Roy Clark just has fun when he plays, which is what made him the perfect host for Hee Haw through its entire run. Behind all the goofiness and joke-telling is one incredible guitar player whose abilities and influence reach far beyond Country and Western music. I had never heard anyone play the guitar like him the first time I saw him, and I’m still amazed at some of the things he could do. He’s a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Grand Ole Opry, does a lot of charity work (he raffled off his 1953 Piper Tri-Jet to benefit Wings of Hope and plays an annual concert to raise money for scholarships for young musicians at Longwood University in Farmingdale, Virginia), and still finds time to play. He makes his home in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where they have a grammar school named for him.
Today’s first selection is probably his biggest hit, “Yesterday When I Was Young,” a song originally recorded by Charles Aznavour. It reached #9 on the Billboard Country Chart in 1969 and #19 on the Top 100, #2 on the Canadian Country Chart and #1 on the Adult Contemporary Chart. This performance was from the Hee Haw archives.
From the sublime to the ridiculous: Roy playing the “12th Street Rag” on Jimmy Dean’s show. Roy plays this on a Fender Jazzmaster, and adds in his eye-rolling, mugging, and comic musical embellishments while playing.
Roy Clark, your Two for Tuesday, September 17, 2013.
The Sound of One Hand Typing 
Okay, okay. For showing up late, is what google says.
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Maybe he showed up late and drunk. Anyway, leaving that little tidbit out was a, editorial decision. ;)
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you really should mention how, when he was on the Jimmy Dean morning show, he was fired. For showing up drunk. It’s part of his story, after all, and it didn’t hurt his career a bit.
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