Guy Clark

Did You Know?

• Clark had one son, Travis Carroll Clark, from his first marriage to folksinger Susan Spaw.
• He was married to songwriter and artist Susanna Clark from 1972 until her death from cancer on June 27, 2012.
• Clark died in Nashville following a lengthy battle with lymphoma at age 74.

Career

Guy Clark came into the world in Monahans, Texas, and his family relocated to Rockport, Texas in 1954. After finishing high school in 1960, he lived in Houston for close to ten years, taking part in the city's folk music revival. He and his wife, Susanna Talley Clark, eventually made their home in Nashville, where he played a key role in shaping the Americana genre. His career took off with the songs "L.A. Freeway" and "Desperados Waiting for a Train," which were later recorded by artists like Steve Earle, Jerry Jeff Walker, Nanci Griffith, and Brian Jones.

In its obituary, the New York Times called him "a king of the Texas troubadours" and said his work was "as indelible as that of anyone working in the Americana idiom in the last decades of the 20th century." Clark served as a mentor to singers such as Noel McKay, Steve Earle, and Rodney Crowell, and he helped Earle land his first songwriting job in Nashville. During the 1970s, the Clarks' Nashville home was always open to songwriters and musicians, and it appears in the film Heartworn Highways, which captures the city's songwriter scene at the time.

Many performers found chart success with Clark's songs. Johnny Cash used "The Last Gunfighter Ballad" as the title track for his 1977 album. In 1982, Bobby Bare reached the Country Top 20 with "New Cut Road," and that same year Ricky Skaggs hit number one with "Heartbroke," a song that cemented Clark's reputation as a clever songwriter. Vince Gill took "Oklahoma Borderline" into the Top 10 in 1985, and The Highwaymen introduced "Desperados Waiting for a Train" to a fresh audience that year.

John Conlee's version of "The Carpenter" climbed to the Top 10 in 1987, and John Denver recorded "Homegrown Tomatoes" in 1988. Clark is often called the Fifth Highwayman.