A
poet's poet and a raconteur, Guy Clark filled his country-folk songs
with eternal truths that made him one of the most respected
singer-songwriters of his generation.
The Texas native died Tuesday in Nashville after a long illness, according to a statement from his publicist. He was 74.
Although
he never found widespread fame, Clark recorded albums for almost 40
years, wrote hit songs for other artists and was revered by the
Nashville music community for his songcraft and generosity of spirit.
His best-known songs, such as "L.A. Freeway" and "Desperados Waiting
For A Train," were evocative tales of ramblers and dreamers, inspired by
his own life.
Clark's songs were
recorded by a who's who of country and Americana music, including Johnny
Cash, Ricky Skaggs, Emmylou Harris, Brad Paisley, Alan Jackson, George
Strait, Jimmy Buffett, Kenny Chesney and many others.
Guy Clark performs at the Paradiso in 1992 in Amsterdam,
"Oh
Lord, just heard Guy Clark passed away. He was a huge influence on me,
and an amazing writer. God bless his soul. What a life," Paisley said on
Twitter.
"Travel
safe, old friend. I would not be the songwriter I am if I hadn't sat at
your table and learned from a master," added singer Roseanne Cash, also
on Twitter.
Born in the dusty west Texas town of
Monahans on November 6, 1941, Clark flirted with college and the Peace
Corps before opening a guitar-repair shop in Houston. He spent his spare
time playing coffee shops and nightclubs, where he joined a bluegrass
band and befriended such fellow songwriters as Townes Van Zandt and
Jerry Jeff Walker.
As a young man,
he moved to Los Angeles, seeking fame and fortune. But he didn't stay
long, moving with his wife Susanna to Nashville in 1971. After he left
California, he wrote the song "L.A. Freeway" -- later recorded by many
other artists -- which included the line, "If I can just get off of this
L.A. freeway without getting killed or caught."
He
later said it took him years after O.J. Simpson's famous slow-speed
Bronco chase before he could sing that line without breaking into
laughter.
Clark released his debut
album, "Old No. 1," for RCA Records in 1975 and scored a No. 1 country
hit in 1982 with Ricky Skaggs's take on "Heartbroke." He recorded 13
albums and toured consistently over the next three decades, sometimes
with such fellow artists as Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt.
"It's what I enjoy," he once said of songwriting.
"It gets harder, all the time. It doesn't fall out of the sky, you
know. But I have joy doing the work, I enjoy the creative process. I
write and build guitars in the same space, and I find that one is right
brain and one is left brain, and they kind of feed off of one another.
But, I don't know. It's just a way to while away the time until you
die."
Despite a gruff demeanor,
Clark was considered one of country music's nicest men. He enjoyed
helping young musicians and was perpetually looking for artists who
might record a song written by one of his friends.
Clark
was unpretentious in the extreme -- a blue jeans type of guy -- with
down-home values summed up in songs like, "Stuff That Works," with its
opening line: "I got an old blue shirt and it suits me just fine / I
like the way it feels so I wear it all the time."
Clark
won his first and only Grammy late in life in 2014, for a folk album
called "My Favorite Picture of You." The album title referred to a
snapshot of his wife, Susanna, who had died two years earlier.
