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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. |
2 comments:
I am a huge Guy Clark fan. I had his first two albums on 8Track tape back in the late 1970s (since replaced by the CD "Essential Guy Clark" which except for three songs from the second album "Texas Cookin'" is the complete first two albums on CD (plus a single unreleased song that was given to Townes van Zandt for one of his albums). I also have his last CD "My Favorite Pictures of You" and a host of bootleg recordings. I knew of Guy Clark before the release of his first recordings as the songwriter who provided "LA Freeway" and "Desperadoes Waiting for a Train" for Jerry Jeff Walker to record. I am also a huge Steve Earle fan having a couple of the early albums on vinyl, a couple of middle era albums on cassette and the last ten or twelve albums on CD. I haven't purchased "Guy" yet. I am somewhat torn. I heard Steve do "Dublin Blues" on some TV show. I was a bit disappointed because I prefer Guy Clark's version.
I went to see Steve Earle and the Dukes in June (who I've seen ten times over the years). He opened the show with "Dublin Blues" and my reaction was meh. He followed with three more Guy Clark songs and I was enjoying the show but not blown away. Then came "Desperadoes Waiting for a Train." At least for me that is when the show came together. (Admittedly being familiar with all the Guy Clark versions of his songs made me a tough sell.) Steve then did eight of his own songs before playing another five Guy Clark songs. He played seven more of his own songs and then came back for his encore playing a couple of Springsteen songs ("Racing in the Street" and "Pink Cadillac" with his own "Sweet Little '66" in between). Then he closed the show with Guy's "Old Friends."
I still can't decide whether I need Steve's versions. I bought Steve's "Townes" CD and enjoyed Steve solo doing pretty much a Townes show in a relatively small listening room. I am also a fan of Townes and Townes' versions of his songs but I am not as much wedded to them as I am to Guy's versions of his own songs. Maybe this is because I was a Guy fan before I was a Steve fan. Maybe the reason things clicked for me at the Steve show with "Desperadoes Waiting for a Train" was because the song was a favorite of mine from Jerry Jeff Walker's "Viva Terlingua" album before I ever heard Guy do it. I think it is great that more people are being opened to the experience of enjoying Guy Clark's music because of Steve Earle giving the songs new exposure.
Jim
Thanks a lot for taking the time to read my post and replying in such detailed fashion. I discovered Steve Earle a few years ago and I was already a fan of Emmylou Harris and this has led me on to Rodney Crowell & Guy Clark and I think I need to check out Townes Van Zandt as well.I did see Steve Earle's son Justin Townes Earle at Glastonbury 2 years ago. He was really good. So much music to discover ! Thanks a lot for your feedback.
Cheers, Pat.
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