Phil Roy Is Ready to Leave The House

Or, how the hopeless found hope after 30 years in the music biz

by Nicole Pensiero

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Published: Mar 4, 2008

Michael T. Regan

About two years ago, Philly-based singer-songwriter Phil Roy, feeling fed up with the music business, got "way off the road."

His words.

Roy's monthly I'm Not Leaving the House "tour" has had the affable musician — and amateur gourmet cook — whipping up four-course meals and giving hourlong concerts for devoted fans in his home. What started out as a mouth-to-mouth gathering among friends quickly became a waiting-list-only event.

And in recent months, requests from out-of-state fans urging Roy to come cook and sing for them, too, have reached their mark. So he's about to change direction again, going from his home to theirs. Only this time with a guitar, a bag of groceries — and a major-label recording contract.

"I'm gonna take a journey," the 49-year-old Roy says. "It'll be my Coming to Your House tour, and there will be at least 10 cities I'll hit. I already have commitments from people in Grand Rapids, Tampa, Charlotte, Dewey Beach and L.A." The exact date of Roy's upcoming jaunt — which he's considering having filmed for a documentary — hasn't been determined, but Roy says it'll "definitely happen."

Between the May 20 release of The Great Longing on Decca — which Roy first put out himself in 2006 — traditional touring and the home concerts, he'd "like to get lots of people in every city across the country to come out and see me. That would be amazing."

Roy is optimistic about his career, despite saying he "could have buried this dream a long time ago."

"The uncertainty and deceit I've faced in my almost 30 years in the music business has been at times emotionally crippling, but I've never let that affect me permanently," he said. "My dream today remains the same as what it was at age 17: to have people hear and seek out my music."

Weaned on '60s and '70s rock and soul, Roy started studying guitar at age 9, with a teacher who played in Gamble & Huff's house band. He went to Boston to study music at Berklee and by age 21 had moved to L.A., having been signed to Warner Brothers as part of a band called Carrera.

"But like so many other Hollywood stories, I ended up broke and disillusioned, working at a mall, selling shoes," Roy recalls. The group changed its name, got picked up by EMI and was unceremoniously dumped after one album. At that point, Roy changed his career focus, becoming a staff writer for several major publishers. Many of his songs found their way to big-name stars: Ray Charles, Joe Cocker, Mavis Staples, even Wyclef Jean. Roy's best-known tune — "Hope in a Hopeless World" — was covered by everyone from Paul Young to Widespread Panic.

But a couple of decades in the cutthroat L.A. music industry started taking its toll. "I was making music for everyone but myself," Roy says. "I was at the end of my rope personally and professionally. But, in releasing my first solo album, I met a girl, fell in love and came home to Philly."

Despite the marriage dissolving and a proposed recording contract with indie label Cooking Vinyl never reaching fruition, Roy remained convinced that things could turn around. Now, with the Decca deal, they finally have.

"I'm like, 'Yes!' These people have sincere intentions to get my music heard," Roy says. "I'm finally surrounded by people who know what they're doing and want to help make that happen."

The Great Longing — which Roy says shows off his vocal versatility more than anything he's previously recorded — unites folk-pop with R&B and straight-up soul. Roy recruited several musical buddies, including chanteuse Madeleine Peyroux and local favorites Amos Lee, Melody Gardot and Mutlu, to contribute vocals for the album.

"It's my happy record," Roy says. "Hopefully, when people hear it, they'll feel that joy."

Having recently moved from Center City to Chestnut Hill — "I needed to hear birds and see stars at night," he says — Roy has kept his dinner party/concerts at the same price he began with, $100 per person. "It's still fun for me; it's still fun for my fans," he says, adding that each dinner can accommodate up to 22 guests. Over the past two years, one couple has returned five times, proof that "they either really like my music or really like my cooking — or really like hanging out in my house with me and my dog, Travis."

"I've always looked at the bigger picture with the music-and-food thing — I'm combining something that hasn't been done quite like this before, but more than that, I'm performing music my own way, on my own terms."

(n_pensiero@citypaper.net)

 

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