Roy Clark

[Woody Sound]

Wow, time has passed.

[Stevebol]

I started playing guitar around 71'. He Haw and Soul Train were something to look forward to and I'd play along as best I could to the music.

Gloom, despair, and agony on me,
Deep dark depression, excessive misery
If it weren't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all....

I didn't even have to look that up.
He Haaaaaw!!
What was the other one about gossip?

[Woody Sound]

I didn't even have to look that up.
He Haaaaaw!!

What was the other one about gossip?

Mel Tillis - Video Dailymotion

[Greentone]

Wow. Here is a guy I grew up around. As a kid, I lived in Southeast DC when Roy Clark was the king of the Washington DC guitar scene. He had been Jimmy Dean's sidekick on the locally originated "Jimmy Dean Show." (until Dean fired Clark for being perpetually late) Clark was the hot hand in DC in a guitar scene that included guys like Charlie Byrd, Roy Buchanan, and Danny Gatton.

I grew up watching Clark. I kept up with him when he moved to "Swingin' Country" on TV with Molly Bee (who had been a frequent associate of Jimmy Dean's and was a regular on Ernie Ford's show). Then came "Hee-Haw," which featured Buck Owens. I had moved from DC to Southern California as a kid and switched from watching Jimmy Dean, Clark, and the Muppets (they started on Dean's show), to watching Buck Owens and the West Coast gang on TV. "Hee-Haw" in '69 combined all my childhood influences.

One of the first albums I ever bought as a kid was "The Lightning Fingers of Roy Clark." Still have it. Back then, Clark was a Fender guitar artist--one song on the album is "Dented Fender." Clark played a Jazzmaster, rather than his typical Byrdland.

Underneath all of the "aw, shucks," humor, and eye rolls that are part of the Roy Clark stage show, there is a terrifically gifted country/bebop-style guitarist. He has the Hank Garland/Glen Campbell/Lenny Breau sensibility with copious chops at his disposal. Clark likes to winter in rural Virginia, in his boyhood home, where he hunts with people he was born with. As a consequence of the fact that I work with a university reasonably close by, I have gotten to hear many Roy Clark shows through the years. Arthritis has slowed him down in recent years, but he retains a sharp, musical mind.

[mrcee]

Hee Haw

You either loved it or hated it. I loved it.

[Donnie]

I remember as a very young kid, my Mom liked to watch The Pat Boone Show and there was Roy Clark, playing a Gibson Arch Top! He had fingers like lightning, and played effortlessly. On Hee Haw, my favorite song he did was with harmonica player Charlie McCoy; they played the theme from Midnight Cowboy; he played a Baldwin 12 String. AMAZING!

[Marty Grass]

Don't blame Roy Clark entirely for Hee Haw. It was no worse than Laugh In, which I realize is not saying much.

Roy was generally the best talent of Hee Haw, and he was truly a virtuoso player. In order to show his talent, he also had to do a lot of goofy things. When you think about it, most great performers have done a lot of goofy things in their career to get play time. Hell, even Andres Segovia played at dives.

Consider this artist:

[Flat]

I'm sure most of you guys have seen and heard this, but just in case you haven't...

I was a New York City kid. I couldn't relate to Hee Haw. But I always dug Roy.

[jameslovestal]

[QUOTE=Flat;778307]I'm sure most of you guys have seen and heard this, but just in case you haven't...

I was a New York City kid. I couldn't related to Hee Haw. But I always dug Roy.


Yea, I'm a So Cal guy but I loved Roy and had a few of his albums. I also got one of his instruction books. It helped me play Carl Perkin songs in a jazz\country style. Sound musician and like Wes, Benson, Howard Roberts and many others, had to do what it takes to make a living.

[jads57]

Just a plain Nice Guy!

[whiskey02]

I happened to catch this when it originally aired;

[citizenk74]

Roy Clark is the reason I started playing with a higher action than anyone I knew. That, combined with the Martino-inspired 0.15 - 0.60 strings pretty much kept idle hands of my Les Paul.

[Eric Rowland]

Roy's got nothing on these guys.......

[mrcee]

Roy's got nothing on these guys.......

That's what I'm talkin' about!!! But in all honesty those guys are giving hillbillies a bad name and aren't abiding by
The Hillbilly Code of Ethics.

But in all seriousness it shows what you can get away with if the rhythm's together. If they were out of time they'd be drawn and quartered, tarred and feathered and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in the state penitentiary.

Actually if P Diddy or Dr. Dre produced them they'd be a pretty good Rap act.

[Max405]

I'm sure most of you guys have seen and heard this, but just in case you haven't...

I was a New York City kid. I couldn't relate to Hee Haw. But I always dug Roy.

Flat, that made my day!
In Joe Pass, you were looking at the culmination of 40+ years of accompanying the greatest singers who ever took the stage. His experience of knowing exactly where the song is going is perfectly illustrated in the end of that video when he just gives Roy a Stare... that said it all.
Roy was great. I take nothing away from him. But even he knew that with Joe, it really got no better.
I am so glad in grew up in the musical era that I did. We had the greats to look up to.
Thanks!

[Max405]

I happened to catch this when it originally aired;

oh my god.. that was amazing !!

[rabbit]

Great thread, thanks to all.

If you weren't there at the time of Hee Haw & Laugh In you might not
remember what turbulent times they were. There was a lot of good in that corn pone.

Also this: Gunilla!

[sgosnell]

There is (or at least used to be) a YouTube video that contained the entire process of making the album, and all the songs. Roy was doing his best, but Joe was just calmly loafing, while Roy was working his ass off to try to be in the same league. He didn't make it, but he was trying.