Guy Clark died May 17, 2016. KJIV is proud to present Don Darue paying a lasting tribute to one of our greatest songwriters, period!
Guy Clark songs are a lot like Guy Clark. Some are dramatic, almost self-consciously so, and others seem to wink at you.
They are all intensely personal. “Desperados Waiting for a Train” is about a man who took Guy under his wing when he was a boy growing up.
“New Cut Road” is about a man he wished he knew, a fiddle-playing master he’d wished he met.
He wrote songs about things he valued: loyalty (“Old Friends”), respect (“Stuff That Works”), small gifts that bring great pleasure (“Homegrown Tomatoes”), and trusting your muse (“Boats to Build” and “The Cape”).
Running through all of them was Guy’s love of language. “Heartbroke,” became Guy’s first number one for Ricky Skaggs in 1982. The lyrics to “Instant Coffee Blues,” a song about a shortsighted tryst of a couple clearly not destined for togetherness—read like a short story.
Many of Guy’s records, like 1995’s Dublin Blues, are now indispensable to songwriting fans.
Dondo eloquently captures the very essence of the incomparable Guy Clark on the following programs. Enjoy!