Americana family pays fulsome tribute to a true classic of the genre.
In an interview published in the February 2026 edition of Uncut, Emmylou Harris is quoted saying, “It’s because of Guy [Clark] and Townes [van Zandt] that americana exists. They had to create another part of the playing field”. Those of us whose first acquaintance with Clark’s debut Old No. 1 came about from the relentless championing in Zigzag magazine will recognise that. It lit a path that could enable country music to reclaim its essence from the industrial machine on Music Row.
Fifty years on, their spiritual children (and a couple of contemporaries) have come together to pay tribute to a record rightly labelled seminal. It is released at the same time as Old No. 1 at 50: A History of Guy Clark’s First Album, a new book written by Peter Blackstock. The 100-page book features interviews by Natalie Weiner and was edited by Tamara Saviano, the author and filmmaker known for the biography and documentary Without Getting Killed or Caught: The Life and Music of Guy Clark. The book includes interviews with people who were in the room during the making of the album, as well as the story of the “lost” album that was recorded before Old No. 1 and why it was never released. There is an accounting of the songs and the backstory, according to Guy Clark. Proceeds from both the album and the book will benefit the Guy Clark Family Foundation.
Producer Dan Kobler gathered together a firmament of musical and singing stars at his Good Wishes studio in Nashville, and it’s fair to say between them, they have produced a worthy tribute to a classic album.
Margo Price leads the way, with Rita Ballou laying out the tale of the cowboy heartbreaker against a tight backing which includes some sweet pedal steel from Russ Pahl and some fine backing vocals led by Logan Ledger and Nicki Bluhm. Jade Bird isn’t an obvious choice to sing LA Freeway as she recently moved from Austin to Los Angeles. However, she retains the feel of Clark’s original, and Eamon McLoughlin’s mandolin shines throughout the accompaniment.
Nat Smith’s cello leads Sarah Jarosz into She Ain’t Going Nowhere. Her vocal truly captures the intimacy and the drama of the song. Jarosz also plays mandolin while harmonies are provided by Erin Rae and Ruth Moody. Next up is A Nickel For The Fiddler sung by Kelsey Waldon backed by a crack band of Critter Eldridge (guitar, Sam Bush (mandolin), Christian Sedelmyer (fiddle), Smith (cello) and Dennis Crouch (bass). You can imagine Waldon leading a crowd dancing as she rattles through the verses and chorus. Instrumental breaks in the gaps are exemplary.
Rae steps out front for That Old Time Feeling, the side 1 closer and bottles the smoky late-night slow-dance ambience of the tune. Jarosz adds mandolin, and harmonies come courtesy of Roseanne Cash and Ruth Moody. Brennen Leigh’s own records are full of honky tonking oomph, and her treatment of Texas 1947 is just right for the song. You can feel the heat and humidity and picture the scene in the small town in the late 1940s as the train barrels on through.
Desperados Waiting For A Train is probably the best-known song on the record, and credit to Andrew Combs (ably supported by Rodney Crowell) for taking on this iconic tune. It’s so well-known it’s hard not to hear Clark himself in your head as the story of the friendship between old and new generations unfolds. Combs and Crowell capture both the emotion and the swells of the song. Clark’s songs have a cinematic quality, but this one may be the cherry on the cake.
Logan Ledger has a real old-school country-music voice, which he wraps all around Like A Coat From The Cold. Steered in by Pahl’s pedal steel, Ledger catches a quiver in his vocal, eking the emotion from the lyric. Mickey Raphael’s harmonica twists beautifully through the words and music; it’s borderline perfect. Instant Coffee Blues is rendered by Aaron Lee Tasjan with Audley Freed on electric guitar, Pahl’s pedal steel and Crouch’s bass flowing the music through Clark’s miniature of a one-night stand right up to the two parting in the morning.
For the final song, Let Him Roll, Knobler brings in author Caroline Randall Williams to handle the spoken-word tale of old-time characters and their lives of hard work and broken hearts.
Knobler and the assembled musicians and vocalists pay a fine musical tribute to a true americana classic and one that rewards repeated listens.
