Review: This One’s For Him, A Tribute to Guy Clark

by Terry Roland

– Released on November 8, two days after veteran Texas songwriter Guy Clark’s 70th birthday, This One’s For Him: A Tribute To Guy Clark, succeeds beyond expectations as a tribute to a much- loved songwriter and a well-produced album of finely crafted country-folk music.

It may be the mark of a great songwriter that a diverse group of musicians can make an album of songs that not only capture the artist’s vision, but emerge with each song realized to near perfection.

Produced by Tamara Saviano whose 2004 release, Beautiful Dreamer: The Songs of Stephen Foster, won a GRAMMY and Clark’s friend and collaborator Shawn Camp, this is a masterfully produced album of 30 handpicked songs by 33 of today’s finest Americana artists.

Some of the greatest of the singer-songwriters of the last five decades have aged into their craft, but none have done so with as much grace, dignity and imagination as Guy Clark. His legacy of song gives his friends plenty of material to work with on this album.

Leading off with a chuckle from Rodney Crowell who says, “let’s give her a good go and make old Guy proud of us,” then proceeds to do so with the opening “Old Time Feeling.” The song sets us up for what is to come; a loving, reflective, funny, heartfelt tribute to one of the great storytellers and craftsmen of American song.

What follows plays at times like short stories, fragments of chapters in a novel, sweet poetry, western stories, tall-tales, cowboy haikus, personal testaments, musings and meditations on regret and joy, life-lessons laced with humor and wisdom, characters of the past aged with grace, remembered loved ones, death songs
and love ballads, all painted with various shades and strokes of lyrical colors.

If this were an exhibit of the lifetime work of a visual artist, it would take several galleries to fill. As it is, it takes this many fine performers and singer-songwriters to do justice to Clark.

The trick with any tribute album is to match material and artist, for the sake of the song and the overall production of the project. Many past tribute albums have turned into well-intentioned, unfocused failures.

But This One’s For Him avoids those traps by tapping into Guy Clark’s original recordings. The album embodies its title by keeping to the simple, intimate style Clark has mastered so well in his own studio work over the years.

It’s a style that allows the beauty of each song to surface. That makes this an anthology graced with continuity and a sense of history. This One’s For Him is the best album of its kind since the classic tribute to Merle Haggard, Tulare Dust.

A decade before Johnny Cash and Rick Rubin came together to make their historic American Recordings, Guy Clark had already released a series of live-in-studio, intimate, stripped-down acoustic recordings on the Sugar Hill label.

Albums like Old Friends, Boats To Build and Dublin Blues offered minimal production gloss in favor of a straightforward and organic sonic experience. While many obscure artists had championed this approach through the years, Guy Clark was among the first major songwriters to elevate purity over production.Today, this remains the gold standard in Americana music.

Some of the strongest moments on the album come from female artists. This makes sense for Clark who has often written songs reflecting a woman’s point of view (“She Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere,” “Magdeline”). Shawn Colvin’s smoky sexy reading of “All He Wants Is You,” Rosanne Cash’s expressive interpretation of “Better Days,” and Rosie Flores’ funky and spirited version of “Baby Took A Limo To Memphis,” all feel as though this was how these songs were intended to be performed – by women.

It’s impossible to mention Guy Clark without a reference to Townes Van Zandt. One touching moment among many is the bittersweet sound of Towne’s oldest son, John Townes Van Zandt narrating “Let Him Roll,” a love story about a Dallas prostitute and her alcoholic lover. It is eerie and touching to hear this tale with guitar- picking, phrasing and a vocal presence that sounds so much Townes. It feels like a tribute from Townes to Guy, channeled by his son.

Hayes Carll brings the country blues out in “Worry B Gone,” while Steve Earle revels in the western imagery of “The Last Gunfighter Ballad.” Both give the songs added grit, which distinguishes them from the original versions.

The old friends of Guy’s also do him proud. Willie Nelson’s “Desperados Waiting For A Train,” haunts in its simplicity. It’s a song that only grows more poignant with time as the singer and the song age.

Ramblin’ Jack Elliot turns in a gentle interpretation of the engaging “The Guitar.” Terry Allen’s “Old Friends,” also plays out with a beautiful country-blues simplicity.

Kris Kristofferson’s reading of “Hemingway’s Whiskey” delivers gut-level authenticity. The track opens with a short tale from Kris of a personal encounter with Hemingway then folds into a quintessential Guy Clark (literally whiskey-soaked) metaphor of life lived to its fullest. The slightly drunk emotion in Kris’ voice comes through as he carries the album’s title lyric with it:

There’s more to life than whiskey
more to words than rhyme
Sail away three sheets to the wind
Live hard, die hard
This one’s for him.

Other moments that will lure the listener to repeated listening include EmmyLou Harris and John Prine’s duet on “Magnolia Wind, Radney Foster’s smooth and easy version of “L.A. Freeway,” and Jerry Jeff Walker’s closing track “My Favorite Picture of You.”

The house band, which recorded live in the studio, included multi-instrumentalist and co-producer Shawn Camp, guitarist Verlon Thompson and keyboard player Jen Gunderman. Listen for Lloyd Maines on an array of dobros and steel guitars, bassists Glenn Fukunaga and Mike Bub and Kenny Malone and Larry Atamanuik on drums. The musical backing is skillfully interwoven with mandolins, lap steel guitars and fiddles.

This One’s For Him: A Tribute To Guy Clark is a living legacy from some very talented friends, a well-deserved tribute to a great craftsman and an early holiday present that invites us to discover or re-discover the best in Americana music through the songs of one of our national treasures.

(Terry Roland is an Americana-roots music journalist who has written interviews, reviews and feature articles for FolkWorks, Sing-Out, No Depression and The San Diego Troubadour.)