Les pionniers de la musique country de l'Ontario :
Roy Penney

Guitar picker extraordinaire, ROY PENNEY was born in Corner Brook, NL. He met with the legendary Dick Nolan, and the pair made their way to Toronto during the mid-1960s, where they teamed up with fellow Maritimers Johnny Burke and Bunty Petrie to form “The Blue Valley Boys”. The act became a popular country club fixture in Toronto, with their music captured on the album, “On Stage At The Drake”. During the 1970s, the group moved on to become the house band at the famous Horseshoe Tavern, where they backed all the hot touring acts of the time. Many mainline acts from Nashville left their tour bands at home, thanks to the reputation the Blue Valley Boys had with their Nashville counterparts; in particular, the guitar work of Roy Penney.

Penney also spent time performing with a group headed up by Wayne King. He was featured in the house band for “Carl Smith’s Country Music Hall” TV Show, toured as a member of Myrna Lorrie’s back-up band, “Rawhide”, as well as performing in “The June Pasher Band” and the group “Country Sunshine”, which featured his then-wife, Rebecca Mae (Penney). Roy was also a member of the showband at the Country Gold club in Toronto during the late 1980s; again, backing all the top touring acts of the day.

Later, while a member of the Oshawa-based group, “Shotgun”, Roy collaborated with the band’s steel player – the late Rusty Walker – in composing the group’s identity theme song, “Shotgun”.

In the mid-1960s, Penney recorded his now highly collectible album, “Twistin’ The Pick”, which soon became a “learning tool” for aspiring guitar players of the time. The album was an instrumental mix of Country and Pop standards. The title track, “Twistin’ The Pick”, was released as a single and reached #8 on the RPM Charts in 1965; one of the rare instrumental recordings to achieve Top 10 success on the RPM Country charts.

Roy later recorded the solo album, “Boss Guitar In Teensville”, deemed to be another of the best guitar instrumental albums on the Canadian music scene.

During the late 1960s, Roy Penney topped RPM’s annual Reader’s Poll as “Best Guitar Player” on three occasions.

Roy Penney’s in-demand guitar work has also been featured on numerous recordings, ranging from Bernie Early’s Country/Rock ‘n Roll sessions in the 1960s, through many of the recordings by Arc Records artists – including: Shirley Mae Carr, Bunty Petrie, George & June Pasher, Chef Adams; and later, with the group “Shotgun”, among many others.

Editor’s note: The entire “Twistin’ the Pick” album can be found on YouTube.