Track Listing

1. Texas 1947 (3:24)
2. L.A. Freeway (Pack Up All Your Dishes) (4:13)
3. The Carpenter (3:26)
4. Old Friends (3:44)
5. Come From The Heart (2:58)
6. I m All Through Throwing Good Love After Bad (2:32)
7. Randall Knife (4:28)
8. Immigrant Eyes (4:09)
9. Desperados Waiting For A Train (4:40)
10. The Last Gunfighter Ballad (2:56)
11. New Cut Road (4:14)
12. Better Days (3:20)
13. Homegrown Tomatoes (4:17)
14. To Live Is To Fly (3:51)
15. Texas Cookin (4:07)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #190394 in Music
• Brand: Dig
• Released on: 2007-04-17
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Live
• Dimensions: .83 pounds

Review
Guy Clark is a fine singer and a masterful live performer, but he's a songwriter first and foremost, and the best thing about seeing the man on-stage is hearing him wrap his vocal chords around his beautifully crafted stories, which he relates with a sense of depth and detail no one else can quite match. Live from Austin, TX isn't the first or the best live disc from Guy Clark (that honor in both categories goes to 1997's Keepers), but it does capture about an hour of Clark delivering 14 of his songs for an appreciative audience in his home state, with low-key but effective backing from violinist Stuart Duncan and bassist Edgar Meyer, and it documents Clark in great form. On this set, recorded during a taping of the television show Austin City Limits, Clark is a smart enough showman to throw in a few crowd-pleasers, such as his minor hit "Homegrown Tomatoes" and its sibling "Texas Cookin'," but for the most part he doesn't shy away from the deeper and more personal material in his catalog, such as "Randall Knife," "Immigrant Eyes" or "Texas 1947," and here you can hear the common thread between them. Clark's songs are made of the stuff of human lives and whether they aim for laughter or tears, they speak of emotions that most everyone has confronted at one time or another, and in language that is both artful and straightforward. There aren't a lot of artists who can write like Clark, and fewer still who can share their songs with the same simple eloquence; if the opportunity to see him work his magic in person doesn't present itself often enough for you, this disc will serve as a fine reminder until he arrives in your town again, and it's a welcome souvenir for those who do get to hear him in person on a regular basis. --allmusic.com

Customer Reviews

It's not "Keepers" but it's still a KEEPER
What's better than an Austin musician in Austin? Guy Clark is one of the best songwriters in the business and the spare accompaniment is the best counterpart to his strong lyrics.

"Texas 1947" is one of the best train songs I have ever heard. How many of us have wanted to stick a nickel on the tracks and see what happened?

Of course, "Desperadoes Waiting for a Train" is about the second best train song.

"LA Freeway" is one of Clark's more covered songs.

"Carpenter" is a song for everyone who in Guy's words, 'ever hammered nails for a living--or just hit his thumb.'

"Gunfighter's Ballad" is the story of an old man's reminiscence:

oh the smell of the black powder smoke
and standing in the street at the turn of a joke

This is not the penultimate Guy Clark live CD--that honor (IMHO) goes to "Keepers" but it's still very good and listenable.

Guy Clark for beginners

This is such a great Guy Clark CD. I'm not usually a fan of "live" CDs but Guy is in fine form. I wish I had seen the broadcast, and will be looking for it in the future. I guess if I don't ever catch it there's always the DVD.

If you buy music for someone and want to give them the music of Guy Clark this would be an excellent one to get. I would suggest getting one for you too!

Great CD but...
This is a great Guy Clark CD except that the last song (#15 Texas Cookin) is flawed. Amazon allowed me to download it again but I had the same problems. I am confident that it will be fixed and I will get song 15 eventually. I would highly recommend the CD after it is fixed.