Roy Payne, The Cement City Stompers & Drinkin’ Me Six Foot Under

Roy Payne. He’s the reason this whole thing began. It was Roy Payne I wanted to interview for The Northern Report Podcast. Starting TNR led me deeper down the rabbit hole of local legends and regional stars of Canada’s honky-tonk past. I tracked some down, interviewed them, spun the records on Boots & Saddle every Tuesday up until I decided I needed to do more. It’s all become part of my story of late and one I love to share.

I was a teenager when my Dad tracked down a copy of one of his favourite records from his youth. The sophomore release from Honky-Tonk hero, Roy Payne entitled, Roy Payne No. 2. Pretty sure our friend Wade Mosher had a vinyl copy that belonged to his Dad and he dubbed it down to cassette.  I’ve got at least 1, maybe 2 vinyl copies of Roy Payne No. 2 and that cassette is still kickin’ around somewhere, too. It’s really a great record. Similar to the other Marathon/Paragon Records releases (and those on Arc, Boot, Dominion, Rodeo etc) it’s heavily populated by cover songs. Hits-of-the-day mixed with (depending who the artist was) songs they’d written themselves. Roy Payne wrote four of the ten songs on No. 2 and among them shine diamonds of his great catalogue like, ‘Pal of Mine’ and ‘Nothing On My Mind’. Backed by and starring, Mickey McGivern this is pure Honky-Tonk, beautiful country music and a must-have in your country music record collection. No. A must-have in any record collection!

Mickey’s masterful Tele pickin’ was what led my 13 year old Father to this record all the way back in 1970, but no doubt about it, the songs and the style of Roy Payne could keep any country music fan’s attention. He burst on to the Toronto scene in the 60’s and made quite a splash with his debut record, the 1969 Paragon release, Goofie Newfie. Roy began making a name for himself as a songwriter and recording artist not just in Toronto (or back home in Newfoundland), but beyond the confines of the barrooms and audiences he frequented on the strength of patriotic anthems  ‘I Wouldn't Take A Million Dollars For A Single Maple Leaf’ and ‘No Price Tags On The Doors Of Newfoundland’. One shouldn’t overlook the importance of the two other regionally based songs on the album, ‘Little Boats of Newfoundland’ or the title track and Roy’s signature song, ‘Goofy Newfie’.

Roy Payne was born April 3, 1939 in Trout River, Newfoundland and remains a great Canadian patriot and one of our nations finest-ever songwriters. He served Canada proudly as a military man finding himself in some of the most dangerous and impoverished places in the world. Upon returning to Canada and landing in the barrooms and on the stages with his songs and stories in tow, Roy recorded for Paragon, Marathon, RCA and Starpak. The long list of artists who have covered his songs include, George Hamilton IV, Tommy Hunter, Dick Nolan, Al Hooper, Derek Pilgrim, and yours truly. A staple at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto through the 60’s, Roy shared the stage with the likes of Waylon Jennings, Bobby Bare, and Stonewall Jackson. His propensity to party has led to countless jaw-dropping stories. Maybe some are true, probably some are exaggerated. Either way, his presence seemed to loom large. A Honky-Tonker in the truest sense of the term.

My Dad told me stories of Roy Payne being “the man” in the bars of the Parkdale neighbourhood of Toronto, holding down a residency at what’s now a spot called The Rhino. Long before the name change and the strong craft beer and weak bar snacks, it was a hardcore drinkin’ joint with live country music 6 nights a week. My old man did half a year or so pickin’ lead for Roy. He once told me he couldn’t recall almost anything from the year 1977 but he knew he slept on couches, developed a love affair with white Rum that nearly killed him, and played country music with the great, Roy Payne. The admiration for Roy remained in my Fathers heart until the day he died, 6 years ago today. And once again, the stories…. legendary. Not safe for work. Not appropriate for civilized society consumption.

In recent weeks, I find myself seeing less romance in that way of life; the widely accepted dependency on alcohol and drugs taking place on and off stage that could keep the singers and pickers awake for days at a time. I’m lying if I say that shit doesn’t interest and even excite me at times. But in my heart it’s really just the notion of nightly jobs playing live country music that inspires me and part of my own personal efforts for hapiness require one to cease romanticising what really is - or stems from - behaviours born of sadness and trauma. But swallowing pills & slamming whiskey in the taverns, bars and honky-tonks with a country music soundtrack was a real way of life that died before I was comin’ up through the ranks, so naturally there’s a tickle of interest when I hear about that era from those who survived it. Pretty much across the board, with present company included, they’re all off the piss now so that says something. But man… they lived it. They did it. In the bars, on the stages, 6 nights a week playing the greatest, most beautiful music known to (this) man.

It’s the music and the records from those days that have inspired me deeply. So much so, that I set out to record and release this, Lost Country record of mine. There was no way we could ignore Roy Payne on this album. As much as I love and appreciate those early hits and album cuts from Roy’s pen, my deep dive digging led me elsewhere for the Payne song we cut on LC.
Enter the Cement City Stompers…

The Stompers are easily one of the best and most unrecognized acts in the history of Country music in Canada. Top notch musicians the whole lot of ‘em and a bass player fronting the outfit. You know how I feel about singing bass players. Not sure they made it out of the bars, but back then you didn’t have to to make a career or maintain greatness. In an effort to locate any recorded material by the Stompers, I stumbled upon a fella named Wray Ellis, (another former picker from the old days) who shared with me a live recording board tape of the group in I think in Sarnia, ON from the early 1980’s. It’s easy to get past the degraded sound quality of the poorly recorded show once you hear how fucking good that band was. Led by Phil Lloyd on the electric bass and vocals, the group at that time featured Dennis Conn on lead guitar, Roly Platt on Harmonica, Mike Houlder on Pedal Steel and I think, Mike Dasty on drums. Deep down in the set appears a song called Drinkin’ Me Six Foot Under. A song about a song? A love song? A drinking song? ALL THE ABOVE. I fell in love with it before the first listen concluded. I knew I had to sing it. I asked Dennis about it when I sent him the files so he could hear for himself and that’s when I learned that it was a Roy Payne song. Upon further research, Drinkin’ Me Six Foot Under didn’t appear in Roy’s recorded catalogue and I’ve yet to find or hear the apparent recorded version of the song by Derek Pilgrim. Some people I’ve spoken to told me it wasn’t uncommon for Roy to have written a great song sometimes in a matter of minutes, that his peers covered and he never cut. Imagine that. I once heard tale of Roy bellied up to the bar and writing a song out of thin air, scribbling the lyrics on a cocktail napkin. “And it was a good song!”, was the report I received. It all adds to the lore and legend.

I feel like I could continue to ramble on, and on, and on about Roy Payne, the Cement City Stompers, the 6-nighters. All of it. All the stuff I’ve grown to love so much that was before my time. The sounds that continue to inspire me and are the ones that today’s records and musicians aren’t equipped or interested in executing. That’s why I made Lost Country the way I did, with a veteran band of men who were in the trenches and maintain the country music vocabulary they developed on those stages. My version of Drinkin’ Me Six Foot Under features the core 5 piece band from the sessions - Sean O’Grady on drums, Paul Weber on Fender Bass, Mike Weber on Pedal Steel with Grant Siemens playing electric guitar while I handled the vocals and acoustic guitar duties. Ted Hawkins sang the harmony vocals and I brought Dennis & Roly both into the mix for this one as it seemed like the right thing to do as both of them were no strangers to playing on stage and in the studio with Payne over the years.

By modern standards, Roy Payne, some of his songs and my record - they’re not what industry scum or hip taste-makers deem as “accessible”. And that’s ok with me. I don’t care for the term Americana and my preference is for shuffles, not synths. These songs and sounds don’t have to remain lost and ya know, they’re not entirely forgotten. I’m not the only one out there trying to do it this way, although some days it feels as such. Sure, there’s not many of us, but I don’t stand alone. This record has sold more and been streamed more than any of my previous releases up to this point so with that I’ve got no choice but to listen to you, the people as I continue to see the numbers and make the trips to Canada Post to ship off the product and scream and shout about why these men deserve inclusion into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame. I appreciate you listening and supporting Lost Country and maybe it’ll inspire you to do your own digging around that leads you to your new, favourite, “lost” country music singer.

I’m just trying to do my best and so far, Lost Country is that. Thanks for listening.

Sean Burns -
Room 213, Fordson Hotel
Oklahoma City, OK
9:47am. Tuesday, November 14, 2023