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Clark
gets right to the heart and soul of the blues.
His voice leaps off the disk, and his guitar playing is clear-toned
with just enough notes to convey the emotion of his blues smolderings and
soul tear-jerkers.
Clark’s
tenor can climb a song’s ladder in a microsecond, hitting exalted highs
that are beyond the reach of most blues vocalists.
He plays the Texas blues, but he’s no roadhouse rouser.
Instead, he livens up a sometimes dusty rhythm sections with
sultry, saxophones and guitar licks that keep on ticking.
- Burrells re: Lover's Plea,
Baltimore, MD (December 1998 - January 1999)
Vocally,
he has more in common with testifiers like Little Milton and beggars like
Tyrone Davis. I don’t care
what you’ve heard, Clark is a lot closer to “Soul’s Core” than
Shawn Mullins.
- Chicago Music Hub, Chicago IL (March 11, 1999)
The
bluesman has flirted with widespread commercial fame from the beginning,
coming closest to it when Vaughan recorded “Cold Shot,” a song the
guitarist co-wrote.
That
attracted a certain degree of attention, and provided the impetus for the
Handy Award winning entertainer to perfect his upbeat and vibrant mix of
deep soul, rhythm and blues into a memorable keeper of sound.
- Chicago Sun Times (March 19, 1999)
Austin
native W. C. Clark’s musical career spans a half century and he has been
a leader in establishing Austin, TX as one of the hottest roots music
hotbeds in America. Clark is
an influential bluesman and his stylings are grounded in old school
R&B and soul. While his
resume reads like a Who’s Who of Blues, he is still somewhat accessible.
Although from Texas, W. C. Clark has many of the same mannerisms as
B. B. King and Bobby “Blue” Bland.
In essence, W. C. Clark is the genuine article and it is a rare
opportunity for Cincinnatians to see the legend perform.
-
Ben Hulette, Cincinnati, OH (April 16, 1999)
Surely
some of the best blues tunes have been written in Memphis hotels.
Guitar-toting musicians—from Chicago and Texas and the far
reaches of Tennessee—have all stayed there, holed up in a small space
where thick curtains make the day seem like another starry night.
So
it should be no surprise that W. C. Clark is singing into a four-track in
his room at the Memphis Motel 6, in the left wing where they seem to put
most of the musicians. The
song he’s working on is called “Lay My Body Down,” he says when he
finally hears the phone ring, a distant tinkle that barely penetrates his
earphones. “It’s about
being tired of
this,
tired of that, so I need a rest, I need to lay my body down and find me a
lover and lay my body down.”
Probably,
Clark does need a rest; he’s touring seven months out of the year,
playing at home in Austin, Texas, during the others.
“It’s just my life. You
meet people and play and go to the hotel and go to sleep.
If at night you’ve got good memories, it’s worth it.”
-
Madelyn Rosenberg, Roanoke Times, Roanoke VA
(April 16, 1999)
With
a career that stretches back to the 1950’s, when Austin was nothing more
than a dot on the national music radar, W. C. Clark was something of a
best-kept secret in the Austin blues scene for almost 40 years, although
he played with everyone from Joe Tex to a young upstart called Stevie Ray
Vaughan. That all ended with
the 1994 release Heart of Gold (Black Top) and it’s 1996 follow-up Texas
Soul, the latter of which earned him a prestigious W. C. Handy Award in
1997 for “Best Soul/Blues Album.”
Now regarded as the “Godfather of Austin Blues” for good
reason, Clark’s peerless blend of Memphis Soul and hard-driving Texas
blues is both gritty and sweet. With
an ultra-soulful set of pipes like Sam Cooke or even Al Green and a
concise, tightly handled guitar style, Clark moves like a modern blues
maestro through some edgy songwriting and classic R&B grooves.
This longtime Austin bluesman is all class. Rooted snugly in the
foundation of his genre, but reaching out for new fringes every day.
-
Creative Loafing, Charlotte, NC (April 17, 1999)
Mr.
Clark’s voice was huge. He
sang in a thick and heavy manner that easily flew into a sugary falsetto.
His playing was much the same as he attacked many of his solos,
diving into the meat of the song recklessly.
The
band’s approach to its hour and 45-minute set was similar to Mr.
Clark’s, plunging themselves right in, barely resting for more than 10
seconds between songs.
When
it came to material, the Clark quartet, which included keyboards, bass and
drums, was all over the map, going from vintage Chicago or Texas blues to
jumping R&B swing.
-
Robert Mihalek, Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati,
OH (April 22, 1999)
The
nicest surprise was the addition of the new “Artist Deserving Wider
Recognition” award, which was nabbed in its first year by Austin
mainstay (but relative unknown) W. C. Clark.
-
Rob Fontenot, Bluesworthy,
W. C. Handy Awards, Memphis, TN
(July 1999)
Now
with his latest album, Lover’s Plea, he is in more demand as a touring
performer. No doubt, Clark
will reach an even bigger market. Before
long, everybody will know why Downbeat magazine declares Clark is “an
American classic.”
-
State Defender, Memphis,
TN (July 10, 1999)
There’s
a ‘Genuine Texas Blues’ imprint on the front cover of Wesley
Curley’s third Black Top outing. Well, there’s certainly a lot of that here and like its
predecessors, this set of a dozen cuts treads a path of Southern soul
mixed with rocking blues. Overall,
this is a most enjoyable and varied selection of soul and blues that can
only enhance W. C. Clark’s growing reputation.
-
Ray Ellis, Juke Blues Magazine
(July 1999)
We
hope when gentleman bluesman W. C. Clark takes the stage Saturday night he
will feel at home. Fort Smith
fans adopted the Austin musician long ago, flocking to his club
appearances and asking him back for private parties year after year.
Fort Smith loves W. C., and the Riverfront Blues Festival has long
waited for the chance to shoe him off on our stage.
W.C.
has a quality more evident in his blues than in any other performers’
work...it seems the deeper the blue, the more joyously he makes the music.
- Times Record, Ft.
Smith, Arkansas (September 11, 1999)
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