 |
As the poster boy for pickin' and-a grinnin', and a purveyor of corn-fed entertainment, the living legend represents everything the new country movement of the mid-'90s and even today try to keep in the barn.
"They have and they tried to make it more midstream thinking they were going to attract a wider audience," says Clark on the other end of the line from Branson, Miss.
"(But) I never felt that this new country or the that country, whatever they want to call it, affected me. Bless their hearts, the audiences have remembered me."
Anyone who's owned a TV in the past 40 years should remember Clark.
Sure he's an acclaimed banjo- and guitar-picker, having earned dozens of awards and released dozens of albums, but it's been on TV where he's made his biggest mark.
From the two-and-a-half decades he spent co-hosting Laugh-In's country cousin, Hee Haw with Buck Owens, to his reoccurring role on the Beverly Hillbillies as Cousin Roy and his guest appearances on The Muppet Show, Drew Carey Show and even as guest host for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show, the likeable Clark has become so entrenched in North American pop culture that fans frequently stop him on the street with shouts of "Hey, Roy!"
"That's something you can't buy, that they feel comfortable with you, that they feel like you are kin, or a next-door neighbour, or just someone that they like -- there's no challenge," the 69-year-old says.
"I can't imagine someone walking up to Frank Sinatra and saying, 'Hey, Frank! How ya doing' They loved him, and they loved his music, but they wouldn't feel that comfortable that they could just walk up and be a pal."
Calgarians will get the opportunity to see their pal when he brings his down-home charm to the Jubilee Auditorium Saturday.
The show is part of Clark's first Canadian tour in 20 years.
"I'm not patronizing you," he says, "but the Canadian audiences have been the nicest to me of any other group of people."
Part of the reason for Clark's absence is, among other financial interests -- he used to own the Texas Rangers AA affiliate -- he also owned a theatre in Branson, where country legends, including himself, performed regularly. He eventually shut that down to concentrate on his entertaining career.
"I found out very early that I'm not a landlord," he says with a laugh.
"To begin with, when I owned the theatre I wouldn't pay me what I demanded. I was telling myself that I wasn't worth it."