Guy Clark has died

[robert kramer]

Texas singer songwriter - Guy Clark has died at 74 in Nashville, TN.

[Mike Brown]

I've enjoyed his work for years.

[Russell Nugent]

Great songwriter and story teller. I should go and buy a Randall knife.

[Joe Ribaudo]

Saw him a few years back on that songwriter tour with Lyle Lovett, John Haitt and Joe Ely. His ramblings were the surprise highlight for me.

[Fred Martin]

If we cant find a good Randall knife we can fry some green tomatoes, put a penny on a track or go down to the pawn shop and buy an old guitar. Great storys set to music.

[Mark Eaton]

Guy was building (or maybe assembling?) Dobros for a time in the '70s before he managed to "just get off of this L.A. freeway" (well - OMI Dobro was in Huntington Beach in Orange County, but close enough).

Plus he built some beautiful flattops pver the years that he played on stage and others he would give away to friends, he apparently never wanted to make a business out of it.

Some of my favorite sets over the years at San Francisco's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in Golden Gate Park have been the Songwriters Circle held at the Rooster Stage. Guy was one of the regulars, and indeed sort of the master of ceremonies for those sets. There would be four or five singer/songwriters seated on stools with an acoustic guitar taking turns contributing their songs. One of my favorite moments one year was Guy and Rodney Crowell singing a great song they wrote together, Stuff That Works.

On stage he always seemed to have a a lit cigarette going, one after the other. I hated to see that. His wife Susanna died of lung cancer in 2012.

And I've been saying this for decades - some of our greatest songwriters sprouted up in Texas. There must be something in the water.

[Glenn Suchan]

If we cant find a good Randall knife we can fry some green tomatoes, put a penny on a track or go down to the pawn shop and buy an old guitar. Great storys set to music.

I'm sure he's "trusted his cape" and has flown to heaven to be with his soul mates, Susanne and Townes.

Part of the reason I moved to Texas 36 years ago was Guy. Like Mark has said, I figured there must be something' in the water (Guy, Townes, Lefty....)

I've had the good fortune to have seen him play in the intimate confines of the Cactus Cafe, on the University of Texas campus and at the old Alamo Hotel (long gone) on E. 6th street, in Austin. Twelve years ago, I played on the same show (not in his band) with Guy, in Steamboat, Colorado, at a Guy Clark Tribute.

Guy had said that his favorite song is "She Ain't Goin' Nowhere:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nHnEK2ECMM

RIP, Guy

Glenn

[Craig Stock]

Hey Joey,

We must have been at the same show.

I posted in the music section about Guy, he was a great artist and will miss him.

[Michael Johnstone]

I met him in the early 70s when he was just another good but struggling songwriter among others. In 1973 I was moving from Norfolk Virginia to Los Angeles and on the drive I stopped in Nashville for a few days to see some musician friends and one of them introduced me to Guy Clark. He was living in a big rented house with just about zero furniture but he offered me a place on his floor to crash for 3 days till I got back on the road. I remember playing a lot of flat top guitar with him and drinking a lot of coffee. I got to know him well enough to say hi whenever we crossed paths for years after that. I kinda lost touch with him in the mid 90s for various reasons but remember him as a unique character,very intelligent and had a musical voice all his own. I still have his first album on vinyl which I came across just the other day. Sad to see him go. Everybody's dyin. What's up with that?

[Nick Reed]

loved that song called "Homegrown Tomatoes"


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-QzLIjL1u4



. . . .

[Don R Brown]

Saw him maybe 6 years ago in a dinky town in NY, with Slaid Cleaves opening for him. Both of them put on an excellent show, altho we got the distinct impression Guy was not feeling 100% at the time. The man was well worth the price, sorry to hear he is gone.

[Mark van Allen]

Another true American icon, and a warm and FUN cat. I will never forget him jamming with us at the Suwannee MagFest, and clambering onto our band bus at 4 A.M., bottle in hand, bellowing "Awright, ladies, time to rise and shine! There's partying to be done here!" I could only try to keep up with him.

[Earl Hensley]

I recorded his song " LA FREEWAY "back in the 70s.
RIP Guy, you will be missed.