are no price tags on the doors of Newfoundland. At the end of the month Roy owed Morty $6000.
Roy was mostly drunk or whatever and crazy but he knew all the country stars and introduced me to many like Billy Joe Shaver etc. He could write a song in minute I watched him write one about the bar menu. But he wrote two truly great songs. 'I wouldn't take a million dollars for a single Maple Leaf' which he wrote when he was in the Canadian Army in Egypt. And 'There are no price tags on the doors of Newfoundland. At the end of the month Roy owed Morty $6000.
