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| Old friends, Guy Clark & Steve Earle. |
It is Saturday and I have been having a Steve Earle, Guy
Clark kind of a morning. I’m Listening to Steve’s tribute album to the late
Guy Clark which is simply called Guy. Every song on the album is written
by Guy, so I have been listening to his original versions on youtube as well
because I don’t have any Guy Clark albums at the moment. I thought I had a
compilation cd somewhere that a friend made me but when I dug it out it turned
out to be Gene Clark who is someone entirely different. I have discovered some
great things on youtube that I wasn’t aware of, such as an amazing documentary
film from 1976 called Heartworn Highways. It features Steve and Guy and Townes
Van Zandt & Rodney Crowell. They all look like kids, I didn’t
recognise Steve at first. (See the photo
below)
Steve and Guy have a lot in common. Guy was born in
Monahans, Texas in 1941 and the family moved to Rockport Texas in 1954. Steve
was brought up in San Antonio, Texas. Guy married his wife Susanna in 1972 and
Townes Van Zandt was best man at their wedding. Steve Earle ran away from home
at the age of fourteen because he wanted to meet Townes who was his hero. The
album is a collection of Steve’s favourite sixteen songs written by Guy. In the
sleeve notes he says that one of his biggest regrets is that he and Guy never
wrote a song together.
However, Steve did sing backing vocals on Guy’s first album
in 1975 called Old No 1 and several songs from that album are included
here, such as Rita Ballou, L.A Freeway, She Ain’t Going Nowhere, Texas 1947,
That Old Time Feeling and Desperados Waiting For A Train. That last
song after hearing it twice is one of my favourite songs on this album. It is a
classic. Apparently, it was inspired by Guy’s grandmother’s boyfriend. I looked
it up and it has been covered by many people. I should have heard it before. There
are also songs from Guy’s second album Texas Cooking such as Anyhow I
Love You, Ballad Of Laverne & Captain Flint and The Last Gunfighter
Ballad. These songs make you realise what a great storyteller Guy Clark
was.
I won’t mention every song on the album but one song I
immediately loved on first hearing it is The Randall Knife which Guy
recorded in 1983. It is a brilliant emotional song inspired by his father.
Another song that I think is great is Old Friends which features the
wonderful Emmylou Harris who actually sang on the original version. It’s
nice to see Rodney Crowell on this album as well. I saw Rodney & Emmylou in
concert in Bristol a few years ago which was a great evening. I bought their
album The Travelling Kind. I must play that in a minute, I haven’t heard
it for ages. I also saw Steve Earle & The Dukes at the same venue. I should
mention that this album Guy is actually by Steve Earle & The
Dukes because the Dukes make a great contribution.
Listening to this album inspired me to see what else is
available and I discovered that there is an album called Live At The
Bluebird Café from 1995 by Steve Earle, Guy Clark and Townes Van
Zandt. I have just ordered myself a copy. I’ll let you know what I think
when it arrives. Steve made an album previously called Townes and he
said he wouldn’t be able to face Guy in the afterlife if he didn’t make an
album of his songs as well. After listening to the result this morning, I think
Guy Clark would be very pleased with the way Steve has treated his songs.
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| Steve & Guy. |
