Steve Earle & The Dukes Prep Guy Clark Tribute Album GUY, Share “Dublin Blues”

Steve Earle & The Dukes will release a Guy Clark tribute album called GUY this spring, it was announced today.

The album, which drops March 29 on New West Records, features sixteen Clark originals and was produced by Earle and recorded by Ray Kennedy.

The album was a long-time coming. When Earle arrived in Nashville from San Antonio, Texas in the mid-‘70s, Clark, who passed away from cancer in 2016, largely functioned as a mentor and teacher for Earle, as well as other young songwriters of the day like Rodney Crowell. The record is a way for Earle to honor Clark’s tutelage.

In 2009, Earle paid homage to another of his guiding lights, Townes Van Zandt, with a tribute album called TOWNES. 

“No way I could get out of doing this record,” Earle said in a press statement. “When I get to the other side, I didn’t want to run into Guy having made the TOWNES record and not one about him … Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark were like Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg to me.”

“If you asked Townes what it’s all about, he’d hand you a copy of Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee,” Earle continued. “If you asked Guy the same question, he’d take out a piece of paper and teach you how to diagram a song, what goes where. Townes was one of the all-time great writers, but he only finished three songs during the last 15 years of his life. Guy had cancer and wrote songs until the day he died … he painted, he built instruments, he owned a guitar shop in the Bay Area where the young Bobby Weir hung out. He was older and wiser. You hung around with him and knew why they call what artists do disciplines. Because he was disciplined.”  

 “GUY wasn’t really a hard record to make,” Earle said. “We did it fast, five or six days with almost no overdubbing. I wanted it to sound live … When you’ve got a catalog like Guy’s and you’re only doing 16 tracks, you know each one is going to be strong.” 

The album features guest appearances by fellow Clark compadres Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell, Terry Allen, Jerry Jeff Walker, Mickey Raphael, Shawn Camp, Verlon Thompson, Gary Nicholson, and the photographer Jim McGuire.  

Listen to “Dublin Blues” and check out Earle’s upcoming tour dates below.

Read our 2013 cover story on Guy Clark here.

GUY Track Listing:
1. Dublin Blues
2. L.A. Freeway
3. Texas 1947
4. Desperados Waiting For A Train
5. Rita Ballou
6. The Ballad Of Laverne And Captain Flint
7. The Randall Knife
8. Anyhow I Love You
9. That Old Time Feeling
10. Heartbroke
11. The Last Gunfighter Ballad
12. Out In The Parking Lot
13. She Ain’t Going Nowhere
14. Sis Draper
15. New Cut Road
16. Old Friends

Steve Earle On Tour:
January 11th – Boston, MA City Winery
January 12th – Nashville, TN Bridgestone Arena (Willie Nelson’s 85th Birthday Celebration
January 14th – Chicago, IL City Winery
January 15th – Chicago, IL City Winery
January 17th – Nashville, TN City Winery
January 18th & 19th – Santa Rosa, FL 30A Festival
January 20th – Atlanta, GA City Winery
January 22nd – Sellersville, PA Sellersville Theater
January 23rd – Boston, MA City Winery
January 24th – New York, NY City Winery
January 25th – Washington, DC City Winery
January 27th – February 1st – Outlaw Country Cruise
February 10th – Boston, MA City Winery
February 11th – New York, NY City Winery
February 12th – Washington, DC City Winery
February 13th – Washington, DC City Winery
February 15th – Atlanta, GA City Winery
February 16th – Nashville, TN City Winery
February 17th – Cincinnati, OH Ludlow Garage
February 19th – Lawrence, KS Liberty Hall
February 21st – Dallas, TX Kessler Theater
February 22nd – Houston, TX The Heights Theater
February 23rd – Austin, TX The Paramount (Texas Songwriters Hall of Fame)
February 25th – Chicago, IL City Winery
February 26th – Chicago, IL City Winery
February 28th – Albany, NY The Egg
March 1st – Rockport, MA Shalin Liu Performance Center
March 2nd – Ithaca, NY Hangar Theatre
June 29th – Owensboro, KY Romp Festival * with the Dukes
July 18th – Bala, ONT Kee To Bala * with the Dukes
September 3rd – 6th – Big Indian, NY (Steve Earle’s Camp Copperhead)