“This is Earnest Guitar Roy” Release Party

Celebrate the upcoming release of This is Earnest “Guitar” Roy by partying with the man himself! Earnest “Guitar” Roy will perform at Bluesberry Cafe in Clarksdale, MS (4:30 PM, Saturday April 12) as part of Juke Joint Festival.

About Earnest “Guitar” Roy

Earnest Roy, Jr. was born on September 25th, 1958 in Clarksdale, Mississippi under the watchful eye of his late, great father and guitarist, Earnest Roy, Sr, who worked with Jackie Brinston, Ike Turner, John Lee Hooker, Wade Walton, Raymond Hill and many of the other Clarksdale bluesman. Earnest’s father taught him bass guitar at the early age of five, and when Earnest turned eight, he began playing in his fathers band, “Earnest Roy and the Clarksdale Rockers”, whose members included Big Jack Johnson, C.V. Ville, and Raymond Hill.

At age eleven, Earnest Jr. began playing lead guitar. Earnest Jr. formed his first band, First Choice, at age fourteen. It was at this time that he began playing blues and jazz music that developed into his own style, “Bluejazz”. The national exposure of First Choice led to an offer as a regular performer on Soul Train. At the time, however, the fourteen year old decided to finish high school. At seventeen, Earnest moved to Dayton, Ohio and joined a band called, Black Satin Soul.

In 1989, Jim O’Neal , the president and C.E.O. of Rooster Blues Records signed Earnest “Guitar” Roy to the Rooster Blues label and released a single called “Too Many Women And I Wanna Know What My Little Girl’s Been Doing”. The song was written in a San Diego hotel room while touring and playing backup guitar for the late blues great, Albert King.

From 1993 to 2001, Earnest played for the international televangelist and pastor, Rod Parsley, whose breakthrough ministry aired on 320 nations around the world. In 2001, Earnest “Guitar” Roy returned to his blues roots when he began touring and appearing at blues and jazz festivals with the blues legend, Sam Carr. He became a Music Maker partner artist in spring 2024, and was the first artist to cut an album in the new recording studio at Music Maker Studios in Fountain, NC.