1 Rita Ballou
2 L.A. Freeway
3 She Ain't Goin' Nowhere
4 A Nickel for the Fiddler
5 That Old Time Feeling
6 Texas, 1947
7 Desperados Waiting for a Train
8 Like a Coat from the Cold
9 Instant Coffee Blues
10 Let Him Roll
11 Texas Cookin'
12 Anyhow, I Love You
13 Virginia's Real
14 It's About Time
15 Good to Love You Lady
16 Broken Hearted People
17 Black Haired Boy
18 Me I'm Feeling the Same
19 The Ballad of Laverne and Captain Flint
20 The Last Gunfighter Ballad

From Amazon.com

Classic country all the way

 Album Rating: (5 of 5 stars)

Review Comments: This is a great selection of pure country. Mostly soft songs with good story telling. A colleciton of "pretty" songs done in Guy Clark's unique style. All selections were enjoyable---didn't skip over any. "Cat Ballou" was frisky and fun and "L.A. Freeway" starts out slow and easy but picks up energy later on. Mellow is an over-all discription. I loved it.

OLD NO. 1, TEXAS COOKING

 Album Rating: (4 of 5 stars)

Review Comments: Guy Clark is a minor God and this is a great Gospel of his "stuff", not Gnostic but Texas Gospels, and not gospel music, per se'. If you don't know much about Texas music this is an excellent intro and required listening for those who have found Townes and Steve. An excellent CD for your collection or as a gift.

Welcome back

 Album Rating: (5 of 5 stars)

Review Comments: I had the original LP's but they got lost in one of the many moves made over the years. In CD, the albums have been released and discontinued in a cycle that I couldn't keep up with and never bought. I could only find "The Essential Guy Clark" which is a reasonable facsimile of his first two albums. Still it didn't feel right to listen to a different order of the songs with a couple left out. Now both Guy's first albums are available again and it's truly "essential".

Classic

 Album Rating: (4 of 5 stars)

Review Comments: This album is filled with Classic Texas songs. From Rita Ballou, to LA Freeway, to Like a Coat From the Cold, you will not want to stop listening to this CD and will find yourself singing along every chance you get. Sung in a voice that is uniquely Guy Clark, his throaty version of each song makes it his own. A must for any fan of Texas Country or Guy Clark.

Seventies country-rock

 Album Rating: (5 of 5 stars)

Review Comments: Better known as a songwriter, Guy's always-brilliant albums never sold in big quantities. Maybe Guy's voice didn't appeal to mainstream country radio, or maybe his lake of stage presence when performing live counted against him. Although he never became a major star, Guy built up a significant fan base in Britain and America. More significantly, other singers appreciated the quality of his songs and have recorded many of them as well as lending their support on Guy's own recordings. Thus, even if you've never heard any of Guy's own music, you may well have heard some of his songs. This twofer contains Guy's two albums for RCA - the first two albums of his career.

Guy's debut album (Old No 1) occupies the first ten tracks here and is generally regarded as the best album of his career. Among the stars providing harmony vocals are Rodney Crowell, Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle and Sammi Smith. It is extraordinary to think that Steve Earle (whose own music was influenced by Guy's to some extent) didn't make his own breakthrough until more than a decade after this album was recorded. The set opens with Rita Ballou, later covered by Vince Gill (you can find it on his breakthrough album, When I call your name). The most famous songs here are LA freeway (a minor American hit for Jerry Jeff Walker), Texas 1947 (covered by Johnny Cash) and Desperadoes waiting for a train (covered by many different artists).

Following the critical acclaim of his debut, Guy followed it up with the almost equally brilliant Texas cooking, which occupies the last ten tracks here. Rodney and Emmylou again provide harmony, this time joined by Jerry Jeff Walker, Nicolette Larson, Waylon Jennings, Hoyt Axton and Tracy Nelson among others. Further classic songs are to be found here including The last gunfighter ballad (later covered by Johnny Cash).

Subsequent albums provided further songs for others to record including Heartbroke (Ricky Skaggs), She's crazy for leaving (Rodney Crowell) and Old friends (Lacy J Dalton). Guy's versions of those songs can be found elsewhere.

Whatever the reasons for Guy's lack of commercial success, he has proved his worth as a songwriter while there are enough people (including me) who appreciate his music to warrant record companies re-issuing his old material.