Gordon Joseph Roach

Concerning the years of his earlier life, Gordie himself was our only source of information. Blessed with the gift of the gab and an incredible imagination, Gord spun many often contradictory tales of his past, the details of which could more often than not be described as far-fetched.

This much can be reliably suspected:

Having been orphaned or abandoned, Gordon (whose mother's maiden name was Burke) was re-located from PEI and his early upbringing was at St Joseph’s Orphanage on Quinpool Road in Halifax. In recent years, he described his teenage social set this way: “God, we were punks back in those days, the Fifties.”

Employment during his early adulthood may have included stints as a BC logger, a worker in a Montreal electronics shop, a fisherman on a deep sea trawler in the North Atlantic, a breakfast cook on a Magdalene Islands ferryboat, and as a lineman for Nova Scotia Power. It was on this job he claimed he'd been electrocuted while working on a power line, escaping death only thanks to a snow bank. The incident may have contributed, along with arthritis, to the increasingly gnarled condition of his hands. This disadvantage did not prevent Gord, even in later years, from composing intricately detailed, humorously stylized, colorful "folk art" drawings.

He seems to have begun focusing on his musical aspirations at some point in the 1980s, playing bars around the area. In show posters from that decade, Roach bears a strong resemblance to Hank Williams Jr, whose songs, along with those of Merle Haggard, Lefty Frizzell, Waylon Jennings and Dwight Yoakam, were the kind Gord featured in his all-country repertoire.

Roach had a thing for Western-styled outfits and looked every bit the part of a guitar-slinging outlaw.

The Nineties found Gord helping out his friend Herb at a pawn shop on Gottingen Street and singing open mic nights at the Pub Flamingo, ably accompanied by guitarist Mark MacMillan. In fact, through the years, Gord could be found, looking sharp and anxious to perform, at many an open stage. From the Double Deuce to the Bike Shop, from Birdland to the Tickle Trunk, he plied his punkabilly wares.

Around the year 2000, Gord began frequenting Sunday night open mics at Hell’s Kitchen, where he became increasingly affiliated with then-host Al Tuck. An apartment the two shared briefly on Gottingen Street burned to the ground in 2003. Due to a recent fire previous, all Gord had to lose in the second blaze was one Nudie-style shirt/pant combo.

In subsequent years, Gord would often accompany Al on tours, closing out shows in memorable fashion, turning heads and leaving memories wherever they appeared throughout Eastern Canada. When not on the road, Gord lived at the corner of Gottingen and Buddy Daye in the Metro Non-Profit Housing complex there.

Donations to the fine work of MNPHA are encouraged at this time.

https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/metro-non-profit-housing-association/

Gord’s last days were made easier, thanks in very large part to the vigilance of MNPHA’s Adam Craft. Thanks also to Gord's neighbours and to the staff at the Dartmouth General and Halifax’s Veterans Memorial Hospitals.

Musician Phil Sedore had these words to say about Gordie Roach:

He was a character too rich and unique for even Steinbeck or Faulkner to have created. His presence in our community was a blessing - to have a man of a bygone time walking the streets of our time offering humour, passion, eccentric charm, and an ever present will to carry on. He would have been right at home holding court in Cannery Row or Yoknapatawpha County.

A service will be held Monday Feb 13 at 12 pm at St George's Round Church, 2222 Brunswick St, followed by a reception at at 2pm at Charlie's Club, 5580 Cunard St.