Roy Curry

Bio written by Bryan Kimsey

It's lonely at the top, especially if you're a two-time Winfield flatpicking champ like Roy Curry. To date, there are only 4 two-timers: James Gyles, Mark O'Connor, Gary Cook, and Roy Curry. There's only one 3-timer, some Kaufman guy... Of these four, Gary Cook and Roy Curry have the best chance of knocking King Kaufman off his throne, what with O'Connor and Gyles pretty much retired from contests. Curry is in the catbird seat since Gary Cook will not be eligible to compete for another couple of years. In 1997, Roy was knocked out of competition by a severe hand injury, and in 1998, he made the finals, but not the top three. In 1999 he placed second.

In spite of this contest oriented lead-in, when I called Roy to interview him for this article, we spent an hour and half talking about nearly everything except contests. He's got an excellent CD out, and since there is not much about him in print, I started with the basics. Curry says he started playing at about age 11, inspired by a neighbor who played banjo. Roy originally wanted to play banjo but his father had the foresight (and an instrument handy) to get him started on guitar instead. His dad also let Roy sift through his collection of bluegrass 78's and the young picker spent hours listening to them and learning the parts. He was eventually exposed to Doc Watson and, like many others, had his doors blown off by Watson's picking. Curry played rhythm for awhile, but after hearing Doc, began figuring out leads.

In 1975, the Curry's moved to Tennessee and it was there that he was first exposed to contests. "I went to a music store there and they said 'You should play in these contests.' Well, after you do a few of those, you get on a mailing list and get updates in the mail every few days. You can play contests just about every weekend. Playing them really gave me a goal and an inspiration to practice and work up new things." These local contests inspired Roy to enter Winfield in 1979. "The first time I entered Winfield I thought it was just like any other contest. I played very simply with no mistakes. The other players played all this great stuff with no mistakes, and I realized real quick I was going to have some work to do!" Returning the next year, Curry won the contest for the first time.

His next win came in 1991 and was a return to acoustic guitar for Roy. "I played electric guitar with the Forrester Sisters for about 2 years prior to that. When I was done with that, I decided to pick up the acoustic guitar again, having quit flatpicking for awhile." Back at Winfield, Roy was surprised and pleased at the increase in good pickers. They didn't stop him, though, and he chalked up his second win in 1991.

As for his acoustic guitars, Roy is currently favoring a Marty Lanham Nashville Guitar Company instrument. "I won this guitar at a contest in Emminence, Missouri. I'd seen the guitar down at Marty's place and when he told me it was a prize at a contest, I signed right up. I got lucky and won it." The guitar has Kingwood back and sides (closely related to Brazilian rosewood) and a top of Sitka spruce that came from an old Gibson stockpile. The neck is 1 11/16', but Roy says it feels slightly wider than a Martin Custom 15 he also owns, but narrower than his Gallagher Doc Watson model (with a 13/4" neck). "The Lanham guitar sounds like a D- 18 with a little more depth. It mics really well and that's the main thing for me, sound-wise." He likes Clayton Ultem teardrop picks in 1.20mm and plays with the pointed end of the pick. Curry runs Martin SP medium gauge strings on his Lanham guitar, although he says they're not for every guitar. His action runs a little on the high side, because he doesn't want it to buzz. Curry says he's not particular about instrument set-up, "as long as it plays and feels good in the first place. If you can play it, great. If not, it's got to have some set-up work done."

I asked Roy about his practice schedule and he said that he likes to practice guitar while watching golf, one of his hobbies, on TV. I mentioned that I do the same thing (watching motocross races, instead) and we both thought that it was an important technique for developing subconscious playing. He said "Stephane Grappelli is one of my heroes and I actually got to talk to him once. Being a dumb kid, I asked him 'What do you think about when you're playing?' And he said [in French accent] 'Why... nothing at all. Sometimes I'm staring at the silverware on the table in front of me.' That made me think." However, his practice does have an intense side, too, since Roy plays with 2 local bands. He plays his childhood love, banjo, with one and guitar with the other.

He also brought up the point that between his wins in 1980 and 1991, he completely changed his right hand technique, and this required a lot of woodshedding. "In 1980,1 played with my wrist twisted. If you can picture your palm as being parallel to the guitar face, I played with my thumb farther away from the face than the little finger. After watching a lot of faster players, I realized that they all played with a motion parallel to the guitar face. So, after 1980, I went home and changed my right hand technique." In 1997, Roy was prepped to win his 3rd title when disaster struck. "I was working in the lab and cut my left ring finger on a piece of glass. It cut really deep and the extensor tendon went 'POP!' just like a rubber band and curled up around my wedding band. I thought 'Well, that's it for guitar playing!', but alter surgery and a lot of physical therapy, it's as good as new." Good enough like new that Roy was able to make the top 5 at Winfield 1998 and place 2nd in 1999.

Roy currently plays guitar with the Lone Mountain Band.

Titles by Roy Curry:

Product Number	Title	Format	Price
98340DVD	Winfield Winners... Flatpicking Champions DVD: Live from Steve Kaufman's Flatpicking Kamp	DVD	$19.95

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