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by: Scott Barretta
Songwriter Guy Clark turned 70 last month, and his legacy is celebrated on the new double CD This One’s For Him: A Tribute to Guy Clark (Music Road Records). Among the 30-plus contributors are fellow country elders Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson and artists mentored by Clark including Steve Earle and Rodney Crowell, who opens the album with That Old Time Feeling.
A native of West Texas, Clark cut his teeth in the Texas folk scene of the ’60s, where compatriots included Jerry Jeff Walker, who closes the album with Clark’s new composition My Favorite Picture of You. Walker later helped introduce Clark to a larger audience through his early ’70s versions of L.A. Freeway, covered here by Radney Foster, and Desperadoes Waiting on a Train, which is revisited by Nelson.
In 1971 Clark settled in Nashville, and he and his wife Susanna’s home became the center of a new generation of songwriters. Those included Earle, who gives a solo performance of The Last Gunfighter Ballad, and the late Townes Van Zandt, whose son John Townes Van Zandt II tackles Let Him Roll, a tragic story about a wino’s lost love.
The latter first appeared on Clark’s 1975 debut album Old No. 1, which also featured Texas 1947, a recollection about the first diesel locomotive performed by Robert Earl Keen, and the poignant one-night stand tale Instant Coffee Blues, sung by Suzy Boggus.
Other female artists include Emmylou Harris, whose duet with John Prine on Magnolia Wind is one of the set’s highlights.
Fellow Texan James McMurtry takes on Cold Dog Soup, a Dylanesque ode to a joint populated by characters including Jack Kerouac and Tom Waits.
Other Lone State contributors include Lyle Lovett (Anyhow I Love You) and Joe Ely (Dublin Blues).
An accompanying booklet includes the lyrics to all the songs, further highlighting the poetic quality of Clark’s labors.
Scott Barretta is an Oxford-based writer and music critic. He is host of the Highway 61 blues radio show on MPB on Saturday nights. He blogs about the blues at:
www.highway61radio.com.