Watch the trailer for way overdue streaming series "They Called Us Outlaws"

"They Called Us Outlaws" – reassessing the legacy of Billy Joe Shaver, Waylon Jennings, Guy Clark, etc – premieres at SXSW '26.

Guy Clark solo acoustic demos unearthed for Truly Handmade comp

The 15-track Truly Handmade collection of Guy Clark's solo acoustic demos was produced by his pal Rodney Crowell.

Here's the scoop...

The focus of Truly Handmade, Volume 1 is a collection of Guy Clark’s solo acoustic demos, which reveal the early forms of several Clark classics. His fans may have heard “L.A. Freeway” or “Let Him Roll” or “Lone Star Hotel” dozens of times, but hearing them like this affords a precious peek behind the curtain. Even more intriguing are songs that were left on the cutting-room floor. Nearly half the songs on Truly Handmade will be new to even longtime fans. A few stretch back to the early ’70s, before Guy had ever released an album. We also finally get to hear Guy’s early version of “Step Inside My House.” Guy often claimed this was the first song he ever wrote.

First came a biography, Tamara Saviano’s Without Getting Killed or Caught, which shed light on the lives of Guy and his wife Susanna (and their close friend Townes Van Zandt). The book served as a blueprint to Saviano’s 2021 documentary film of the same name. And now there’s more music. Anyone who ever saw Guy’s workshop—or the re-creation of it at the Country Music Hall of Fame exhibit—no doubt noticed all the tapes on the wall. Cassettes were filled with songs-in-progress over the decades. Stashed away were even more recordings on reel-to-reel. 

Truly Handmade, Volume 1 is out May 3rd. You can get a copy on vinyl from Guy Clark's site right here.  

Check out Peter Blackstock's assessment followed by the track list and a video for "Step Inside My House" along with a Lyle Lovett performance of his version of the song from 2011. In the mid 1960s, Guy Clark wrote "Step Inside My House," his first composition, at 1548 Castle Court in the Montrose neighbourhood in Houston, Texas. Guy did not record the song for release, but his friend Lyle Lovett, who heard Eric Taylor sing the song, recorded Eric's version with slightly different lyrics in 1998. This original demo of Guy singing "Step Inside My House" was found on a cassette tape in Guy's basement workshop after his death. The footage from Guy's house in the video was taken by Paul Whitfield for the documentary Without Getting Killed or Caught, released in 2021.

Truly Handmade

Those closest to Guy have been combing through those tapes carefully, seeking gems worth passing along to the public. They’ve found a lot: Truly Handmade is subtitled “Volume 1,” indicating there’s more to come. If it’s anything like this batch of 15 tracks from the early years of Guy’s career, his fans will want to hear all of it.

The work began with Dylan Clark, Guy’s grandson, transferring hundreds of tracks from tape to digital. (Guy’s only son, Travis, died at 50 a year after his father’s death.) Dylan’s efforts made it easier for producer Rodney Crowell to dig through the treasure chest and select material for posthumous release.

The focus of Truly Handmade is solo acoustic demos, which reveal the early forms of several Clark classics. Crowell, who produced Clark’s 1981 album The South Coast of Texas, chose a few demos from that record, as well as four from Clark’s highly acclaimed 1975 debut Old No. 1. His fans may have heard “L.A. Freeway” or “Let Him Roll” or “Lone Star Hotel” dozens of times, but hearing them like this affords a precious peek behind the curtain.

Even more intriguing are songs that were left on the cutting-room floor. Nearly half the songs on Truly Handmade will be new to even longtime fans. A few stretch back to the early ’70s, before Guy had ever released an album. Crowell says “Miss Alice Pringle” — a co-write with Susanna — dates back to at least 1972. “That's when I first heard it, and I always wanted him to record it,” Crowell says.

We also finally get to hear Guy’s own version of “Step Inside My House,” which gave Lyle Lovett the title of his 1998 album featuring songs by Texans who deeply influenced his own work. Now we get the blueprint of Lovett’s graceful rendition, as well as an important historical artifact: Guy often claimed this was the first song he ever wrote. (Was that actually the case? Sort of. “I think it's the first thing he ever considered a keeper,” Crowell says. “He wrote songs before that, but that's probably the first one he would stand behind.”)

And then there’s “Don’t Let The Sunshine Fool Ya,” which Guy’s fans first heard when his pal Townes included it on The Late Great Townes Van Zandt nearly a half-century ago. A more produced take from Guy turned up on the 1997 RCA set The Essential Guy Clark. But this demo is likely a better representation of what convinced Townes to record it in 1975.

So what comes next in the Truly Handmade series? That’s still in the works – but Crowell got exactly what he wanted for this first volume. “When I started finding these (demos of) just Guy alone, guitar vocal, I said ‘This is what we need to start with.’ And luckily, there was enough material to do that.” — Peter Blackstock

Guy Clark – Truly Handmade, Volume 1

1.     L.A. Freeway 3:54

2.    Let Him Roll 4:01

3.    Nickel For the Fiddler 2:55

4.    Lone Star Hotel Café 3:53

5.    Looks Like Rain 2:19

6.    All the Way From California 4:01

7.     Texas Goodbyes 2:37

8.    Calf Rope 2:31

9.    Who Do You Think You Are (Rainbow Pie) 3:36 

10. Old Time Feeling 4:12

11.  Don’t Let the Sunshine Fool You 3:05

12.  Miss Alice Pringle 2:24

13.  Hold On Brother 4:00

14.  Step Inside My House 4:29

15.  Susanna Let Your Hair Down On Me 1:16

Guy Clark documentary "Without Getting Killed Or Caught" now streaming

Tamara Saviano and Paul Whitfield discuss their Guy Clark documentary Without Getting Killed or Caught.

Terry Allen pays tribute to his pal Guy Clark

Check out Terry Allen's 2-hour Caw Caw Blues salute to Guy Clark featuring guests Lloyd Maines and Terri Hendrix.  

Eric "Roscoe" Ambel recalls hangin' with Guy Clark & Townes Van Zandt

Eric "Roscoe" Ambel had a couple of memorable interactions with Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt which he shares below. 

Happy Birthday Guy Clark!

Remembering Texas song craftsman Guy Clark on his birthday with a 2005 performance at the Sierra Nevada Big Room. 

Asleep At The Wheel vs. Guy Clark

Ray Benson's version of Guy Clark's classic "Dublin Blues" is off Asleep At The Wheel's latest album, New Routes.

R.I.P. Richard Dobson, 1942-2017

Remembering Texas singer/songwriter Richard Dobson with a couple of Heartworn Highways performances. 

Rodney Crowell's new album Close Ties out March 31

Rodney Crowell remembers his old runaround crew Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt on "Nashville 1972" from Close Ties.

The Grammy Award winning singer/songwriter Rodney Crowell is set to release Close Ties on March 31st via New West Records.  The 10-song set is his first album in over three years and follows The Traveling Kind, his acclaimed collection of duets with longtime collaborator Emmylou Harris.  Co-produced by Jordan Lehning and Kim Buie, the album features a duet with Sheryl Crow on the haunting “I’m Tied To Ya,” and “It Ain’t Over Yet,” a vocal collaboration with his ex-wife Rosanne Cash and John Paul White.

The album's latest single “Nashville 1972” is accompanied by a video (see below) directed by Reid Long on 16mm black-and-white film and includes archival and modern images depicting the Nashville Crowell arrived in over 40 years ago and the Nashville in which he currently lives.  It’s lyrics namecheck Guy & Susanna Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Willie Nelson, Tom T. Hall and others.  While speaking about the song, Crowell stated, “You learn that writing is work, and all of us young guys in those formative years figured out that you just slept during the day and stayed up all night, at first in pursuit of girls and then in pursuit of the perfect song.”  He continued, “With the poor man’s salons where we hung out, sitting around drinking and sharing songs, when you were working you’d be trying to come up with something that you could be proud of when it was your turn to play one.”

Close Ties is a loose concept record that ranges from songs about Crowell’s childhood in Texas (“East Houston Blues”) to songs about arriving in Nashville as a young songwriter (“Nashville 1972”) to songs about friends (the anguished “Life Without Susanna”) and lovers lost (“Forgive Me, Annabelle”).  It is a roots record, in the sense that Crowell himself has deep roots that stretch back into Music City's outsider country scene of the early seventies that included Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Steve Young, Larry Jon Wilson, Mickey Newbury and more.

But Close Ties defies easy classification.  Is it country?  Is it a singer-songwriter record?  “I have declared my loyalty to Americana.  It’s a hard category for people to get their heads around, or at least the terminology is.  But all the people who represent it - Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, Lucinda Williams and more recent stars like John Paul White and Jason Isbell - share a common thread, and that thread is poet.  Whether they are actual poets or their music exemplifies a poetic sensibility, generally speaking, the Americana artist shuns commercial compromise in favor of a singular vision.  Which resonates with me.”  One trait of a poet and the concept behind Close Ties involved the careful handling of memory.  “A few years ago I made a record called The Houston Kid that triggered Chinaberry Sidewalks (his 2011 memoir), ” he says.  “Those memory muscles are pretty strong in me.  They have a natural pull.  And so many of these songs use those memories as raw material.”

Fifty years after Crowell first started playing as a teen in Houston garage bands, he has moved into elder-statesman territory, and continues to extend the path carved out by the top-tier songwriters who preceded him.  His songs have been recorded by country legends (Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, George Strait), to current country chart toppers (Tim McGraw, Keith Urban) to blues icons (Etta James) to rock and roll legends (Van Morrison, Bob Seger).   He is a Grammy award winner, a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and recipient of the 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting from the Americana Music Association.

Close Ties track listing:
1. East Houston Blues
2. Reckless
3. Life Without Susanna
4. It Ain’t Over Yet (featuring Rosanne Cash & John Paul White)
5. I Don’t Care Anymore
6. I’m Tied To Ya (featuring Sheryl Crow)
7. Forgive Me Annabelle
8. Forty Miles From Nowhere
9. Storm Warning
10. Nashville 1972





Rodney Crowell On Tour
March 14 – Aspen, CO @ Wheeler Opera House
March 15 – Fort Collins, CO @ Bohemian Nights
March 16 – Boulder, CO @ eTown
March 18 – Nashville, TN @ TPAC at Andrew Jackson Hall
March 23 – Kansas City, MO @ Knuckleheads
March 24 – St. Louis, MO @ Off Broadway Nightclub
March 25 – Chicago, IL @ City Winery Chicago
March 30 – New York, NY @ City Winery New York
March 31 – Sellersville, PA @ Sellersville Theater
April 1 – Washington, DC @ The Hamilton
April 7 – Austin, TX @ Darrel K. Royal Homecoming Show Honoring Guy Clark & Tamara Saviano
April 14 – Virginia City, NV @ Piper's Opera House
April 16 – Nashville, TN @ 3rd & Lindsley
April 22 – Fort Worth, TX @ Ft. Worth Main Street Arts Festival
May 6 – Madisonville, TX @ MSCA Pavilion
May 7 – Santa Barbara, CA @ Lobero Theatre
May 9 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Troubadour
May 10 – Berkeley, CA @ Freight & Salvage
May 12 – Portland, OR @ Alberta Rose Theatre
May 13 – Olympia, WA @ Capitol Theater
July 22 – Telluride, CO @ Americana Festival - Sheridan Opera House
August 27 – Fayetteville, AR @ Main Stage at Fayetteville Roots Festival
September 16 – Bristol, VA @ Bristol Rhythm & Roots
September 22 – Amesbury, MA @ Amesbury Harvest Fair & Country Music Festival
September 23 – Boothbay Harbor, ME @ The Opera House at Boothbay Harbor

RIP Guy Clark, 1941-2016

Legendary Texas songwriter Guy Clark will be greatly missed. Here are a few memorable performances.

Guy Clark's loving tribute to wife Susanna

Fans of Guy Clark will be delighted to hear that his new studio album, My Favorite Picture Of You, is being released by Dualtone Records on July 23 – the follow-up to 2009's Somedays The Song Writes You. According to the label's press release, the songwriter's songwriter co-wrote 10 of the album's 11 poignant songs which are, as always, deeply rooted in personal experience.

"The album’s heartfelt title track (see clip below) was written for Susanna Clark, Guy’s wife of 40 years, and a successful songwriter in her own right, who passed away in 2012. If a picture says a thousand words, then the cover photo of My Favorite Picture Of You declares an entire life. The cover depicts Clark, slightly blurred in the background, holding up an old photo of his beloved from the 1970s. According to Clark, Susanna walked in and found him drunk again with friend, Townes Van Zandt. She stormed out of the house, which is when the Polaroid was taken. The song is a loving tribute that melts your heart while making you smile. As a master songwriter, Guy Clark has always made us smile by infusing his wry wit into thoughtful storytelling.

"Clark’s vocals on My Favorite Picture Of You exude truth, wisdom and warmth, only touching on the insight he has gained from an extraordinary life. From the delicate sweetness of “Cornmeal Waltz” to the poignant story of the veteran returned a changed man in “Heroes” to the determined “Hell Bent On A Heartache,” Clark delivers a standout album in a stellar four-decade long career."

Happy 70th Birthday Guy Clark!

On this day back in 1941,  Guy Clark was born in Monahans, Texas and to celebrate the archetypal Americana song craftsman's 70th birthday, Austin’s Music Road Records is releasing the celeb stacked tribute This One’s For Him: A Tribute to Guy Clark – on December 6. Hey, better a month late than never, right? 

Produced by Tamara Saviano and Clark co-writer of choice Shawn Camp, the double-disc set includes 30 tracks by 33 accomplished artists who are either longtime Clark pals (Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Terry Allen, Jerry Jeff Walker, Steve Earle, Joe Ely, Rodney Crowell, Vince Gill, Gary Nicholson) or those who wish they were, after having grown up on his unforgettable tunes. 

Volume 1
1.    That Old Time Feeling – Rodney Crowell
2.    Anyhow I Love You – Lyle Lovett
3.    All He Wants Is You – Shawn Colvin
4.    Homeless – Shawn Camp
5.    Broken Hearted People – Ron Sexsmith
6.    Better Days – Rosanne Cash
7.    Desperadoes Waiting For A Train – Willie Nelson
8.    Baby Took A Limo To Memphis – Rosie Flores
9.    Magdalene – Kevin Welch
10.   Instant Coffee Blues – Suzy Bogguss
11.   Homegrown Tomatoes – Ray Wylie Hubbard
12.   Let Him Roll – John Townes Van Zandt II
13.   The Guitar – Ramblin’ Jack Elliott
14.   Cold Dog Soup – James McMurtry
15.   Worry B Gone – Hayes Carll

Volume 2
1.    Dublin Blues – Joe Ely
2.    Magnolia Wind – Emmylou Harris & John Prine
3.    The Last Gunfighter Ballad – Steve Earle
4.    All Through Throwing Good Love After Bad – Verlon Thompson
5.    The Dark – Terri Hendrix
6.    LA Freeway – Radney Foster
7.    The Cape – Patty Griffin
8.    Hemingway’s Whiskey – Kris Kristofferson
9.    Texas Cookin’ – Gary Nicholson, Darrell Scott & Tim O’Brien
10.   Stuff That Works – Jack Ingram
11.   Randall Knife – Vince Gill
12.   Texas 1947 – Robert Earl Keen
13.   Old Friends – Terry Allen
14.   She Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere – The Trishas
15.   My Favorite Picture of You – Jerry Jeff Walker



Worry B Gone by Hayes Carll



Stuff That Works by Jack Ingram



Desperados Waiting For A Train by Willie Nelson




Dublin Blues by Joe Ely



Magnolia Wind by John Prine & Emmylou Harris