Traveling troubadour 'picks' Saratoga

Danny Roy Perniciaro was 13 when he got his first guitar for Christmas. That instrument set him on a path that would lead the Bay St. Louis, Miss. native on a 46-year journey around the country.

Nine years later, the 22-year old would set off on the road with his 4-person band, Seabreeze.

In 1972 Seabreeze contracted with the Holiday Inn hotel chain and the band was off on a 10-year ride to places like Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Florida and South Carolina.

In the meantime, Perniciaro would head to Nashville, Tenn. in the early summer to regularly to attend the International Country Music Fan Fair.

It was at the Fan Fair Perniciaro would meet famous and soon-to-be-famous country musicians. Perniciaro recalls meeting a young Garth Brooks in 1989, saying in his characteristic southern drawl, "I couldn't remember his name. I had to keep asking because I'd never heard a name like Garth before."

The musician likes to tell of playing Del Rio, Texas during the filming of Lonesome Dove. Perniciaro said he was playing at the Ramada Inn there when Robert Duval walked in and, after a time, came up on stage and joined in on a song or two. Later the actor gave Perniciaro a signed napkin inviting him out to the filming. Of course Perniciaro showed up to the filming where he said he met several other stars while enjoying the filming.

Later, Perniciaro would shorten his stage name to Danny Roy and it was during this period that Roy recorded his three albums; Perfect Combination, Me and My Restless Soul and Blame Me. Though Roy is a talented musician, he used a studio band to record the songs he wrote and sang.

Eventually the female member of Seabreeze got sick and quit. The band's drummer also left shortly after that. Roy and the remaining band member, Benny Silvestri, continued to play and got booked to play at the Golden Spike in Rawlins in the late 70s. While playing there, Roy's manager worked out a deal with the owner of the Mangy Moose in Riverside for the duo to play during the Woodchopper's Jamboree.

Roy then found his summer home for the last 25 or so years ... the Rustic Bar in Saratoga.

In 2000, partner Benny decided to quit. Since that time Roy has played solo. Using a Music Instrument Digital Interface or MIDI, Roy can be found playing the guitar, mandolin or fiddle while he sings country and rock favorites.

Roy now has four stops set into his yearly schedule. He plays in Hobbs, N.M. at the Hobbs Family Inn, in El Paso at Billy Crew's Steakhouse, in Anaconda, Mont. at the Fairmont Hot Springs Resort. Roy plays at those three spots several times in a year. When he plays in Saratoga he makes one stop, but that stop is three months long-playing at the Rustic from June into September.

Saratoga has become the traveling troubadour's favorite place to play saying simply, "I like it here."

During his travels around the country Roy has managed to fulfill his other passion: antiques. When he can fit objects into his musical equipment-laden van, Roy likes to buy Victrola phonographs and jukeboxes. The pride of his extensive collection is a '46 Wurlitzer 1100 which he had refurbished. In describing the player you can see and hear the passion he has for the jukebox, "It only plays one side of a 78 (record) and it was a nickel a song and five songs for a quarter"

Roy has also managed to amass over 60 guitars, a dozen fiddles and four to five mandolins over the years. A word of caution: If you get him started talking about his guitar collection, you might be there for awhile-though the stories are interesting.

Danny Roy can be found playing Tuesday through Saturday holding his 25-year spot at the Rustic Bar.