Four chords and five courses

Phil Roy mixes music, dining with success

By PHIL GALLO

Great ideas born out of desperation sometimes do pay off.

The winner this time is Phil Roy, a Philadelphia singer-songwriter whose 25 years in the music biz have been filled with not-quite-filled promises by major labels in L.A., enough song placements to keep the lights on, and an uncorrupted sense of artistic control.

In late 2005, Roy was in a state of a dual separation: Divorce was final with a label and pending with a wife; he needed a way to pay rent without hitting the road yet again.

He visited a musical instruments shop downstairs to inquire about performing there. He figured he could get 20 people in the store, tops, which led to a plan: Cook dinner for his aud before the perf, move downstairs for the show and back up for dessert. Ticket price: $100.

"I was angry," says Roy, whose spent the '80s and '90s in L.A. and whose apartment was a communal dining room for the artists who lived near him. "I thought why not try it, sent out an email and within 48 hours every seat was taken."

It caught on -- 14 people at a time. He was able to bring in an audience without touring and began work on an album. Now, Universal Music's Decca will release "The Great Longing" on May 20. And Roy began his first foray into cooking and concertizing outside Philly earlier this month.

"I'm as serious about my cooking as I am about making a record. It's an art form. It's two separate skills but I find they have a lot in common. I'm curing salmon for three days, turning it every 12 hours, braising for days. If someone is spending $100, I feel obliged to give them something as special as I can."

His "Moving the House" tour includes stops this month in Tampa, Fla., and San Francisco. CD release parties will be held May 19 at L.A.'s Hotel Café, in Ambler, Pa., on June 14 and June 24 at Joe's Pub in New York.  He will also appear July 25 at Gotham's Rubin Museum of Art.