Guitar virtuoso, country music Artist and Hee Haw Co-host artist Roy Clark has passed

[Mr Quatro]

Bless you Roy where ever you are now RIP

[u crank]

R.I.P. Roy.

Incredible musician.

[Sailor Steve]

He was also a licensed pilot and dedicated sport-flying enthusiast who sometimes participated in stunt contests. Sometime in the late '70s he was performing in Salt Lake City and went to an air show in Provo. I was lucky enough to be there with my wife. He didn't fly, and I didn't get to meet him, but I did get to witness one of his best comedy bits.

For those who don't know, when a stunt pilot does his or her thing the announcer describes each maneuver in careful detail so everyone can understand what's going on. The regular announcer at this show introduced Clark and said he, as a knowledgeable stunt pilot himself, would explain the stunts performed by the next pilot to go up. Putting on his best deadpan face and "regular guy" style he started saying things like "Well, now he's headed toward me. Uh, now he's going the other way..."

It was simple and effective , and had the crowd in stitches. As a guitarist myself I always admired his style, but that day was one I'll always remember.

Here he is with another great, both of them good enough to give way to the other in his turn.

[Jimbuna]

Even as a Brit I remember him from my younger days.

RIP Roy

[Platapus]

Supposedly, in an interview, Mr. Clark confessed that the only thing with strings he could not play were his shoes.

[vienna]

In the second clip, Roy is playing Malagueña, a Spanish guitar classic usually fingerpicked in a hybrid Spanish Classical/Flamenco style of playing. I recall seeing Roy interviewed long ago on a daytime talk show and before he played the number, he explained he could not do the fingerpicked version be cause he lacked the skill (an astonishing admission) and he also explained he had not tried to play the number on TV because he was not really all that confident he could pull it off; he was sweating like crazy as he played and, when he finished, there was a great expression of joy and relief on his face. Roy could outplay a finger picker with his picking any day of the week and twice on Sundays. He may not have been able to do the rapid-fire sort of 'banjo-roll' arpeggios of the Spanish masters, but they couldn't pick as precisely and rapidly as Roy could with a flatpick...

The one thing about Roy was hs obvious joy and happiness in playing and the way he could transmit that to his audience...

Thanks, Roy, for the pickin' n' the grinnin', RIP...









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