Songs and Stories

iTunes Review

The title of Guy Clark’s latest live album highlights both his masterful skills as a tunesmith and his down-home charm as a raconteur. For nearly 40 years, this Texas singer/songwriter has turned out beautifully crafted tales of losers, lovers, dreamers, and desperados, making him one of American music’s most influential voices. Here, Clark is joined on stage by frequent collaborators Verlon Thompson and Shawn Camp, who add vocals and guitar (and contribute some tasty anecdotes) to this career-surveying set. Familiar tunes like “L.A. Freeway” and “The Randall Knife” are interspersed with lesser-known but worthy numbers like “Stuff That Works” and “The Cape.” Clark works his avuncular, twinkle-in-the-eye magic throughout, playing off of his old compadres while reaffirming his status as an alt-country legend. His rendition of Townes Van Zandt’s “If I Needed You” is an especially poignant salute to a departed friend. As this thoroughly entertaining album makes clear, Clark at age 70 has mellowed a bit, but is still an outlaw poet at heart, whether he’s being funny, ornery or compassionate.