Andrew Smith
This Bear Family 31-track CD highlights some of Sanford Clark’s output between 1956 and 1967 for their “Rocks” series. Best known for his hit, The Fool and a minor hit follow-up, A Cheat (both with guitar by Al Casey), Clark was a pleasant-voiced rockabilly and country performer who was associated for much of his career with West-Coast producer, Lee Hazlewood.
Songs on this CD vary from rockabilly (Ooo Baby, Usta Be My Baby, Don’t Care, Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens) to country (It’s Nothing To Me, also recorded by Jim Reeves, the oft-recorded Black Jack County Chain, Houston, also covered by Dean Martin, and an up-tempo version of Merle Travis’ Nine Pound Hammer.
Bear Family have also released other Sanford Clark albums on CD and vinyl, but most have now been deleted. A Youtube preview gives prospective buyers a taste of what’s in store if they go ahead and order the album.
Unfortunately, Clark wasn’t teen-idol material, like Elvis and others, because he was married, had spent three years in the Air Force, and he lacked confidence, although he toured with the likes of Gene Vincent, Johnny Cash, and Carl Perkins.
The at-times demanding Hazlewood, however, seems to have put him at ease in the recording studio and generously brought in session players of the calibre of Glen Campbell, Billy Strange, Jimmy Bryant, James Burton, Howard Roberts, and Billy Vaughan. Hazlewood’s productions are first rate and competently engineered. For a time, Randy Wood’s Gallatin (Tennessee) based Dot Records distributed some of Clark’s records.
To enhance the listening experience, Bear Family has, as usual, included a comprehensive booklet, comprising background information by Bill Dahl and a discography by album producer, Nico Feuerbach. Sanford Clark was a victim of the COVID crisis: he died at the age of 85 in 2021.
This album, then, is a fitting memorial and tribute to his music. It can be purchased directly from Bear Family in Germany or Amazon outlets in the USA, Australia and the United Kingdom.
Some interesting footnotes: two songs on this CD were co-produced by Waylon Jennings, who also played guitar on them, in Phoenix, in 1965. Clark’s The Fool was featured in the Netflix film Win It All and the movie Dallas Buyers Club.
Lee Hazlewood purportedly insisted on some 100 takes of The Fool before he was satisfied with the sound. And Sanford Clark died in Joplin, Missouri, scene of a 1933 shootout between the police and the Bonnie and Clyde Gang.
Check out the Sanford Clark – Rocks promotion on YouTube
