ABBA

He moved around a lot in the 1960s until winding up in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1971. In 1972, Jerry Jeff Walker recorded “L.A. Freeway”, a song inspired by Clark’s brief time in Los Angeles. Then Walker included “Desperados Waiting for a Train” on his live set, Viva! Terlingua, in 1973. In 1975, Clark covered both songs on his debut album, Old No. 1. Emmylou Harris duetted with him on “Desperados Waiting for a Train”. The album went to #41 on the country chart. Its follow-up, Texas Cookin’, reached #48.

Johnny Cash recorded a couple of his songs, “The Last Gunfighter Ballad” and “Texas 1947”, which enjoyed chart success in 1975. In 1978, Guy Clark released a self-titled album. One of the songs from the album, “Fools for Each Other”, reached a modest #96 on the country singles chart. “The Partner Nobody Chose”, from 1981’s The South Coast of Texas, fared better, reaching #38. Bobby Bare had a top-twenty hit with “New Cut Road” and Ricky Skaggs had a #1 hit with “Heartbroke” in 1982.

In 1983, Clark released Better Days, which peaked at #48 on the country album chart. It yielded a #42 hit in “Homegrown Tomatoes”. Other artists continued to have success recording Clark’s compositions. In 1985, Vince Gill cracked the top ten with his rendition of “Oklahoma Borderline” and The Highwaymen, which comprised Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson, recorded “Desperados Waiting for a Train”. A couple of years later, John Conlee built on his own success with “The Carpenter”, which labored its way into the top ten.

In 1988, Clark released Old Friends, Asleep at the Wheel recorded “Blowin’ Like a Bandit” and Steve Wariner took “Baby I’m Yours” into the top five. Rodney Crowell topped the charts with a song he co-wrote with Clark, “She’s Crazy for Leavin’”, in 1989. Clark released a string of albums in the ‘90s, including Boats to Build, Cold Dog Soup, Dublin Blues, The Essential Guy Clark, Keepers and Together at the Bluebird Café, a live set with Steve Earle and Townes Van Zandt that was not released until 2001. The Dark reached #46 in 2002.

In 2004, Clark was enshrined in the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. The Americana Music Association bestowed their Lifetime Achievement Award upon him in 2005. In 2006, he was named Artist-in-Residence by The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Workbench Songs, released the same year, reached #74 on the country chart and received a Grammy Award nomination in the category of Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album.

In 2007, Clark toured with Joe Ely, John Hiatt and Lyle Lovett, and released three albums: Americana Master Series: The Best of the Sugar Hill Years, Hindsight 21-20: Anthology 1975-1985 and Live from Austin, TX. The Platinum Collection hit the shelves in 2008.

On 16^th May 2008, Clark broke his leg and had to cancel a series of concerts. He spent two months walking with crutches, but was back on stage by the Fourth of July in Washington, D.C. at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. On the 16^th of August, he was a featured artist at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. Two months later he was on Austin City Limits on PBS with aforementioned songwriters Ely, Hiatt and Lovett. On 21^st February 2009, he was back on TV on PBS’s Legends and Lyrics.

Ricky Skaggs recordings

Heartbroke (Guy Clark)

Sources: