Guy Clark To Play Galveston's Old Quarter In May

Houston boys gone to Viet Nashville

Guy Clark, the quintessential Texas singer-songwriter, has just announced a one-off gig at Galveston's historic Old Quarter Acoustic Café for May 15.

According to club owner Wrecks Bell, he had been negotiating to get Clark to Galveston for some time, but just nailed down the date in the past 48 hours.

"I posted the gig info yesterday and we're already ¾ sold out," writes Bell. "Guy is a bigger star than ever right now it seems."

Clark, who was stricken with lymphoma some years back and suffered a broken leg in a household accident four years ago, cancelled a recent gig in Santa Fe, N.M., where he was slated to do a song swap with Ray Wylie Hubbard and Hayes Carll. That caused fans to worry that the 71-year old Clark might be in bad health again.

So this booking, coupled with an upcoming March 17 show at Dosey Doe Coffee Shop in The Woodlands, is good news for fans and music lovers.

Frequently described as the dean of Texas singer-songwriters, Clark came of age with Townes van Zandt, Eric Taylor, Vince Bell and a young Steve Earle during the '60s and '70s folk revival in Houston. He has frequently stated in interviews that Lightnin' Hopkins and Navasota bluesman Mance Lipscomb were two of his main influences.

Working in Los Angeles as a luthier, the Monahans native hit the big time when Jerry Jeff Walker recorded Clark's songs "L.A. Freeway" and "Desperados Waiting For a Train." Both tracks became part of the soundtrack of the Cosmic Cowboy revolution that took Austin by storm in 1973 and quickly influenced Nashville.

Clark eventually settled in Nashville, where he became a key player in the rebellious Texas singer-songwriter coterie that challenged mainstream Nashville and was documented in the 1975 film Heartworn Highways. Part of the movie was filmed during a Christmas Eve party at the Clarks' home in Nashville. It features the first known recordings of former Houstonians Steve Earle and Rodney Crowell, both of whom Clark mentored.

This One's For Him: A Tribute to Guy Clark, which featured a veritable Who's Who of the Texas singer-songwriter genre, was released in November, 2011 and quickly rose to the top of the Americana Music Chart. Clark himself was honored with an Americana Music Association's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005.

Tickets to this rare event can be arranged at 409-762-9199 or 409-795-7777. See the club's Web site for more details.

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