Goodbye Guy, Aesop and shimmy mob

by Chris Aaland

Guy Clark was the real deal. He was as rough as the West Texas landscape he was born into in 1941. The best writers focus on subjects they know most about, and Guy’s songs were everyday slices of life … if your life included tobacco spit, cheap whiskey, whores and sons of bitches. He died Tuesday at age 74 after a long battle with cancer.

My music buddy Mike Sheehan introduced me to Guy’s music in the early 1990s. I’d already known a few of his songs thanks to scratchy old Willie Nelson and Jerry Jeff Walker records. Guy’s albums like “Old No. 1,” “Texas Cookin’” and “Dublin Blues” became staples on my stereo and radio shows, and remain so 25 years later.

The summer of 1997 marked my first Telluride Bluegrass. Shelly and I had just started dating and bought tickets at Southwest Sound, back when you could walk into the local music store a few weeks before and pick up weekend passes. One of the many artists I saw that weekend was Guy Clark. I brought a handful of his CDto get autographed at the Country Store that weekend, which Guy happily obliged. Waiting in line with me were a half-dozen members of his old list-serv … aspiring songwriters, club musicians and super fans like me, all the way from Daytona Beach, Galveston and all points in between. Somewhere in a pile of photos is a much skinnier, younger version of me posing with Guy. The good, old, pre-selfie days when taking a picture meant dropping the roll of film off at City Market to get developed.

Aesop Rock brings alternative hip hop to the ACT, Saturday at 9:30 p.m.

In the years that passed, I saw Guy several more times. Sometimes it was as a duo with his usual sidekick, Verlon Thompson. Other times, he enlisted regular bandmates and collaborators like Darrell Scott, Shawn Camp, Kenny Malone, Suzy Ragsdale and Guy’s own son, Travis. And on one monumental occasion, he did a songwriters-in-the-round with Lyle Lovett, Joe Ely and John Hiatt. All three listened with rapt attention whenever it was Guy’s turn at the mic. Emmylou Harris and Steve Earle offered harmonies on select songs.

Earle once famously said something to the effect that Townes Van Zandt was the greatest American songwriter, and he’d proudly stand on Bob Dylan’s coffee table in his cowboy boots and tell him so. I’d proudly stand on Earle’s coffee table in my Crocs and tell him he was almost right. He’d need to travel about five hours west on I-30 from Van Zandt’s native Fort Worth to Clark’s hometown of Monahans to be accurate.

Rest in peace, Guy Clark. You’ll finally get to push up some homegrown tomatoes.

The week’s biggest show is the return of Aesop Rock to the Animas City Theatre on Saturday. The former New Yorker is currently based in Portland, Ore., where his underground and alternative hip hop has led to membership in The Weathermen, Hail Mary Mallon and others. Rob Sonic, DJ Zone and Homeboy Sandman are also on the bill. Doors open at 8:30 p.m., with music to start at 9:30.

Farmington Hill plays twice this weekend, first at Moe’s Funked Up Friday from 6-9 p.m., then at the Dolores River Brewery from 8-11 p.m. Saturday. “Ode to the King,” a tune from their recently released second album, “More Rock Than Eagle Block,” is a tune I can’t get out of my head right now.

Ska hosts a fundraiser to help with the medical expenses of Tracy Arens and Quinn Deffenbaugh, wife and son of Carute Roma’s guitarist Brian “Floyd Pepper” Arens from 2-6 p.m. Sunday. Carute Roma, Afrobeatniks and the Salt Fire Circus will perform, with a silent auction also taking place. A $10 or more cover is suggested.

Stillwater Music’s sixth annual Party in the Park throws down at Buckley Park on Saturday afternoon, giving nine different youth ensembles (ages 6-18) the chance to strut their stuff. There’s family friendly food and activities, too.

Alternative Horizons hosts a shimmy mob featuring Durango Hafla, the Durango Shimmy Mob belly dance troupe, an auction, raffle, refreshments and more at the American Legion Post from 1-4 p.m. Saturday.

Finally, KSUT hosts its annual Festival Fund Drive through 6 p.m. today. Call 563-0255 or visit www.ksut.org to pledge your support and you could win passes to big festivals in Telluride and Pagosa Springs, plus events in Durango, Dolores and Aztec, among others. Pagosa Folk’n Bluegrass, Telluride Bluegrass, Four Corners Folk Festival, Music in the Mountains, Aztec Highland Games, Animas River Blues & Brews, Dolores River Festival and KSUT’s own Michael Franti & Spearhead are just a few of the prizes you could win.

This week’s Top Shelf list recalls 10 of my favorite Guy Clark songs. It was tough to narrow the list down:

1. “L.A. Freeway,” found on “Old No. 1,” 1975. Say goodbye to the landlord for me. That son-of-a-bitch has always bored me.

2. “Dublin Blues,” from “Dublin Blues,” 1995. The song that made the Mad Dog Margarita legendary at Austin’s Chili Parlor.

3. “Let Him Roll,” the closing track on “Old No. 1.” He always said that heaven was just a Dallas whore.

4. “Rain in Durango,” from “My Favorite Picture of You,” 2013. A co-write with Shawn Camp that became the unofficial anthem of the 2015 Durango Bluegrass Meltdown.

5. “Texas Cookin,’” from “Texas Cookin,’” 1976. An ode to cabrito, armadillo pie, chicken fried steaks, greasy enchiladas and fried okra.

6. “Sis Draper,” from “Cold Dog Soup,” 1999. Clark and Camp wrote a quartet of songs about the devil’s daughter, a travelin’ fiddler from Arkansas in the Civil War era.

7. “I Don’t Love You Much Do I,” from “Boats to Build,” 1992. Shelly and I requested that Mollie O’Brien learn this for our wedding. She didn’t.

8. “Old Friends,” from “Old Friends,” 1988. Life’s only true currency.

9. “Homegrown Tomatoes,” from “Better Days,” 1983. The best reason to garden.

10. “Cold Dog Soup,” from “Cold Dog Soup.” Yeats, Ginsberg, Kerouac, Tom Waits and Townes Van Zandt all gather at the bar. You can fill in the rest.

He lost the thread and his mind got cluttered, his words just rolled off down the gutter? Email me at chrisa@gobrainstorm.net.