W. C. Clark – the influential Austin musician who had an indelible impact on the city’s blues scene and mentored some of its most notable exports – has died aged 84.
The news was reported by former Austin Chronicle columnist and music historian Michael Corcoran, who relayed news provided by Clark’s manager, Vicky Moerbe, in an article posted to his Substack.
According to Moerbe, Clark checked into Seton Hospital after his show at Giddy Ups – a venue where he held a residency for the last six years of his life – on February 20: “It all happened so fast,” she said. “He was acting erratically, not feeling like himself.”
“We have lost one of the true masters,” reflected Carolyn Wonderland, a musician whose band often opened for Clark’s own. “W.C. was the bridge between at least three generations of Austin musicians. He was genuinely happy to share the joy and the spotlight with those around him.”
As alluded to by Wonderland, Clark was a hugely impactful member of the Austin blues scene, and had a generation-spanning influence on the likes of Stevie Ray Vaughan and his brother Jimmie Vaughan, the former of whom he played alongside as a member of the Triple Threat Revue.
Throughout his life, Clark selflessly gave priceless guidance and advice to up-and-coming blues guitarists (he also taught guitar to Will and Charlie Sexton), which earned him the nickname “the Godfather of Austin Blues”.
Long before he was anointed that title, though, Wesley Curley Clark grew up in Austin, and picked up guitar in the early ’50s after having gained exposure to gospel music through choirs.
His first paying gig came at the age of 16 (when he played with T.D. Bell’s band, the Cadillacs) and by the time he was later tapped by Joe Tex for his first tour in the late ‘60s, Clark had already developed a robust touch for the blues and beyond.
Clark’s approach was one that blended the best of full-out Texas blues with a supremely soulful touch that carried an air of Memphis about it. It was a sound that would permeate through his solo releases – including his hugely popular Texas Soul record – as well as the music he played with his peers.
Upon returning to the Texas capital after the tour, Clark was greeted with a changing blues scene – one that was being defined by the likes of Jimmie Vaughan, Doyle Bramhall and their contemporaries.
Showing his versatility and flexibility as both a musician and a band member, Clark also played the bass guitar, and notably held down the low-end as adeptly as he played the guitar while part of James Polk & The Brothers. In fact, his proficiency on the bass made him a highly in-demand sideman during his career.
By 1975, SRV had convinced his mentor to quit his job, and a few years later the pair were playing together – along with Mike Kindred, Freddie Pharaoh, Johnny Reno and Lou Ann Barton – under the Triple Threat Revue umbrella.
During his time with the group, he co-wrote Cold Shot with Mike Kindred, which would go on to become one of Vaughan’s biggest cuts.
“Folks are always writing about how I taught Stevie and Jimmie, but I actually learned as much from them as they learned from me,” he once reflected of the Vaughan brothers (via Michael Corcoran’s Overserved). “The No. 1 thing those young cats taught me was endurance. As long as the people are coming out to see you, you play as long and as hard as you can every night.”
When Stevie disbanded the group to start Double Trouble, Clark himself remained busy with a group of his own, the W. C. Blues Revue. Clark would remain close to SRV over the years and continued to share the stage with him on occasion, including an Austin City Limits performance taped in 1990.
Formal recognition of Clark’s service to blues music, however, wouldn’t come until later. In 1994, at the age of 55, he penned his first record deal with BlackTop, and before long he had scored two W.C. Handy Awards – nowadays known as the Blues Music Awards.
His most telling award arrived in ‘98, when he was officially named Artist Most Deserving of Wider Recognition. For a musician whose career is defined by his service to the wider community, the title is especially fitting.
A year before, Clark’s career almost came to an end following a tragic accident that led to the death of his fiance Brenda Jasek and drummer Pete Alcoser Jr.
“I was sitting on a commode, of all places, and I decided to stop feeling sorry for myself,” Clark once said. “I stared at my hands, which had been hurt in the accident, and I realized that it’s all in God’s hands and what he put me here to do was sing and play guitar, so what was I waiting for?”
“He said playing kept him young,” says Anna Bosworth, the general manager at Giddy Up. “W.C. was always very engaging during his shows; answering the listeners’ questions or telling wonderful stories about his life and songs that he wrote.”
Clark is survived by his daughter, two brothers, and sister.
