In the late 50s Roy gave up singing for a time and concentrated on song writing. He married Claudette and they had 2 sons. However they were not very well off but Roy had always been ambivalent about performing. He loved music - particularly country, rock and roll and rockabilly...but he suffered badly from stage fright and was shy about his unusual looks and his wearing thick glasses. He liked performing in some ways but did not like the PR aspects of the music business.
In the beginning of the 1960s though he began to experiment with singing styles and found that his voice which had a large range, was well suited to the new Nashville Sound. This involved giving a smoother more melodice sound to country music which had been initially simple, using instruments that were easy to play, such as guitar, or fiddle... and songs that were easy for anyone to sing. The Nashville sound was more "musical", using string instruments, and having trained and talented backing singers. In time the Nashville sound went out of fashion as it began to seem too soft and over produced and tamed the energy and earthy nature of earlier country music. Yet at its inception it was new and interesting. Roy's voice was well suited to heartbreak songs and he was an excellent singer. He went back to performing....and did very well in the US and also in the UK.
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