I have just heard of the passing of my dear friend, Mickey Clark. Mickey and I worked on two albums together which are among the best I have produced and albums that I listen to again and again.
Here is what I wrote in 2008 in a note for the first album “Winding Highways.”
Sometime last winter I got a message from my old friend Sam Bush asking if it was alright if he gave my phone number to his friend Mickey Clark, who was wanting to get in touch with me about making a record. About the same time I got a call from another old friend, Jerry Jeff Walker, also asking me if I’d get in touch with Mickey Clark. Who was this Mickey Clark? The name rang a bell, but I wasn’t quite placing him until Jerry mentioned that Mickey had lived in Nashville back in the late ’70’s and early ’80’s when he was writing songs at the Glaser Brothers (as had John Hartford) and Combine Music (as had my friends Chris Gantry, Lee Clayton and Guy & Susanna Clark). Back then I was part of “Cowboy” Jack Clement’s musical family and was also circulating nightly around the bars where all of us were hanging out–Bishop’s Pub, Friday’s, The Exit/In, The Gold Rush. Mickey and I passed like ships in the night back then, but the time was not yet right for us to get together. Sam and Jerry Jeff were basically telling me that the time was now. How right they were.
I hadn’t talked to Mickey for five minutes when I knew we were kindred spirits. He was very sincere and open when he told me that he had been wanting to make the kind of album that I had made with people like Jerry Jeff, Nanci Griffith, Iris Dement and John Prine. Would I be willing to give him a chance? I didn’t hesitate. His faith in himself and his honesty compelled me to say, “Yes.”
As we worked together over the next months, it continually amazed me how it was that we had both traveled such similar paths in life without ever really connecting until now. Like me, Mickey was part of the folk music scene in the ’60’s. We both played some in Greenwich Village, in Toronto, and the small coffeehouses of the time. Like me, Mickey was picking up songs from the other troubadours he encountered along the way. Songs like “Louise,” “Night Rider’s Lament,” “Goodnight-Loving Trail” and “Windigo” come out of this period. Like me, Mickey began to write his own songs and followed his heart to Nashville to work on his craft and see if he could have some luck. “Bound To Lovin’ You,” “In The Blink of an Eye” and “Don’t Piss On My Boots and Tell Me It’s Rainin'” (written with good friend Jim Zerface) all stand up to the Nashville test.
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However, luck in the form of a hit song eluded Mickey, as it had me. I went into engineering and producing and music publishing while continuing to write and play because I loved it. Mickey and his wife Sandy returned to his hometown of Louisville where his other passion in life, basketball, led him to work with the University of Louisville Cardinals. But Mickey could never give up on music. He had to write. He had to sing and play because he loved it. A film project gave him the opportunity to write about his home area and gave us “Red Velvet Cake,” “Shanty Boat Bill,” and “Where The Green River Flows.” Mickey became an important part of Louisville’s music scene, playing regularly around town and occasionally at old haunts in Texas and out west. “Rodeo Fool,” “Wyoming Child,” and “Tijuana Tequila” would serve Mickey well in many a honkytonk.
All those years add up. Some people get worn down, but not Mickey. If anything, he’s more focused than ever. The songs he sings and writes tell stories about real people, their ups, their downs. They are full of compassion, love of life and laughter. Joining Mickey to help him tell these stories was a wonderful group of well-travelled friends–Turley Richards, Sam Bush, Tim Krekel, Robin & Linda Williams, Jerry Jeff Walker, Kinky Friedman and John Prine. Some say you can judge a man by the company he keeps. Mickey has kept company with some of the best. When he called, they did not hesitate. They were ready to join their friend in this celebration of a life lived in song. I was proud to join them. They probably realize more than most what it means to live such a life without losing faith. Mickey Clark has kept the faith.
–Jim Rooney
September, 2008
Mickey guesting with The Irregulars Shawn Camp, Jim Rooney
As I got to know Mickey better over the years my description of him as a man of faith seemed truer and truer. My last visit with Mickey and his wife Sandy was in Nashville in late May. Cancer had definitely taken its toll on Mickey’s body. Just walking across the street to a restaurant was a major effort requiring him to stop frequently to gather his strength, but once seated in a booth, the smile came back and Mickey’s indomitable optimism shone through. We talked about the work we had done together and how my little grandson Nason wanted to hear Mickey Clark every time he got into the car. When Nason went with his parents Sonya and Jason to one of Mickey’s gigs in Louisville Mickey would let Nason get up and do his “sound check” –“check, check 1, 2, 1, 2.” Just that simple act of paying attention to a 3-year old was pure Mickey Clark. Shortly before Mickey passed I wrote him that though he would be leaving us physically, he will live on in little Nason’s heart. What a legacy! He will live on in my heart as well, and the hearts of so many he has touched with his music and his faith in life. God bless Mickey Clark!
