Terri Clark Talks Staying Power & Exciting Milestones [Interview]

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Terri Clark. Photo: Phil Crozier

Terri Clark is getting her much-deserved flowers this year.

Nearly 30 years after releasing her self-titled debut album in 1995, the multi-Platinum country hitmaker is celebrating her career in multiple ways. At the end of May, she released two retrospective projects: her 2004 Greatest Hits collection on vinyl and a highly-anticipated duets album. During CMA Fest, Clark took her beloved tunes to the big stage at Nissan Stadium and more. She also commemorated her 20th anniversary as a Grand Ole Opry member. Needless to say, the country music icon has been feeling the love.

Taking vinyl form for the first time, Clark’s 14-song Greatest Hits project features her classic top 10 singles as well as her No. 1 “You’re Easy on the Eyes.” On the duets project—titled Terri Clark: Take Two, Clark gathered some current hitmakers she admires and revisited her material.

“My manager Clarence [Spalding] and I started talking about doing this probably five years ago, but then COVID hit. We got back into the conversation a couple years ago and got to work on it. I started with four tracks and then Universal Music got involved and we decided to make it a whole album. I asked some friends and anybody I admired if they would come in and sing on it. I got almost everybody I asked, which was really wonderful.”

Lainey Wilson and Terri Clark perform at Nissan Stadium on Saturday, June 8 during CMA Fest 2024 in downtown Nashville. Photo: Courtesy of CMA

Cody Johnson joins Clark on “I Just Wanna Be Mad,” Lauren Alaina on “I Wanna Do It All,” Carly Pearce on “Girls Lie Too” and Paul Brandt on a live version of “You’re Easy On The Eyes.”

Pop contemporaries Kelly Clarkson and Ben Rector are also featured on Take Two, with the former joining Clark on “If I Were You” and the latter on “Now That I Found You.” Two stand-out collaborations are Clark and Lainey Wilson‘s “Poor, Poor Pitiful Me” and her and Ashley McBryde‘s “Better Things To Do.”

“Ashley is like a sister to me now. She was the first one I went to,” Clark says. “‘Better Things To Do’ felt like a natural fit for her. She talked about how that first album was kind of a big one for her and the image was something she could relate to when she was a teenager trying to find her way, being her own person and being individual.”

Clark has reached the point of longtime stardom that current country stalwarts cite her as a musical influence, something that she’s flattered by but humble about.

“I had never met Cody. He walked in the studio and said, ‘I had posters of you on my wall when I was a teenager!’ He was so sweet. He was such a fan of, ‘I Just Want To Be Mad.’

Wilson, who kicked off her 2024 headlining tour the night of Take Two‘s release, invited Clark to sing their version of “Poor, Poor Pitiful Me” in Nashville. The two also performed it during Wilson’s Nissan Stadium set at CMA Fest, and Clark’s anniversary show at the Opry—which also happened to be Wilson’s Opry induction night, making for a full circle moment between the two important female voices.

When reflecting on the transcendent moment, Clark thinks back to when she was inducted in 2004 with gratitude for the journey.

“If I could go back to 2004, I would tell myself, ‘You’re still going to be playing shows, you’re going to be playing the Opry, you’re going to be alive, healthy and the happiest as you’ve ever been in 20 years.'”

When asked about how long Clark has maintained her career, she attributes it to being good to people, keeping fans first and surrounding herself with honest and talented team members. She highlights the work of Maverick Nashville, her longtime management company.

“Clarence Spalding has been with me for 20-something years. Marne McLyman is just amazing,” she says. “In this business, you have to surround yourself with people who believe in you more than you believe in yourself, and who tell you the truth.”

Clark also shares her gratitude for her agent Nick Meinema of the Action Entertainment Collaborative group, saying that his creativity and understanding of sustaining a long career on the road has helped her move through all the stages of touring.

“He is strategic, he’s smart, he knows Canada very well and he’s very good at planning for the long game with me instead of going for the short term,” she notes. “He truly has my best interest at heart.”

Clark’s monumental year will continue throughout 2024. In August, she will headline the Ryman Auditorium for the very first time.

“I’m so excited and blown away to be playing the Ryman. I started in 1987 playing for tips in Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge, and I would pay to go tour the Ryman pre-renovation in between sets because I was dreaming about it. I can’t believe I’m actually going to be playing there.”

Clark has a lot of gratitude for the current popularity of ‘90s country. “A career ebbs and flows. Some artists and eras lose popularity for a while, and it’s a grind. It’s often said that people remember the beginning and the end, but they forget a lot of the in between—and there are a lot of shit gigs that you play in between.

“But you keep going and all of a sudden, you’re playing the Ryman 30 years later,” she says. “I’m not complaining about the gigs—we’ve all been there—but it’s fun now that ‘90s country has regained interest. [Us hitmakers of the ’90s] are all very appreciative of it. There were times where we had to slug it out and stay after it, but now we’re getting the reward for staying true to ourselves and doing what we do.”

As for the next 20 years, Clark hopes to keep creating and giving her fans the best version of herself she can.

“I want to stay healthy and do this for as long as people show up to see my play,” she expresses. “I’m one of those people that if I can’t honor my legacy the way that I want to, feel good, sing well and have the same kind of energy people expect of me … I want to be able to be Terri Clark the way people remember me from when I was 30 as long as possibly can. If there comes a time that I can’t—there will be a conversation, but right now I feel like I’ve got some time.”

Clark shares that what keeps her going is feeling like she’s made a difference in someone’s life.

“What you leave behind and how you made people feel is so important. That’s what drives me to keep going. I’m under no illusions that I’ll have a big hit at country radio again, but you never know what could happen. You just gotta put your best foot forward, work really hard and treat people with kindness and respect.”

LB Cantrell
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