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St. Pete blues guitar legend Roy Book Binder dies
Book Binder was renowned for his “Carolina style” acoustic guitar fingerpicking on blues, old-time country and ragtime songs.
Singer and guitarist Roy Book Binder, a longtime favorite on America’s folk music circuit and a three-decade resident of St. Petersburg, died Tuesday after a long illness. He was 82.
A raconteur and storyteller, Book Binder was renowned for his “Carolina style” acoustic guitar fingerpicking on blues, old-time country and ragtime songs. From the 1960s to the 1990s, he was playing 200 one-nighters every year, touring the country in a tricked-out sleeper van. He was also known for his dry onstage humor.
“You know, I created my life and I live it,” he said in a 2021 Catalyst interview, “instead of the life I was born into. Nobody was actually born into it except Hank Williams Jr., bless his heart.”
Said his longtime friend and fellow road warrior, the Rev. Billy C. Wirtz: “We shared dozens of your favorite old gospel singer, blues singer stories that we don’t tell the general public, and just the general intimacy that comes from two guys that have given their lives to entertain the masses with this music that we both looked at once upon a time and said this is good and it deserves to not be forgotten.
“He had some great stories. I’m proud to say he was impressed at some of mine.”
He was born in Queens, New York as Paul Roy Bookbinder, and served in the United States Navy.
In his 20s he met legendary bluesman Rev. Gary Davis, who became his teacher and friend. He later formed a similarly symbiotic relationship with blues singer and songwriter Pink Anderson.
Along with Tampa blues harmonica player David “Rock Bottom” York and bassist Billy Ochoa, Book Binder released The Hillbilly Blues Cats in 1992. He made more than a dozen albums under his own name.
Book Binder and his second wife, Nancy, had been married since 1999.
In the conversation with the Catalyst, Book Binder said he never actually thought about becoming rich and famous.
“I got out of the Navy in ’65, met Rev. Davis in ’66 and dropped out of junior college to go on the road with him. I dropped my G.I. Bill. The dream was to make $100 a week playing the guitar.
“And like the new wife always says, ‘Well, you’ve done it.’”
Gary Beard
March 6, 2026at4:37 pm
RIP Roy. He was a great guy. I have his book and a shirt folded in the shape of a guitar, which I got at Jorma K’s Fur Peace Ranch when he was there. My favorite song of his to play is “Traveling Man”, but I don’t have it memorized. He sure was a character. Sad, another hero gone. I heard of his passing from a local college radio station. They played a few of his tunes.
Alberto Colomberti
March 5, 2026at4:27 am
I was fortunate to see Roy at a couple of Florida Folk Music Fests in White Springs a few years back. He was a definite link between the mid-20th century bluesmen and our modern times. Sad to hear he is gone.
Ned Pearson
March 5, 2026at10:36 am
Saw Roy at Merlefest a couple of times. He told great stories while playing a combination of Carolina, old style guitar picking, and RagTime. Tremendous loss to the folk, rag and old style music world.