MusicRowPics: Ashley Clark Preps Solo Debut With Mutt Lange
Ashley Clark MusicRow artist visit.
Multi-talented singer, songwriter, instrumentalist and performer Ashley Clark has had a long affiliation with the Nashville music industry. In 2000, he and his brothers formed the Clark Family Experience, which notched a Top 20 single with “Meanwhile Back at the Ranch.” Adding to his multi-faceted career, he has performed as a band member for Carrie Underwood, SheDaisy, James Otto, and others. Clark and brothers Adam and Austin formed trio The Clark Brothers (later renamed Sons of Sylvia) and won Fox’s The Next Great American Band. The trio joined Underwood’s Play On Tour in 2010.
Now, freshly signed as a solo artist to John Grady’s I.R.S. Records, Clark has been spending time, not in a Nashville studio, but in the Caribbean, working on his latest project with reclusive rock producer Mutt Lange, best known for his astronomical success with bands and artists including AC/DC, Def Leppard, Bryan Adams, Billy Ocean, Muse and Shania Twain. Clark’s upcoming album marks the first country artist and first new artist Lange has worked with since Twain.
During a visit with MusicRow staffers, Clark previewed songs such as the soulful country-pop confection “To The Moon.” The album version features vocals from Lange. “Before he was a producer, Mutt did radio jingles,” said Clark. “So he can mimic anyone’s voice. When he worked on my record, sometimes I thought it was me [singing], because he could copy me.”
Ashley Clark MusicRow artist visit.
His wistful and breezy first solo single, “Greyhound,” was co-written with his brother Austin Clark several years ago. “You just never know when you write a song, what it’s going to do,” said Clark. “It’s been a crazy ride for this song to become my first solo single.”
Switching from guitar to fiddle, he performed “Heaven Would Hurt.” Clark, who plays several instruments, says he’s thankful for the time he spent learning music as a child, growing up in a Pentecostal family with 11 siblings. “When I was younger, I never wanted to practice,” he said. “But now, music’s taken me around the world.” He finished with the energetic “So Sexy It Hurts.”
Though Clark has often performed on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry, backing Underwood, Otto, and others, he will make his solo debut on the Grand Ole Opry Friday evening (May 15). “I’m excited. It’s the first time I’ve done it on my own.”
Ashley Clark MusicRow artist visit.
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