On this day (November 6) in 1941, Guy Clark was born in Monahans, Texas. He started writing songs after becoming friends with Townes Van Zandt in the 1960s. Later, he mentored young songwriters and helped shape the Americana genre. While he never found mainstream success, his songs found their way to legends. Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Vince Gill, and Ricky Skaggs are among the many greats who cut Clark’s songs.
When he was young, Clark’s family didn’t own a radio or record player. Instead, they read poetry aloud to each other to pass the time in the evenings. This early exposure to a wide range of poets and poems helped shape his songwriting in the future.
According to PBS, Clark got his first guitar when he was 17. Inspired by his father’s law partner, Lola Bonner, he began learning to play. “She played guitar and sang Mexican songs, Mariachi, and South Texas music. I was just captivated by it,” he recalled. Clark was hooked as soon as he started learning to play. “I was just eaten up with it. I couldn’t let go of it. It was fascinating and mysterious, at the same time.”
Guy Clark spent most of the 1960s in Houston. There, he repaired guitars and became part of the growing folk music scene. He also met and befriended Townes Van Zandt, who inspired him to start writing songs. They encouraged one another and honed their skills together.
Guy Clark Goes to Nashville
Eventually, Clark relocated to the West Coast, hoping to get into the Los Angeles music scene. He signed a publishing deal with Sunbury Music but soon grew tired of life in California. According to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, he transferred to the company’s Nashville office in 1971. Soon, his home was a gathering place for up-and-coming, like-minded songwriters. Notable figures, including Van Zandt, Mickey Newbury, Rodney Crowell, and Steve Earle, regularly came to share songs and good times.
Clark also served as a mentor to younger songwriters. Together, they helped create the alternative to Nashville’s version of radio-ready country music. Today, we call it Americana. While the music was there, it likely wouldn’t have come together as it did without the guidance Clark offered and the community he fostered.
Clark’s Timeless Songs
Lyle Lovett summed up Guy Clark’s songwriting style in an interview with Acoustic Guitar in 2012. “It was Guy Clark’s songs from Old No. 1 that made me think, this is literature, this is the stuff we’re reading in English class in high school. This is narrative, and it’s imagery,” he said. “You were able to live inside Guy’s songs like you were able to live inside a novel. Guy Clark showed me what a song could be.”
[RELATED: 4 Covers of Guy Clark Songs That Rival the Originals]
That’s why so many greats covered his songs. Some of them became hits and others should have been. The list below contains a few glowing examples.
- “She’s Crazy for Leavin’”–Rodney Crowell (No. 1)
- “Stuff that Works”– Jack Ingram
- “Texas 1947”–Robert Earl Keen
- “The Carpenter”–John Conlee (No. 6)
- “The Last Gunfighter Ballad”–Johnny Cash
- “L.A. Freeway”–Jerry Jeff Walker
- “Heartbroke”–Ricky Skaggs
- “Desperados Waiting for a Train”–The Highwaymen
- “Anyhow I Love You”–Lyle Lovett
- “Oklahoma Borderline”–Vince Gill
Featured Image by Ebet Roberts/Redferns
The post Born 85 Years Ago Today in the Lone Star State, the “King of Texas Troubadours” Whose Songs Were Recorded by Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, and Vince Gill appeared first on American Songwriter.