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. The singer and songwriter's career always carried an important message: Don't waste your life not following your passion.

He was an art director at a CBS TV station in Houston in the '60s, but his love was playing the guitar and writing a few words.

That's when he got some advice from the woman who would be his wife one day, he said in 

“I remember at the very beginning of my radio days playing this goofy song called '

 said today. "It was Guy Clark. That was my first introduction to his music. I later learned the rest of the story. This 'Guy' was a songwriter’s songwriter. A bunch of the musicians I really dig were big fans. People like Steve Earle, Townes Van Zandt, Jerry Jeff Walker were all big fans. Jerry Jeff turned Clark’s song '

' into a big hit. The Highwaymen, featuring Kristofferson, Cash, Jennings and Nelson also covered his music. Guy Clark might not be a household name, but his songs are. They don’t make songwriters like him anymore.”

He became a Texas music legend we nearly overlooked, 

 along with the strong suggestion that we see him perform live while we still have the chance.

His wife died of cancer in 2012. His last album, 

Critic Chris Lane said Clark, who hasn't been able to tour because of his own ill health, is part of "a quickly disappearing and irreplaceable generation of songsmiths."

"It's hard to imagine the world of music without Guy, the world of language without Guy," EmmyLou Harris 

 a few years ago. "He really embraces the human condition. There is no judgment in Guy's songs. ... You know that everyone has been on a rough road."

Following your passion can, indeed, be a rough road. But it's still a smoother ride than the regret of wondering what might have been.

NewsCut

Bob Collins

Author

Guy Clark died today. The singer and songwriter's career always carried an important message: Don't waste your life not following your passion.

Farewell, Guy Clark

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