BIOGRAPHIES of Canadian
Steelers
ROY THOMSON
MUSICAL BIOGRAPHY
I was born on September
2nd, 1940 in Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia. After seeing a few western movies I
became a fan of the guitar right away and dreamed of playing one before I was
10 years old.
Around 1952 my parents let
me sign up for guitar lessons and I along with about 150 other kids arrived at
a large hall after school one day and they started passing around Stella
Guitars to everyone. However when my turn came they passed me a flat metal bar
along with the guitar. That's not what I had in mind at all. I wanted to play
with the fingers like I saw in the movies. Being too shy to express my true
desire I decided to go with the steel bar for a few weeks and see what
happened. I still have that flat steel bar.
In December of 1953 my
parents got me an electric lap steel and small amp from Sears
catalogue and that along with a lap Richenbacker
which I got at a second hand shop a few years later comprised my equipment list
until 1960. I played in school, at parties, on the radio and could play with
any local country band I wanted to because of the unique sound the guitar
offered.
Having joined the Bank
after graduating from high school I was transferred to Antigonish,
N.S. and very soon after bought a Fender 400--. My
introduction to pedals. I married soon after and then transferred to
Hamilton, Ont. I remember meeting people like Ollie Strong, Al Gain and a few
others who were using Sho-Buds at that time.
At this point I made a
decision to leave the Bank, move back to Nova Scotia and raise our family
there. I started a new career in municipal administration and continued to play
the local scene with a number of bands. I got a Sho-Bud
in 1969 and two years later recorded a number of LP's with the Fogarty's in
1972. On one album I played an instrumental R.T. Fever, an original which
brought me about $1,000 in royalty payments .The reports that accompanied the
payments indicated that a radio station in England used my instrumental for
theme music on a country music program.
Sometime later I appeared
on" Countrytime" with a group called
"Big Buffalo". This program was a CBC production and aired quite a
few years. Len MacDonald was the regular steelman for
the show.
Raising a family and
working as Town Administrator in Wolfville since 1971
required a great deal of my time but I played steel with local groups
throughout the years almost every weekend. I visited Nashville twice and met
Lloyd Green and Curly Chaulker back in the 70's. Also
Shot Jackson who inspired me to start playing the dobro when I first heard him with Johnny and Jack
back in the 50's. The highlight however was jamming with Mr. Emmons at Cosmo
Music in 1985. As well as steel, I also play dobro and some classical guitar. For six years along
with everything else in the 1970's. Early 1980's I played bagpipes but that is
history.
Today I am retired and a
director with the Atlantic Steel Guitar Club. I play a Carter D10 and keep my
sound very simple and as pure as possible . I have
been using a Nashville 400 amp since 1985. Along with trying to keep up with
"to-day's" country sounds I like to experiment with fingerstyle music and some classical. I am presently
testing some changes on an" E" diatonic tuning and use an acoustic steel that I built for this purpose.
Besides being a Director of
the ASGC I have a little business called Roy's Steel Guitar Centre and specialize in personalized instruction.
February 1997
E-Mail Roy Thomson
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