W. C. Clark

The 64-year-old Clark has long been known as “The Godfather of Austin Blues,” an accolade the Austin native earned prior to his collaborations with both Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan, Denny Freeman and others who moved from Dallas to work with him 30 years ago. The guitarist/vocalist played bass in SRV’s first band, Triple Threat Revue, and wrote “Cold Shot,” one of Vaughan’s biggest hits. United here with producer/tenor saxophonist Mark “Kaz” Kazanov and guitarist Derek O’Brien—who also conspired with Clark on Heart of Gold, his well-received 1994 Black Top CD—Clark works out more on the soul side of the street. Songs such as “Jaded Lady,” Cold Blooded Lover,” “I Didn’t Know the Meaning of Pain” and the pumping “Twist of the Knife” (“It’s a shame, shame, shame the way you run my life; but you always insist on another twist of the knife”) give a rather bleak picture, but Clark’s dogged optimism and the uptempo horn-filled arrangements offset the gloom. Clark gives his guitar a hellacious workout on Gatemouth Brown’s challenging “Okie Dokee Stomp,” with killer work by the Texas Horns, too!