Album Review: New Steve Earle Record Honors Guy Clark’s Legacy
Editor’s Note: Today’s guest post by Scott Rollins is a review of Steve Earle’s latest record, “Guy” honors the legacy of his mentor and friend, legendary songwriter, Guy Clark. The record was released March 29 on New West Records. It is an exceptional album as Rollins eloquently describes below in this beautifully written review.
I’ve always felt Guy Clark had it all as far as talent. We are talking about a man whose songwriting eclipsed the brightest songwriters over three generations commercial country music offered. His voice was husky and strong, with a whisper of soft romanticism one can’t just dub in to a mix as an production afterthought. He knew his way around a guitar well enough to build them. But commercial success beyond his songwriting never found him. When he died, many of us mourned his passing; perhaps few as deeply and thoughtfully as Steve Earle.
Steve Earle professes whatever he is as a songwriter is owed to Townes Van Zant and Guy Clark. Guy took Steve (and numerous other songwriters) under his wing in Nashville at a time when the music industry was undergoing changes and growing pains often reflective of United States’ own cultural challenges. A time when some of the most talented songwriters emerged and produced a spike in the timeline of country music we haven’t seen equaled in the years since. He encouraged crafting songs rather than just hammering one out in a few short minutes. He stressed for them to be well written, painstakingly crafted, and rewritten to perfection. Guy use to make young songwriters read their lyrics aloud to him, as poets, to see if the words could stand on their own. He assigned them to read Dylan Thomas. He believed in not only the union of music and words; lyrics and melody, but in the story the words would tell forever, long after no one could remember where melodies came from.
Steve Earle pays tribute to Guy Clark on his new album, “Guy”. There is little new about the songs. They are old friends. Songs fans of this genre of music have known, in some cases, well over forty years. Steve does the music justice. He sings them all as Steve Earle, but honors Guy Clark and the truth in each masterpiece, as if Guy’s critical ear were hearing each one as they rolled out of the recording studio.
Listeners are treated with sixteen selections of songs. From “L.A. Freeway”, to “Out In The Parking Lot” Earle uses his raspy and rough voice mixed in with fine and on the fly sounding musicianship to transcend the songs into his own style. His more rowdy take on the timeless songs, fills the ears with familiar themes, and the mind with vivid warm images. While this is a celebration of a life’s work, you can hear emptiness in the voice, as the void Guy Clark’s passing obviously left behind will forever change Earle himself. A void no one will ever fill, not personally or professionally.
The only complaint I have is The Ballad of The Last Gunfighter” was recycled from a 2012 offering, “This One’s For Him”, a multi-artist, two disc set tribute to Guy Clark. As a collector of music, I have never been an advocate of re-releasing tracks on “new” records. The song and arrangement fits right in, and I suppose argument could be made the song is important to Steve Earle, as it was in his contribution to the 2012 record. He did a fine job, so good, perhaps he felt he couldn’t improve up on it.
The listener gets a surprise with the last track: “Old Friends”. Earle assembled some of Guy’s old friends to sing on the track. Those who’ve followed Guy Clark understand the importance of each voice. If this music is new to you, you will still feel the joy in each line, but you may wish to indulge in the dynamic talents comprising the chorus in this last and beautiful track. Beautiful not only in the musical meaning, but in the truth of each line, each word, and the feeling we all have, even if we have never quite identified it before. That is what music is for, to help us feel what we want and need to feel.
I like to think of this is a non-commercial project, rather it’s Steve Earle paying tribute to his hero and mentor. An artist pulling his inspired interpretations together as an open invitation to the world, to further explore the old world craftsmanship of Guy Clark.
