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Phil Roy
Appearing on the Acoustic stage
at 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM on Sunday July 24th, 2005
Acclaimed singer/songwriter Phil Roy will perform songs from his warm and emotive album 'Issues + Options', - which the Boston Globe's Steve Morse hailed as "one of the year's bright spots" Though 'Issues + Options' is his first national release, Roy is a veteran artist who spent years as a successful staff songwriter for several major music publishers. But about three years ago, he says, something changed. "Suddenly it occurred to me that I was making music for everyone but myself. Making my own albums gives me a sense of renewal, as if, creatively, I\'m being reborn." Like his recordings, a Phil Roy concert is akin to a intimate chat with the artist. As he is wont to explain between songs, the new album draws it's title from the fact that "everyone's got issues, and everyone's got options." Over warm and inviting instrumental arrangements that alternately evoke Tom Waits' stark whisper, Bill Withers' soulful, less-is-more delivery, and the jazz-inspired arrangements of 'Astral Weeks'-era Van Morrison, Roy's songs confront an array of issues - from the struggle to keep the faith in an unfullfilling situation, to the joy of his artistic rebirth - but they can all be traced back to the fundamental choices that his album titled 'Issues + Options' suggests.