1977 LP North Country Far North Music By ROY DAY Factory sealed in original shrink wrap. Very low production, record id# USR 8558. (Produced by Dwight Finger) A pretty obscure one here... Roy Day was an oil pipeline worker who brought a pile of original material to Arctic Studios, in Anchorage, Alaska, where the producers slapped together a backing band and let the tape roll. There are no producer or musician credits, but the sessions included some jazzy guitar and snare drums, punctuated by accordion, pedal steel, and an all-gal backing chorus, identified only as "the girls" in the sketchy liner notes by Frank Tonnema. Mr. Day wasn't a particularly skillful vocalist, but he had a jaunty, jocular feel which brings early hillbilly-era Ernie Ford to mind, with maybe a hint of Bing Crosby. The plainspoken lyrics are clunky but earnest and authentic -- no slick showbiz stuff here! Some songs like "Pipeline" and "Nine Weeks On" provide a common-man's view of life during in the Alaskan oil boom, including some bitter asides about a system that Day considered to be a rigged against the working stiffs. Apparently he wrote all the material although the arrangements are credited to Jackie Jacobs and Bob Wright.