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Editor-in-chief, New York.

Guy Clark’s Life and Music in “Without Getting Killed or Caught”

The documentary “Without Getting Killed or Caught” does an excellent job of recounting the music and life of legendary Texas singer-songwriter Guy Clark.

The recent documentary about the life and music of Guy Clark, Without Getting Killed or Caught, is now available for renting on Amazon Prime. Is it worth watching?

All fans of Guy Clark will enjoy learning more about the great Texas singer-songwriter from the documentary based on Tamara Saviano’s 2016 book of the same name and the diaries of Clark’s wife Susanna Clark. The film was produced and directed by Tamara Saviano and Paul Whitfield, it was written by Tamara Saviano and Bart Knaggs.

The film does a good job of recapping the music of Guy Clark, while also revealing more about his personal life, including the complicated relationship among him, his wife Susanna Clark, and singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt. Fans of Van Zandt will also find much about his life and death.

The film provides a proper place in history to the person often overlooked in the story, Susanna Clark. While understandably overshadowed by the talents of Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt, the film highlights how she was an important part of the lives of both men. It also gives more context to her own talents in painting and songwriting. Additionally, the film literally gives Susanna Clark a voice through home audio recordings and narration in her voice by actress Sissy Spacek.

If there is any weakness in the film, it would be that it leaves one wanting to know more about Guy Clark’s music. The movie does a good job giving space to the songs in the time it has, but it probably was inevitable that a movie about someone with such a deep catalog would leave viewers wanting more.

One also may be curious to know more about Clark’s personal life and his feelings about his complicated relationship with his wife and Townes Van Zandt. But of course one film can only cover so much ground.

The movie largely rises to the challenge of exploring the life and music of Clark. It also makes the case that Guy Clark is one of the great American singer-songwriters who is too often overlooked.

(Below is a featurette about the film, featuring Jack ingram, Lyle Lovett, Patty Griffin, Rodney Crowell and others. For more about the film, here is a link to an interesting conversation between Steve Earle and filmmaker Tamara Saviano.)

What is your favorite Guy Clark song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    • George Strait Sings a Marty Brown Song: “To the Moon” (Song of the Day)

    Country legend George Strait is including on his forthcoming album a new song co-written by Marty Brown and Steve Clark, “To the Moon.”

    For many years, we have covered the career of country singer Marty Brown. From his success with great albums in the 1990s, his comeback on America’s Got Talent, to his recent recordings, one of his strengths has always been his songwriting. So it is no surprise that one of the legends of country music, George Strait, recently recorded a song co-written by Brown, “To the Moon.”

    Brown co-wrote “To the Moon” with Steve Clark. The song takes some romantic lines and puts them in a beautiful context, creating a heartfelt country song.

    The song will appear on Strait’s upcoming album, Cowboys and Dreamers, to be released in September 2024.

    In the performance video below, George Strait illustrates how much he loves the song. Not only did he include it on his new album, here he dedicates the love song to his wife Norma.

    This recording was made at Strait’s June 15, 2024 at Kyle Field at Texas A&M University. There, Strait he set an attendance record with more than 110,000 fans. Check out another classic song from Marty Brown.

    Strait recently also performed the song on June 29, 2024 in Salt Lake City.

    We are lucky to have one of the country music legends like Strait still performing and releasing music. And while we can’t wait to hear the rest of the album, we are excited by “To the Moon” and hoping it may be another top single from Strait.

    What do you think of “To the Moon”? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    • James Carr, Living on “The Dark End of the Street”

    Soul singer James Carr’s troubled life kept him from continued success, but his original recording of “The Dark End of the Street” remains the classic version of the great song.

    Soul and R&B singer James Carr was born on June 13, 1942 in Mississippi. His family soon moved to Memphis, where Carr would grow up singing in the church and eventually for Goldwax Records (after being rejected by Stax). Carr is most remembered for his amazing vocal performance on the original recording of “The Dark End of the Street.”

    But, despite a spotty recording career for various reasons, Carr created some other great recordings in addition to “The Dark End of the Street.” Below, a young Carr sings “Love Attack” live in 1967, early in his career when he was full of promise.

    Prior to “Dark End of the Street,” Carr’s first success came from “You Got My Mind Messed Up,” which he released in 1966. Below he performs the song live late in his career.

    The Dark End of the Street

    Dan Penn and Chips Moman wrote “The Dark End of the Street,” and many artists have covered the song over the years, including Aretha Franklin, Percy Sledge, and Gram Parsons. But it is Carr’s original 1967 recording that stands out. It went to number 10 on the R&B chart and number 77 on the pop chart, but the recording remains timeless.

    Penn and Moman had the idea for the song when they were playing cards, with their conversation turning to the subject of cheating. During a break from the game, in about a half hour the two men created what Penn initially considered a “straightforward country cheatin’ ballad.”

    Carr’s version of the song may be the best recording ever made about a forbidden love. The two lovers meet “at the dark end of the street” where they are “hiding in shadows where we don’t belong.” During the day, they can’t acknowledge each other. But the most anguished part of the song is where Carr’s voice reveals that the singer knows it is a sin and inevitable they will be caught.

    Carr’s Life & Career

    Like the narrator of the song, James Carr experienced a lot of anguish in his life. And perhaps some of that pain came through in his songs. As “The Dark End of the Street” songwriter Dan Penn explained regarding the various versions of that song, “Nobody did it as good as James Carr. Not even me.”

    Carr suffered from bipolar disorder much of his life, and his recording career was off and on, without ever providing him the fame he deserved. His mental condition impaired his career in a number of ways, including abandoned recording sessions. Similarly, an overdose of antidepressants led him to freeze onstage before an audience in Japan in 1979. Even as he struggled with his mental health, he periodically made music, even recording two albums in the early 1990s.

    But in the mid-1990s, he was diagnosed with lung cancer. He passed away on January 7, 2001 at the age of 57 in a Memphis nursing home, leaving us too soon but leaving us with some great music from a troubled soul.

    Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Nina Simone: “To Love Somebody” (Cover of the Day)

    Nina Simone performs Barry Gibb’s “To Love Somebody” at the Jazz à Juan jazz festival in Juan-les-Pins, Antibes, France in 1969.

    In 2017, Barry Gibb was asked what was his favorite of all of the songs he had written. He reached back to a song that was released as a single fifty years earlier in 1967 to his wonderful track, “To Love Somebody.”

    I’m not sure if anyone asked him about the number of great covers of the song, but certainly one of my favorite versions is the one by Nina Simone, who was born in North Carolina on February 21, 1933 as Eunice Kathleen Waymon.

    Reportedly, Gibb wrote “To Love Somebody” with Otis Redding in mind. But unfortunately, Redding died before he had the chance to record “To Love Somebody.”

    Nina Simone released a cover of “To Love Somebody” in 1971 on her album of the same name. But she was performing the song live long before that release. Simone does something different than Redding probably would have done. She definitely takes a different approach than the hit recording by Gibb’s Bee Gees.

    Below, alone at the piano, she performs “To Love Somebody” at the Jazz à Juan jazz festival in Juan-les-Pins, Antibes, France in 1969. Unlike the Bee Gees version, her version never reaches the frenzy of passion that their original did.

    Similarly, here she avoids the groove and rhythm of her own full-band 1971 release that also featured backing vocals. Here, instead, she brings a longing sadness to the tune. Check it out.

    Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Loudon Wainwright III Was on M*A*S*H?

    Singer-songwriter Loudin Wainwright III brought his singing and acting talents to the third season of the TV series M*A*S*H.

    Loudin Wainwright III Unrequited

    Singer-songwriter Loudin Wainwright III has had a diverse career while creating a catalog of outstanding albums and songs. The Grammy-award winning artist’s early claim to fame was a 1972 novelty song, “Dead Skunk (in the Middle of the Road).” He was a musical guest during the inaugural season of Saturday Night Live in 1975. Through the years, Wainwright, once hailed as one of the “new Dylans,” has appeared in a number of TV shows and movies. But perhaps his most interesting recurring role was as Captain Calvin Spalding in three episodes of the third season of M*A*S*H during 1974-1975.

    Wainwright brought his musical talents to the character of Spalding, a singing surgeon. During his appearances, he played guitar and sang, as in the opening of the episode below, where he sings “Oh Tokyo” and “North Korea Blues.”

    Below, Wainwright plays some additional songs in an episode from November 1974. Wayne Rogers (as Trapper John) and Alan Alda (as Hawkeye Pierce) join in on the first song. Then, in perhaps his best performance from the show, Wainwright illustrates how the camp is missing the nurses who were evacuated due to an approaching enemy.

    Interestingly, Wainwright’s character name, “Captain Spalding,” referenced a famous Groucho Marx character Captain Jeffrey T. Spaulding in the 1930 movie Animal Crackers. In the movie, Marx’s character had the theme song, “Hooray for Captain Spaulding,” which Marx often used throughout his career. During the run of M*A*S*H, there were several Groucho references and Alda even donned a Groucho Marx costume in the episode “Yankee Doodle Doctor.”

    What Happened to M*A*S*H’s Captain Spalding?

    M*A*S*H creator Larry Gelbart brought Loudin Wainwright III to the show originally. Gelbert was a fan of Wainwright’s music and wanted to try adding his musical element to the show. Gelbert even wanted to use Wainwright more than they did during that third season. But due to the tight shooting schedules for the series, they were not able to make room for more Wainwright appearances.

    During his short time on the series and three episodes (“Rainbow Bridge,” “There Is Nothing Like a Nurse,” and “Big Mac”), though, Wainwright wrote and performed several songs. They included “North Korea Blues,” “Unrequited to the Nth Degree,” “I Wonder if They Miss Us,” “Five Gold Stars,” and “Big Mac Is Coming.”

    As for Captain Spalding, who we did see briefly as a surgeon in his final appearance, the series never explained his disappearance. Unlike many iconic characters of the show who had their own exits, Calvin Spalding and his guitar just seemed to disappear from the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital” in Uijeongbu, South Korea. Maybe he got transferred to another unit or got to go back home. Or maybe he ended up in Outer Mongolia playing basketball with Chuck Cunningham. But at least for a little while, he was part of one of the biggest shows on television.

    As for Loudin Wainwright III, he continued making music and acting, and also is the father of musicians Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright, and Lucy Wainwright Roche. The clip below features his final appearance on M*A*S*H, where he is asked to write a song for a visit by General Douglas MacArthur. The episode ends with Wainwright singing a part of his song to a disappointed camp (after MacArthur drove through camp without stopping). It was the last we would see of Calvin Spalding.

    What is your favorite non-major character from M*A*S*H? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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