Cowboy Jack Clement dies

[afterburn 549]

Yesterday morning
One great song writer GONE !

Clement's career included stops in Memphis at Sun Records as an engineer for Sam Phillips, where he discovered Jerry Lee Lewis and recorded greats like Carl Perkins and Roy Orbison. He also came through Nashville, where he was a close collaborator of Johnny Cash and many of his fellow hall of fame members, including fellow 2013 inductee Bobby Bare.

As the hall of fame noted, he was a catalyst who always seemed to bring the best out of those he worked with.

For instance, he convinced Lewis to put aside the country material he brought to Sun Records and stretch out with something a little more upbeat. The result? "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On."

And how about this? He convinced Kristofferson to move to town, changing just about everything in Music City.

Kristofferson wrote in an email that Clement was the first person he met when he arrived in Nashville, still wearing his Army uniform.

"He introduced me to Johnny Cash by showing him a letter my mother had written disowning me for resigning my commission to be a songwriter," he wrote. "To me Jack will always be the embodiment of the Nashville songwriter's love of the song, regardless of who the writer was."

Speaking of Cash, it was Clement who came up with the idea of putting Mariachi horns on Cash's "Ring of Fire," transforming a fairly sedate love song into an ascendant pop culture moment that would endure time.
"He was the maestro, the ringleader of tomfoolery, and I know Johnny Cash and Sam Phillips are ready to get back to work now that he's in heaven," said Cornett, who produced the benefit concert.

[asphaltgambler]

Actually Cash was quoted many times saying the Mariachi horns came to him in a dream. He admitted at the time he really didn't know the proper name. He said "Adding Mexican horns" to the track.

He said he just knew exactly what the horns should sound like in the sound. Possibly he told that to Clement the next day and it went from there.