Pre
Call Up A Hurricane
Full Sleevenotes for the release of 'Call Up A Hurricane' in 1990
Terry Clarke has spent more years than he would care to remember on the
perimeter of national recognition. Nothing however, has ever dampened
his enthusiasm for music. He is the consummate fan. A walking encyclopedia
of our "rock n' roll" heritage since the fifties. You can't
help but relate to a man who, in one breath praises Dion and Dylan, the
Everly's and Tom Petty; then pitches in names like, Dwight Twilley and
Van Dyke Parks - two of our more obscure American cousins. You can't help
but admire a man who recognises that songwriting is an art to be nurtured;
that songs are creations to be shared.
If albums were compass points which threw out ley lines for other songwriters
to follow, then Clarke would probably quote Gram Parsons' vinyl legacy
and Joe Ely's debut album, as the Krypton filled blockbusters which most
sparked his imagination. From those sources and others, his songwriting
skills were honed to the point they are today. Despite it's hokey image,
country music possesses a heart and soul, a passion and a basic honesty
which are hard to equal anywhere in the aural arena.
As a medium, music has gone through a ceaseless evolutionary process.
Writers have consistently reinterpretted the work of other's; much sweat
being expended in the process. And with that one magical and marginal
variation, a new sound or song is born. The power of the imaginative and
creative spirit remains hard to comprehend.
Let's continue with some historical data........
Terry Clarke was born in Reading, Berkshire the year our current Queen
was married. He bought his first guitar - a Framus, from a schoolfriend
when he was fourteen. By the late sixties, Clarke had served an apprenticeship
with countless local groups; played numerous styles of music. Polydor
issued his debut solo single in 1971. It didn't chart. Mike Cooper, the
acoustic folk blues performer employed Terry as a sidesman during the
mid seventies. Later came a band called Domino Effect, who released three
singles during the early eighties. Success remained an elusive ideal.
Prior to going solo in the mid eighties, Clarke teamed up with G.T. "Reggae
Guitars" Moore in a duo by the unlikely name of, The Jeopardy Brothers.
A solo career seemed the logical step after that.
Through all these changes, Terry had retained an abiding affection for
country music. Possibly there was an excuse for that. Johnny Cash's "Songs
that made him famous", a Xmas present from his parents, was the first
album he ever owned. And of course, there were those ley lines......
To be honest, the story of the album which you are holding comes from
the realms of "Once upon a time.....". The July 1987 issue of
the acoustic music magazine "Frets", carried an advert for a
Gram Parsons/Clarence White Memorial Concert to be held at The Cannery
in Nashville. Terry's curiousity was sparked. Two transatlantic phone
calls later, he had been invited to appear on the bill alongside the Nitty
Gritty Dirt Band, Rodney Crowell and others. Fast forward a few months,
to the state of Tennessee. While rehearsing for the show, Terry was introduced
to Dwight Yoakam's ex-bassman, now a resident of Austin, Texas. Sufficiently
impressed by the Brits' songs, J.D. Foster suggested they record some
of them. At least the tape would be a momento of Clarke's visit. During
a session at 16th Avenue Sound, Nashville on Sunday 4th October 1987,
three songs were cut. The session had proved successful. It was only the
beginning, but the participants weren't to know that.
Six months and countless transatlantic phone calls later, Terry Clarke
walked on Texas soil for the first time. Money would be better spent cutting
further tracks; talking about it was getting them nowhere. That was J.D.'s
opinion anyway. What clinched it for Terry, was Flaco Jiminez's offer
to play on the Texas sessions. During one of Flaco's UK tours, Terry had
supported him on a couple of dates. No one had to tell them they shared
a common musical vision. Flaco's offer to play on Terry's album, went
something like "Austin is only a few beers from San Antonio".
On 31st March and April Fools Day 1988, eight songs were cut at the Fire
Station Studio, San Marcos. Three further tracks were laid down at Cedar
Creek Studios, Austin on Wednesday 13th April.
And what of the songs which made it to this album. Some, like "Valley
of the blue eyes" and "The stars of Austin", are the visions
of an Englishman visiting his personal Holy Land. A rich lyrical perspective
seemed to descend on Clarke in that Texas town. Elsewhere, there's a yearning
expressed for those left at home. "Wish you were here" attests
to that. "Buddy's waiting on the flatland road", was written
three years ago. It is the oldest song on this collection and Terry's
paean to our "rock n' roll" past and present. If ghosts are
present on this album, listen for them on this track. The only Nashville
cut to make it to the album is "Tennessee Wind". An appropriate
title really. The song itself, being distilled from 100% essence of country
music.
In the late sixties, The Old Quarter in Houston, was home from home for
Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt and Mickey Newbury. Towards the end of the
last decade, the Lubbock Mafia of Joe Ely, Butch Hancock and Jimmie Dale
Gilmore appeared at the centre of an all consuming storm. Texas possesses
a rich musical inheritance and for each generation there is a season......
In the first chapter of his book "The improbable rise of Redneck
Rock", Jan Reid calls Austin - The Gay Place. The town certainly
possesses a heartbeat which attracts musicians. Austin in the late eighties,
is a grumbling volcano of talent. Should it explode nationally, the producer
and bassman on this album will surely be in the vanguard. When he isn't
locked in a recording studio, J.D. Foster plays bass in The Heels, David
Halley's band. Foster's own band, The Barnburners perform an octane rich
mixture of rockin' high speed bluegrass. As well as a appearing on this
album, Rich Brotherton (guitar and mandolin) and Danny Barnes (banjo)
are also alumni of that latter aggregation. Fred Krc (drums) has backed
literally every well known Austin musician of the last two decades. These
days he fronts his own band, Wild Country. David Grissom (electric guitar)
has laid down bone crunching rhythms in Joe Ely's band, for nearly four
years. The guy proves here, that he can also pick a sensitive axe. Mike
Hardwick (electric guitar, acoustic guitar and lap steel) has been a stalwart
of the Austin scene for countless years. Elsewhere on the Texas sessions,
Erik Hokkanen (fiddle) and Herb Steiner (pedal steel) are featured. Apart
from Foster, the common link between the Texas and Tennessee sessions,
is the backbeat of Andy Arrow (drums). You can't help but look up to a
guy who has driven his Toyota on the streets of Nashville for four years,
bearing Bakersfield plates. That's country. Those initial Nashville sessions
also featured, Chas Williams (guitar). More will be heard of all those
involved in this project. That isn't even a calculated guess.
Arthur Wood , Kerrville Kronikle
Birmingham, England 1989
TERRY CLARKE
CALL UP A HURRICANE (PT Records, CD/LP, import)
Reviewed in April, this has finally arrived, so, as, I was saying: Englishman
Terry Clarke, an unassuming fellow whose love of Texas music is indelibly
stamped in his writing, got together in late '88 with local all-stars
to record some sharp original semi-acoustic stories. David Grissom's guitar
riffs on Rock The Baby hegin the journey across inner landscapes. Stars
Of Austin is a sweet, slow two-step love letter, meshed around Flaco Jimenez's
bittersweet riffs and Erik Hokkanen's fiddle. Blow Wind Blow, my favorite
cut, features Clarke and Rich Brotherton's lovely vocals with immaculate
bluegrass picking by Rich and JD Foster. Eerily percipient, applicable
to the Civil War and current conflicts, Wish You Were Here is a lovely
ballad, political content interwoven into a romantic context. Buddy' S
On The Flatland Road is a rave up rocker that evokes late night drag racing
on flattop highways, pedal to the floor. with gospel flavored backing
vocals, on which slap bass and thunderous cardboard box infectiously punctuate
the lyrics. Clarke reminds me of Butch Hancock in many ways; he writes
poems about everyday life and unhesitantly wrestles with the politics
of modem times.
SLY Music City Texas (Austin) 1990
Call Up A Hurricane
Minidoka LP/CD & Cassette
WHAT'S in a name? One may well ask. Terry Clarke rather like John Brown
or a Robert Smith does not sound very exotic.
Not that I am suggesting the Terry Clarke I have in mind is exotic, but
I will tell you one thing - he is one hell of a good songwriter.
He was 14 when he had his first guitar, by the late 60s he had performed
with many bands playing all types of music. He recorded his first single
for Polydor in 1971 and a decade later released three singles with a band
called Domino Effect.
Always having a leaning for country music his style started to change
and by the mid-late seventies Terry was more into folkabilly and blues,
and appearing solo.
Lately. he's been receiving the attention he deserves and a debut album
'Call Up A Hurricane' on the Minidoka label has just been released in
the UK Recorded in the Lone Star State with Texas based musicians from
the Joe Ely, Jerry Jeff Walker and Butch Hancock bands, it also features
Flaco Jimenez on accordion. Every song is from the pen of Terry Clarke...
and impressive they are.
One can almost smell the magnolia blossom and sense the very presence
of the confederacy in 'Wish You Were Here'. Other songs I found special
were 'The Stars Of Austin', 'Blow Wind Blow', 'Valley Of The Blue Eyes'
and finally I found 'The Flatland Road' stirring up my memories of Buddy
Holly and Lubbock. Texas.
It must only be a matter of time before named country artists pick up
one of his songs This album could easily lead to a Terry Clarke cult following.
RICHARD KIRK, Country Music Round Up 1990
