The Nashville Portraits
Guy and Susanna Clark
Photographer Jim McGuire’s Nashville Portraits are a source of infinite inspiration. They’re a glimpse at my favorite side of Music City. The artists featured are Country Music at its finest. The photos are living testament to specific times and places. In the two photos of Mr. Steve Earle, before and after prison, it’s clear this man lived. And he lived hard. The photos prove that a Nudie Suit has its place, but all you really need is a T-shirt or a Western shirt and an old pair of jeans.
I’ve loved Old No. 1, whose cover featured Susanna’s painting of a chambray shirt, and particularly “Let Him Roll,” since first discovering it while living in a cat-stained duplex in Queens. I can’t remember how or why, but guarantee that it probably stemmed from a passionate delving into the life and times of Townes Van Zandt. Like Townes, Mr. Clark writes songs that sound like movies about people I’d want to meet. Pick their brains. Sift through the gravel in their stories. Extract them Denver nuggets. He can shove a three hour cinematic experience into three-and-a-half minutes. That he does it consistently, well, that ain’t so bad neither.
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My dear friend, 
