Roy's Back--And Still Believable!

by Arline Chandler

Couples heading to Branson this year have the opportunity to hear this charismatic performer

Back in the early 1960s when Roy Clark's first hit, The Tips of My Fingers, topped both country and pop charts, the accomplished musician had no plan to break new ground in the music industry. "We didn't call it a crossover then. We just wanted to be believable," he says in his typical manner of sharing success with the musicians who back him.

As a headliner on Hee-Haw, the longest running syndicated series in television history, Roy Clark again impacted the course of musical entertainment. While two generations grew up, he made himself at home in America's living rooms. His self-described "good ole Roy" personality played down his musical virtuosity to identify with the men in his audience. And the women? "I remind mothers and daughters of their brothers or sons," he says with a laugh. "I have no illusions that I'm a Greek god!"

Believable. Neighborly. Down-to-earth and downright country. A man who laughs at himself and genuinely smiles back at his fans. Roy Clark was a natural for the Midwestern audiences filtering into Branson back in the early 1980s. When he opened the Roy Clark Celebrity Theater on the crowded Highway 76 strip, he set the scene for an influx of his contemporaries in both the country and pop music fields. Branson exploded from a summer get-away to a national phenomenon. Audiences broadened to an international scope.

After a fourteen-year run on his own stage, Clark officially sold his theater in 1997. From his home in Tulsa, Oklahoma, he continues to tour, record, and perform on television. During 1999, the master of strings and a country song played engagements at Lowe's BransonTown USA. But the year 2000 left fans searching for his spontaneous humor and lightning fingers on a guitar and banjo.

However, to the applause of all ages, the 2001 season brings the believable Roy Clark back to the Branson scene he helped to create. Teaming with Doug Gabriel on selected dates at 9:30 a.m. at the newly named Ripley's Believe It Or Not! Live Theater, Clark storms the stage with his characteristic charisma.

"It pays to be nice to people," he says in jest. "I remember when Doug Gabriel worked for me!"

He goes on to poke fun at his first crack at a morning schedule. "I never did anything on purpose this early in the day," he adds.

But, whatever the hour, the master of his music pulls together a tightened show, interchanging sentimental hits such as "Come Live With Me" with the more cynical lyrics of "Thank God and Greyhound, You're Gone!"

Although Clark jokes about being nice to hedge his opportunities, congeniality comes natural to this performer. Known among his peers as the "good guy," he admits that his success did not follow some sweeping scheme. Raised in Washington DC as the son of a musician who played in a square dance band, Clark immersed himself in different kinds of music, including free concerts by the National Symphony and various military bands. His dad advised: "Never turn your ear off to music until your heart hears it."

Clearly one of those people born with a 'hillbilly heart' and music coursing through his veins, a young Roy Clark picked out melodies on banjo and mandolin. At age 14, he found a Sears Silvertone guitar under the Christmas tree. That same year, he made his first television appearance. A year later, he earned $2 for his first paid performance with his dad's band.

Music took over his life, taking him into bars and lounges even as a teenager. He skipped school more than he attended and dropped out all together by age 15.

"Music was my salvation. The thing I loved most and did best," he recalls. "I played whatever happened to be fun--country, jazz, pop, and early rock n' roll. I played with both black and white groups, learning to play fast and sometimes, even with my feet."

Clark's proficiency broadened. He went on tour with country legends the likes of Hank Williams and Grandpa Jones. After winning a national banjo competition in 1950, he was invited to perform at the Grand Ole Opry, which later led to shows with Red Foley and Ernest Tubb. In the 1950s, he joined Jimmy Dean and the Texas Wildcats, appearing in clubs and on radio and television. He even backed up the rock n'roll king, Elvis Presleyóan experience evident in his current rendition of Presley's hallmark "Heartbreak Hotel."

Approaching the age of 30, Clark still played behind the stars. An invitation to open for Wanda Jackson at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas proved to be his big break. A road tour stretching over 345 consecutive nights took him full circle back to Las Vegas in 1962. He appeared as a headliner and recording star with his debut album The Lightning Fingers Of Roy Clark.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Roy Clark's vocal recordings landed on Billboard's Top 40 Country list. His 12-string guitar performance of Malaguena is considered a classic. In 1982, his Alabama Jubilee won a Grammy for Best Country Instrumental Performance.

From his first appearances on "The Tonight Show" and "American Bandstand" to television variety shows with top names such as Mike Douglas and Flip Wilson, he projected a jovial attitude and countrified jokes. "My sense of humor is a blessing," Clark states. "My earliest recollections are of looking at something and seeing the lighter side. But it's always spontaneous. I couldn't ever write a comedy skit."

Clark has no need for scripted comedy. He's never bought a joke. Onstage, surrounded by his band of talented young people, unrestrained fun happens naturally in every guitar lick. "I tell my guys, 'let's not do it correct,' but 'let's do it right!' For me, live performances is what it's all about!"

A consummate musician, no matter the genre, Roy Clark co-starred with Petula Clark at Caesar's Palace, became the first country artist to headline at the Montreux International Jazz Festival, and appeared in London on "The Tom Jones Show." But the highlight of his career, he says, was a pioneering, sold-out 1976 tour of the then Soviet Union.
"Even though they didn't know the words, there were tears in their eyes when I played Yesterday, When I Was Young," he says. "Folks in that country said we wouldn't realize in our lifetime the good we'd accomplished just because of our pickin' around."

When Clark returned in 1988 to now-Russia, he was honored as a hero. Though he doesn't read music, he's the rare entertainer worthy of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Academy of Country Music's Pioneer Award, and membership in the Gibson (Guitar) Hall of Fame. He's an entertainer equally at home in Las Vegas as the first country artist inducted into its Entertainers Hall of Fame, in Nashville where he became the 63rd member of the Grand Ole Opry, in New York on the stage of Carnegie Hall, and in Branson at Ripley's Believe It Or Not! Live Theater.

When Roy Clark comes to town, he's back to play. And his fans had better believe he's believable!

Copyright Arline Chandler

Arline Chandler left a teaching career to launch full-time into writing, discovering people and places for articles in Workamper News, Vocational Biographies, Highways to Adventure, and other entertainment, travel, and senior adult publications. In addition to numerous awards, the Ozarks Writers League presented Chandler with the 1995 Dan Saults Award.