Jack Henderson Clement (April 5, 1931[2] – August 8, 2013) was an American musician, songwriter, record producer, film producer and music executive.[3]
Clement was born on April 5, 1931,[2] in the Whitehaven neighborhood of Memphis, Tennessee.[4] He grew up and went to school in Memphis, learned guitar and was performing at an early age, playing guitar and dobro. In 1946 at the age of 15, he ran away from home.[5] In 1948, prior to pursuing a career in music, he commenced his service in the United States Marine Corps. While serving in Washington, D.C., Clement, fiddler Scotty Stoneman and mandolinist Buzz Busby formed the Tennessee Troupers, a bluegrass band.[6] In 1953 he made his first record for Sheraton Records in Boston. From 1953 to 1955 he studied at Memphis State University, where he gained the nickname "Cowboy". During his student days he played steel guitar with a local band, and he co-founded Fernwood publishing company with bandmate Slim Wallace in 1954.[3]
In 1959, he was hired by Chet Atkins to work as a producer at RCA Victor in Nashville, where he worked for the next year and a half, producing albums for Del Wood and others.[4] In 1960, Jim Reeves had a top-10 country hit with Clement's song "I Know One".[7]
Clement returned to Nashville in 1965 and became a significant figure in the country music business, and attracting enough music industry professionals to the area that he was called the "Pied Piper of Nashville".[10] He wrote the comedic "The One on the Right Is on the Left", which was a No. 2 country and No. 46 pop hit for Johnny Cash in 1966.[2] In 1968, he produced albums for Townes Van Zandt.[7]
Clement was instrumental in launching the career of Charley Pride by producing a demo and playing it for RCA Records executive Chet Atkins, resulting in Pride's being offered a recording contract. Clement wrote and produced "Just Between You and Me" and "I Know One", which became Pride's first two major hits. Clement would produce 20 albums for Pride over a six-and-a-half-year stretch,[1][11]
In 1974, Clement sold the Jack Clement Recording Studios to producer Larry Butler and Al Mifflin, and established a recording studio in his home, which he named The Cowboy Arms Hotel and Recording Spa.[17][1]
Clement was involved in a few film projects as a singer or songwriter of soundtracks. He produced and part-financed the 1975 horror film, Dear Dead Delilah, which was a financial disaster and the last film performance by the actress Agnes Moorehead.[2]
In 1978, Clement released a solo album, All I Want to Do in Life, which generated three charting country singles.[1]
In 1987, Clement was approached by Irish rock band U2 to record at Sun Studio in Memphis. He was not familiar with the band's music but agreed to arrange the session. The resulting work appeared on U2's next album, Rattle and Hum, ("When Love Comes to Town", with B.B. King; "Angel of Harlem", a tribute to Billie Holiday; and "Love Rescue Me", with backing vocals by Bob Dylan),[2] as well as the Woody Guthrie song "Jesus Christ", which was included on the 1988 album Folkways: A Vision Shared — A Tribute to Woody Guthrie & Leadbelly. Extracts from the sessions appeared in the 1988 film Rattle and Hum.
Later life and death
In November 2003, Clement performed his song made famous by Johnny Cash, "Guess Things Happen That Way", on CMT's Johnny Cash Memorial Tribute concert TV special.
He recorded a second solo album, Guess Things Happen That Way, in 2004. His documentary, Cowboy Jack's Home Movies was named Best Documentary at the 2005 Nashville Film Festival. In 2005, a documentary about Clement, Shakespeare Was a Big George Jones Fan, was created by Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville. It was pieced together from Clement's home videos and interviews with peers, including Jerry Lee Lewis and Bono, and released on DVD in 2007.[7]
On June 25, 2011, a fire destroyed his home and studio on Belmont Boulevard in Nashville.[19] Clement was unhurt, but many priceless recordings and memorabilia were lost. On April 10, 2013, it was announced he would be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.[9]
Clement died at his home in Nashville on August 8, 2013. He had suffered from liver cancer.[20] He had a daughter, Alison, also a singer and writer; and a son, Niles, an engineer and photographer.
References
^ abcdefClark, Rick (December 1, 2003). "Jack Clement". Mix. Retrieved August 5, 2024.
^ abcdKosser, Michael (2006). How Nashville Became Music City, U.S.A.: A History Of Music Row. Lanham, Maryland, US: Backbeat Books. pp. 110–119. ISBN978-1-49306-512-7.
^Kosser, Michael (2006). How Nashville Became Music City, U.S.A.: A History Of Music Row. Lanham, Maryland, US: Backbeat Books. pp. 116–118. ISBN978-1-49306-512-7.
