Guy Clark: Monahans’ Master Craftsman

Today is the birthday of Guy Clark. He would be 85 today.

Guy Charles Clark was born in Monahans, Texas on November 6, 1941 — a West Texas oil town in Ward County where the land goes flat in every direction and the sky takes over. His grandmother ran a hotel there. He grew up in the South Texas town of Rockport, where a Spanish guitar player named Augustin Limón taught him to play. He moved to Houston, then to Los Angeles, then to Nashville — and Nashville is where he built his legend.

Songs Built Like Furniture

Clark approached songwriting like a master carpenter — every joint fitted, nothing wasted. “Desperados Waiting for a Train” in 1975 was his breakthrough. “L.A. Freeway” became a Texas standard. “Heartbroke” hit No. 1 for Ricky Skaggs in 1982. Clark never had a No. 1 single himself. He had something rarer: the respect of every serious songwriter in Nashville. Steve Earle, Rodney Crowell, and Townes Van Zandt were his close friends and considered him a peer. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2016, the same year he died, on May 17, 2016, in Nashville. The wood is still holding. Find his place items on Texas Music Map.