Customer Reviews

Old No. 1

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I first heard this album when Jim Lex introduced it to me in 1983. I can't count how many times I've listened to it over the years, but it never gets old. I have raised up a new generation of Guy Clark fans when my kids and I would listen to "Old No. 1" on long road trips back to see the grand parents.

Clark has mastered not only the genre of east-Texas roadhouse ballads, but his soul-searching, sometimes painful lyrics are of the stuff that touches those of us who have lived interesting but tough lives filled with toil, regrets and occasional successes. Every song in this selection has an insight or a message for me, and seems to effect others who take the time to really listen in the same way. The line "It's all done with mirrors..." in "Instant Coffee Blues" will perhaps be a revelation for some listeners, but a clear metaphor to those of us that life has left a little tattered and cynical.

"Old No. 1" has become a favorite of many people, young and old, that I have shared it with. Guy Clark never got all the recognition he deserves but this album will show you why he has a devoted following, even thirty years later.

I first saw Guy Clark on an episode of "Austin City Limits" back in the mid-1970s and was just blow away by him and his songs. I went out and bought this album and still regard it as his best collection of songs. The followup, "Texas Cookin' was nearly as good too; both albums chock full of great songs with brilliant lyrics. The fact that so many of the songs on this album have been covered by other artists is another testament to its greatness. And "Old No. 1" is certainly one of the greatest country albums ever recorded.

It started with this recording by Guy Clark and 'Phases and Stages' by Willie Nelson.