Guy Clark
"This One's for Him: A Tribute to Guy Clark," Various Artists (Music Road Records)
Guy Clark is what you call a songwriter's songwriter. If he'd only written "Desperados Waiting on a Train" and "L.A. Freeway," he'd probably still be a legend, but his catalog of great songs is vast.
He's beloved by fellow artists for artistic and personal reasons. When he and his wife, Susanna Clark, moved to Nashville in the 1970s, their home became a destination for fellow artists who struggling to create real art and still make a living.
Clark became a master of that combination.
Ricky Skaggs, Rodney Crowell, Steve Wariner and John Conlee all had country hits with Clark's songs. And, his songs have been the highlights of albums by The Highwaymen, Brad Paisley and Kenny Chesney and scores of other artists. All the while, Clark retained his distinctiveness and credibility.
More than 30 artists deliver renditions of Clark songs on the sweet new two-disc collection "This One's for Him: A Tribute to Guy Clark."
A lot of tribute albums seem crazy quilts — disparate artists with sometimes ill-thought-out performances of songs by an artist they've never met.
This collection is not that. It sounds like every artist knows and loves the guy who wrote the songs that are being sung. Not only that, but these songs were all recorded specifically for the project, live in the studio, with most of the same instrumentalists on every track.
It helps keep the focus on the songs themselves.
Combine great artists, including Lyle Lovett, James McMurtry, Joe Ely, Willie Neson , Rodney Crowell, Robert Earl Keen and Kris Kristofferson, and you have quite a package.
Among the particular treats, John Prine and Emmylou Harris pair up for the beautiful "Magnolia Wind" and Vince Gill handles the recitation "Randall Knife," one of best pieces about the father and son ever written.
Ron Sexsmith and Patty Griffin perform "Broken Hearted People" and "The Cape," respectively, and make it sound like they wrote them.
Jerry Jeff Walker (who gave Clark his first early boost by popularizing "L.A. Freeway") does a sweet rendition of Clark's 2011 song "My Favorite Picture of You."
Lesser-known artists, including Terri Hendrix (a great performance of "The Dark") and the Trishas ("She Ain't Goin' Nowhere"), also shine.
While there are a few lighweight trifles in Clark's catalog ("Baby Took a Limo to Memphis," "Worry B Gone" among them), Clark's songs generally carry the kind of weight that sinks into your soul.
He'd probably call it craft. More often it seems like magic.
© 2012, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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