GUY CLARK

Guy Clark has been writing great American tales — love songs, story songs, funny songs, heartbreak songs, even superior food songs — for 30 years. Known for translating deeply human characters of real life into song, chances are that if you're into honest music of any sort, you've encountered at least some of Clark's repertoire. Born in the little West Texas town of Monahans, his boyhood adventures — and the characters he met in the hotel his grandmother ran in his hometown — inspired many of Clark's songs. But he did not start writing as a professional musician until his early 30s. Many of the songwriter's early years were spent among the Houston folk community, where he became fast friends with Townes Van Zandt and Jerry Jeff Walker, who would greatly influence Clark's career. Walker recorded two Clark songs — "Old Time Feeling" and "L.A. Freeway" — on his self-titled 1972 album. Clark eventually moved to Nashville at just about the same time a frustrated singer-songwriter named Willie Nelson made musical history by leaving Nashville to set up base in Austin. Jerry Jeff Walker, his hitchhiking days behind him, also moved to the Texas capital and the strange and still-influential Outlaw Country movement was born. One of the most important musical monuments of that era was Walker's Viva Terlingua, and the most powerful tune on the album is the Clark-penned "Desperados Waiting For A Train." Even though he was no longer living in Texas, Clark was viewed as royalty in Cosmic Cowboydom.

Clark himself scored a recordng contract with RCA and recorded back-to-back classics, 1975's Old No. 1 and Texas Cookin'. Over the next three decades, many classic records — including the brilliant Dublin Blues — would follow. Over time, Clark has settled into the role of one of America's most revered songwriters. His latest effort, The Dark, was released in 2002 on Sugar Hill Records. We are proud to welcome back Guy Clark for his third Thirsty Ear appearance.