W.C. Clark

Known as the "Godfather of Austin Blues", Wesley Curley Clark was born Nov. 16, 1939 and raised in Austin, Texas. By the time he was 16, he played his first show at Victory Grill and began playing bass with T.D. Bell's band, The Cadillacs. He spent years gigging at Charlie's Playhouse with Blues Boy Hubbard & The Jets then ended up joining Joe Tex's band. In the early 1970s, Clark teamed up with guitarist and piano player Danny Freeman and vocalist Angelia Strehli to form a group called Southern Feeling. No record deal was forthcoming so Clark was working a day job when a young Stevie Ray Vaughan courted him to join his band. With Lou Ann Barton as singer, the group called themselves the Triple Threat Revue with Clark on bass. In the late 70s Clark formed his own group The W.C. Clark Blues Review and soon came the independently-released "Something For Everybody" (1986). In 1989, the critically acclaimed PBS television show Austin City Limits brought Clark together in front of a live audience, with his disciples Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimmie Vaughan, Kim Wilson, Lou Ann Barton, Angela Strehli and Will Sexton all taking part. The broadcast, one of the series' most popular, brought Clark to the attention of a national audience for the first time. This lead to a record deal with Hammond Scott's Black Top Records. "Heart Of Gold" appeared in 1994, followed by the W.C. Handy Award-winning "Texas Soul" in 1996. In the spring of 1997 both Clark's fiancée and his drummer were killed when their tour van crashed outside of Dallas. One more Black Top Record was released, "Lover's Plea" before Black Top folded. He has since signed with Alligator Records and continues to release soul-drenched Texas blues like nobody else can.

Album Discography

"Something For Everybody" (Drippin' 1986)

information needed on this LP

"Heart Of Gold" (Black Top 1994)

"Texas Soul" (Black Top 1995)

"Lover's Plea" (Black Top 1998)

"From Austin With Soul" (Alligator 2002)

"Deep In The Heart" (Alligator 2004)