Steve Earle & the Dukes Showcase Songwriting of Guy Clark in New Project, ‘Guy’
Steve Earle & the Dukes have announced a new 16-song project celebrating the music of Guy Clark, one of Earle's two songwriting mentors. The album, called Guy, comes a decade after the group released Townes in tribute to Townes Van Zandt, the other artist who made the biggest impact on Earle as a songwriter.
According to a press release, Earle first met Clark in 1974, while hitchhiking from San Antonio to Nashville. Not only did Clark feature prominently in Earle's journey to Music City, but soon after, he became one of the first musicians in Nashville to help foster his career, offering him a spot replacing Rodney Crowell as bassist in his backing band. From there, the two developed a lifelong friendship.
"No way I could get out of doing this record," Earle explains. "When I get to the other side, I didn't want to run into Guy having made the Townes record and not one about him."
In advance of the project's release on March 29, Steve Earle & the Dukes have shared its lead-off single, "Dublin Blues." Press play above to hear the song.
Joining Earle on the project is his ace backing band, the Dukes, which include Kelley Looney on bass, Chris Masterson on guitar, Eleanor Whitmore on fiddle and mandolin, Ricky Ray Jackson on pedal steel guitar and Brad Pemberton on drums and percussion. In addition, the record will include appearances by a cohort of musicians that knew and loved Clark, including Crowell, Emmylou Harris and many more.
"As you live your life, you pile up these regrets," Earle adds. "I've done a lot of things that might be regrettable, but most of them I don't regret because I realize I couldn't have done anything else at the time. With Guy, however, there was this thing. When he was sick -- he was dying, really, for the last ten years of his life -- he asked me if we could write a song together. We should do it 'for the grandkids,' he said. Well, I don't know ... at the time, I still didn't co-write much, then I got busy. Then Guy died and it was too late. That, I regret."
Guy will be available on CD and digitally, as well as on standard and limited edition vinyl. The album can be pre-ordered now at New West Records. For more information, as well as 2019 tour dates, go to SteveEarle.com.
Steve Earle & the Dukes, Guy Track Listing:
1. "Dublin Blues"
2. "L.A. Freeway"
3. "Texas 1947"
4. "Desperados Waiting for a Train"
5. "Rita Ballou"
6. "The Ballad of Laverne and Captain Flint"
7. "The Randall Knife"
8. "Anyhow I Love You"
9. "That Old Time Feeling"
10. "Heartbroke"
11. "The Last Gunfighter Ballad'
12. "Out in the Parking Lot"
13. "She Ain’t Going Nowhere"
14. "Sis Draper"
15. "New Cut Road"
16. "Old Friends"
What Is Americana? Its Artists Define the Genre