April 22, 1990|By Lynn Van Matre.
When it comes to singer-songwriters, Texas always has produced more than its share, from pop pioneers such as Buddy Holly to latter-day country legends like Willie Nelson. And nobody seems to be sure why-not even Texas singer-songwriters themselves.
Guy Clark, who hails from Monahans, Texas, speculates that it might have something to do with ``the independent approach to life`` that seems to be second nature to Texans, musically gifted and otherwise. Ft. Worth-born Townes Van Zandt theorizes that ``music just seems to come easier`` in the Lone Star State, with ``more little places to play and more people who play on the weekends.``
Concludes Clark, ``It`s just one of those mysteries.``
In recent years, some of the people who started out ``playing on weekends`` and went on to greater glory have included Grammy Award winner Lyle Lovett, Nanci Griffith, Michelle Shocked and Steve Earle, country/folk/rock artists in their 20s and 30s who can be numbered among the current crop of Texas singer-songwriters. None of the new kids can explain why Texas seems to spawn so many good songwriters, either, but there`s no mystery about their musical influences. Nearly all are quick to cite Clark and Van Zandt.
Very talented, fortysomething folk/country tunesmiths, Clark and Van Zandt have yet to hit the commercial bigtime as performers-but both continue to cast Texas-sized shadows as influential cult figures. The longtime friends, along with newcomer Robert Earl Keen Jr., share the bill Saturday at the Old Town School in what amounts to a Texas singer-songwriter mini-festival.
Has the fact that trendy types such as Lovett, Griffith, Shocked and Earle regularly sing their praises in interviews made any difference in Clark or Van Zandt`s careers?
``Well, it`s flattering when it happens,`` says Clark, whose sixth and most recent album, ``Old Friends,`` was released in late 1988 on Sugar Hill, a small North Carolina label. ``I don`t know that it translates to anything, but it`s nice.``
Van Zandt, who is happy when his records sell ``maybe 40,000 copies apiece and pay for themselves,`` notes, ``I think that when you do something for as long as I`ve been doing it, it just gets to the point where you can`t hardly be denied.
``But,`` adds Van Zandt, who jokingly titled one of his in-concert albums ``Live and Obscure,`` in a wry nod to his less-than-superstar status, ``I think that crew of people like Lovett and Griffith have brought a new popularity to the whole deal of being a singer-songwriter, and that helps.``
Clark and Van Zandt first met as performers on the Texas folk club circuit in the mid-1960s and became friends almost immediately. (These days, both live in Nashville with their families, ``because that`s where the music business is.``) Clark, who was working days at the time as the art director of a Houston TV station, had grown up listening to country and western and Mexican music; later, he switched his allegiance to hardcore traditional fare and sought out such Texas blues greats as Lightnin` Hopkins and Mance Lipscomb.
``Being around Mance and Lightnin` was a real education,`` recalls Clark, who started his career playing traditional folk and blues, accompanying himself on acoustic guitar. ``They were unique. You couldn`t really copy what they were doing, and that was the lesson I learned from them-to be yourself, whatever that is.``
Singer-guitarist Van Zandt, who cites Elvis Presley as his earliest musical influence, was writing original material when he and Clark met. ``I liked Townes` literate approach to songwriting,`` says Clark, who was inspired by Van Zandt to begin writing original material himself. Today, songwriting royalties account for the bulk of both artists` incomes.
Clark, whose overriding songwriting philosophy remains ``be yourself, and write about what you know best,`` tends toward story songs fraught with flashes of humor and subtle, reflective truths. He has written about everything from the death of a parent to the value of old friends, and a lot of the songs he has written or co-written have been country hits for other artists.
Clark`s ``Fair Shake`` was a hit for Foster & Lloyd; ``She`s Crazy For Leaving`` was a hit for Rodney Crowell. ``Heartbroke`` was a No. 1 country hit for Ricky Skaggs, and ``Desperados Waiting for a Train`` was popularized by fellow Texas singer-songwriter Jerry Jeff Walker in the 1970s and most recently reprised by Highwaymen Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson and Waylon Jennings.
Other artists who have covered Clark`s songs include George Strait, Tammy Wynette, Steve Wariner, Gary Stewart, Lacy J. Dalton, the Everly Brothers, Bobby Bare, Earl Scruggs, David Allan Coe and Townes Van Zandt.
