Sad news today from Tulsa, Okla.: Country Music Hall of Famer, Grand Ole Opry member, titan of guitar and much-loved all-around entertainer Roy Clark has died at age 85. The cause of his death is complications from pneumonia, according to a release from his PR representative.
Clark grew up in Washington, D.C., and started performing in his early teens at square dances with his father. Winning a national-level banjo competition earned him an opportunity to play on the Grand Ole Opry, but he didn't fully commit himself to being a musician until a few years later. (He was busy training to be a boxer.) Clark spent much of the 1950s touring in country bands. An extensive stint performing and recording with Wanda Jackson in the early 1960s (you can hear him on indelible cuts like "Let's Have a Party" and "Funnel of Love") helped him break through and establish himself as a top-billed artist. Over the course of his career, he won multiple CMA Awards, including Entertainer of the Year in 1973. He won a Grammy for his 1981 recording of "Alabama Jubilee."
Clark was arguably best known as the longtime co-host of Hee Haw alongside Buck Owens. Clark appeared on a variety of other TV programs and specials, including recurring parts on The Beverly Hillbillies and serving as a guest host on The Tonight Show. Though he's gone, there's a great deal of performance footage to remember him by. Check out a few clips below.
Here's Clark taming a (Fender) Jaguar circa 1964 on The Jimmy Dean Show. ("Alabama Jubilee" was in Clark's repertoire well before his Grammy-winning recording.) Before he worked with Wanda Jackson, Clark was a member of Dean's band, but was fired for habitually showing up late. That didn't stop Dean from having him on his show.
Jim Henson was a regular on The Jimmy Dean Show, too — that's where Muppet icon Rowlf the Dog got his start. Here's a clip from Clark's guest appearance on The Muppet Show, in which he plays all the lead parts on "Rocky Top" himself. The only one he doesn't totally nail is the trumpet. He is human, after all.
Roy Clark working for CBS with Tony Randall & Jack Klugman. A wild take on an old classic.
Here's a take on "Malagueña" from Clark's appearance in a 1975 episode of The Odd Couple, where he plays Willie, an old pal from Oscar's time in the Army. Felix is trying to get Willie into the music business, but he has a bit of trouble keeping his shredditude reined in.
Clark played plenty well with others, though. Above, see him having a banjo duel with Bobby Thompson on "Foggy Mountain Breakdown."
Here's Clark leading the entire Hee Haw cast on John D. Loudermilk's "Big Daddy."
Watch Roy Clark & Glen Campbell 's battle of guitars. Who will win? Rare clip with top-speed shredders here on Dee's BringBackMyYesterday channel. They say speed means nothing, but in Roy and Glen's case...well, see what YOU think! Enjoy! Thank you all for following our channel.
~~Many thanks to a very kind and generous fan who was so good about okaying this clip to play on our channel.
Here are two performances with late Glen Campbell, whose own guitar skills don't get enough credit. "Ghost Riders In the Sky" is cooperative, while the version of "12th Street Rag" is a bit more of a competition.
And finally, here's Clark hot-dogging on "Folsom Prison Blues" with Johnny Cash. You'll see Clark play slide solos with a pint glass on his electric guitar, turned flat like a steel guitar. The solos are played for laughs, and they even make Cash chuckle, but they're seriously musical, too — a pretty perfect metaphor for Clark's life and work.
