In the late 1970s, Gary Dyer was serving in the U.S. Navy as a surface sonar technician.
At just about the same time, Tom Roddey was deep under the Pacific Ocean serving the Navy as a “sonar guy playing I spy for the U.S. Government,” he said.
Both were working hard during those Cold War years to keep America safe and to serve the citizens of this country with pride.
But in the back of their minds, they were thinking about music.
And it took more than 35 years for them to find each other and form their duo, Tom & Gary.
“I learned to play (the guitar) 400 feet underwater on a torpedo sub,” Roddey likes to say. “I brought a guitar on the sub and I taught myself to play.”
Roddey said his first guitar was a very cheap one and “exploded.” After that, while on shore leave in Guam, he purchased a better one.
In all, since then he’s had 11 different guitars, seven “Georges,” and four “Gracies.”
“I name the acoustic ones George and the electric ones Gracie,” Roddey said. “Right now I just have a couple. I’ve either given the others away or worn them out.”
Roddey served in the Navy from 1976 to 1996. He served on the East Coast and then in San Diego and finally in Washington state at Naval Base Kitsap Bangor.
He now works at Bangor Keyport as a security clerk. And his music is a hobby of sorts.
Dyer decided to enlist in the Navy in 1976 and served until 1982. He had been attending college at the University of Arizona and was a music education major.
He had a background in classical music and had been a part of the Tucson Youth Symphony playing the bass. He then played with the University of Arizona Symphonic Orchestra. But a calling to the Navy was prompted after school got to be party time.
He tested to be on a submarine, but after five weeks, he decided it wasn’t for him. So he took shore duty as a sonar technician. After the Navy, he worked as a electronics technician in a federal Civil Service job at Madigan Army Medical Center.
Throughout the years, both Roddey and Dyer enjoyed their music, singing to family and friends any playing in everything from garage bands to bands that performed in casinos and clubs.
Roddey said he needed an outlet for his music so he went to an open mic night.
“Some of the best musicians in this area were there,” he said. “I learned from them.”
At the same time he was married and starting a family and buying a house. He met a neighbor who played banjo and that man invited him to play with his bluegrass band.
“We played at the grand opening of the original, original, original Clearwater Casino,” he said. “It was under a big tent.”
From there Roddey played on ships for the Carnival Cruise line and traveled to Mexico and the Caribbean.
“I was gone six months at a time,” he said. “And after awhile, that wasn’t so good for the family.”
He came home and put his guitar away. He didn’t touch it for two years. In that time, his mother and his sister died during the same week. It was then that Roddey got his guitar out of the closet and began playing.
Through friends he was asked to audition for a band called the “Geezers.”
“They said, ‘Get clown hair and a nose, you’re hired!,” Roddey recalled.
Dyer was the base guitar player in that band. He’s been playing music ever since he got out of the Navy and ended up with the Geezers after being in a 1990s band called the Pumphouse Blues Band that played at places such as the Thurston County Fair, the Chehalis and the McCleary jazz festivals.
In the early 2000s, he played with Billy Farmer and the Ramblers, and Goldie McJohn and Friends before ending up with the Geezers.
Roddey, Dyer and other members of the band played clubs on the Kitsap Peninsula. Patrons convinced them that they needed to change names and they did. The band became Shadow of Oz.
“It fit because we we’re playing around Kitsap, in the shadow of Seattle which is the Emerald City,” Roddey said.
After a bit, the two decided to strike out as a duo because they were more interested in playing music and not partying, as were other members of the band, they said.
Now as a duo, they play as Tom & Gary and do both acoustic music and some sets with pre-recorded background band music.
Following his retirement from the Navy, Roddey attended the Seattle Art Institute learning video and audio techniques including music instrument digital interfacing. He used that to create background music when he played on the cruise line.
Roddey’s talents at creating studio background tracks come in handy now, although they prefer to play acoustic music. They play at places in Bremerton and on Bainbridge Island. They also play at American Legion and Eagles clubs.
Their music includes Simon & Garfunkel songs, Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison tunes and folk songs from the 1960s.
“We love to play,” Roddey said. “We like to play at family-friendly places.”
They will take requests, he said, but “we don’t do crooners.”
Both of them have been able to keep their interests in music up, work full time and spend time with their families. Dryer has two grown sons, one who lives in the area and sometimes acts as a roadie for him. His wife died a year ago from bone cancer.
“The music and my friends – they kept me sane through all of that,” he said.
Roddey has been married to his wife, Dona, for 35 years, has two daughters and 10 grandchildren, all who love to hear him play “Puff the Magic Dragon.”
The band have a loyal following.
“Our fans tell us that they come for the beautiful harmony we make,” Roddey said. “That gives us such a good feeling.”
At a recent gig at Pegasus in downtown Winslow, they played some Arlo Guthrie, Paul McCartney, John Denver and Simon & Garfunkel.
About 20 patrons listened as they drank coffee. After each song, they clapped enthusiastically.
Looking back on their Navy careers, they are both glad that they served.
“It gave me an excellent trade,” Dyer said. “It served me well.”
Roddey agreed.
“Not many people can say they’ve played the guitar 400 feet below the surface,” he said. “If it wasn’t for spending 90 days at a time under water, I might never have learned to play music.
“The importance of that is that music has given me so much. It’s the serenity of music that’s important. To play for people and to have them tell you they enjoy it – it’s the greatest thing ever.”
Find out more at reverbnation.com/tomgary, or on Facebook at TomandGary.