Well, this was an unexpected pleasure.

Old No. 1 Revisited drops a full half-century plus one (gulp) after Guy Clark issued Old No. 1, a timeless pillar of honest country roots music. Not a huge seller at the time, it is only with the passage of time and, inevitably, with Clark’s passing in 2016 that its value has become truly realized and recognized. It’s not the first time others have celebrated Clark’s songs; an earlier all-star tribute, 2011’s This One’s for Him: A Tribute to Guy Clark, helped defray the not inconsiderable medical costs of his fight with lymphoma. But fifteen years have passed since then, and Old No. 1 Revisited gets the happy task of introducing Clark to the next generation.

Here we get a bevy of the current great and good in country and Americana, ranging from Margo Price and Sarah Jarosz to a returning Rodney Crowell, present on the earlier tribute as well as the original. Producer Dan Kobler put the album together, in conjunction with the Guy Clark Family Foundation. Players as noteworthy as Sam Bush (mandolin) and Mickey Raphael (harmonica) turned up, and guest harmony vocals come courtesy of the likes of Rosanne Cash and Ruth Moody. (Raphael appeared alongside Crowell on the original Clark release.) Besides the faithful track by track recreation of the original, there is a 100-page book, by Peter Blackstock, full of interviews of those involved with Clark at that time, and photos that document the process. All proceeds will return to the family trust.
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