By: Matt Warnock
Image: Courtesy of T. Clark
After reaching the top of the Country music world, Canadian guitarist, singer and songwriter Terri Clark decided to move away from the major label world that she had lived in for her whole career and went out on her own for her 2009 album The Long Way Home. This departure has only seemed to strengthen the Country star as she gets the best of both worlds, being able to have complete creative control, while working with distributors to help get her music out to a global audience; two things that would make countless other major label artists jealous.
Not one to sit back and rest on our previous success, Clark has been busy writing and recording her new album, which will hit stores this summer. The album’s first single, “Northern Girl,” has already been steadily climbing the charts since its Spring release, and if this first single is any indication, Clark should have another big hit with her latest record.
Guitar International recently caught up with Terri Clark to talk about the progress of her new record, the new single “Northern Girl” and Gibson guitars.
Terri Clark
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Matt Warnock: I wanted to start by asking you about your new single “Northern Girl,” which has been going up the charts and doing really well.
Terri Clark: The label was very excited when we played it for them, and it’s just one of those songs that makes you feel good.
Matt: Do you have any idea which track will be the next single?
Terri Clark: I don’t yet. The label hasn’t even gotten the whole album yet. They’re getting it, like today, so as soon as they hear it we’ll start talking about that. But it’ll probably be another eight weeks before we come with another single.
Matt: I’m sure your fans are waiting to hear when the album will hit stores. Do you have a release date or month set or are you still working on that?
Terri Clark: The release date is supposed to be July 26th, and it’ll be out in the US and Canada on that day.
Matt: I was wondering what you think it is to be a Canadian musician? Is it different than being from the UK or the US? What does that sort of label mean to you?
Terri Clark: Well I’m proud of that label, but I don’t think it’s any different than being a musician anywhere. My guitar sounds the same wherever I go. It’s pretty much the same thing everywhere.
Matt: Your last album was an independent release. Did you were gonna continue with that this time or did you go with a label? How did that work out this time?
Terri Clark: It’s an interesting thing. In the U.S., I do different deals with each album. I’m independent but I still have a distribution deal. I’m doing it with a group called The Orchard this time, and they’ll put some physical CDs in stores and take care of all the digital sales and things like that. In Canada I’m partnered up with EMI Canada for distribution, and I use their promotion staff for radio and their PR people.
So I get the best of both worlds, I have total creative freedom and I produce my own albums. I fund them and then the label takes them and then I use their team and we work together to make it as well-known as we can and get it out there. I tour around it, and I feel really good about everything I’m doing right now. I feel like I have the creative freedom that I’ve wanted along with the business team that I need. It feels really good.
Matt: Were you nervous when you went off on your own, walking away from a label backing you up financially? Was there a bit of pressure on you to do well?
Terri Clark: Oh, absolutely. You gotta let go of that No. 1 radio success, because it takes a lot of big label power, politics and money to promote singles on the radio, because it’s hard to go up against that. You have to close one door and let another one open. I knew that I was going to be walking away from something. I was also tired of spinning my wheels and not being able to put an album out because it was being held up. I wanted to make music. That’s what I’m in business to do, to make music. If I’m sitting around twiddling my thumbs as the world goes by, I’m not doing what I’m supposed to be doing, so I had to leave in order to be more productive.
Matt: Could you describe the sound on your new record for your fans? I read an interview with you last year where you were planning on going back to your roots with this next album. I was wondering if you continued that thought process while you were writing this next record.
Terri Clark: Yeah, this album is definitely a more mainstream, contemporary country sound, but it’s also really traditional stuff, there’s lots of steel guitar, there’s fiddle. I do think it revisits the first 5 years of records I made in my career. There’s one song with triple fiddles, and it’s a waltz. It sounds like it’s something that could have been written in 1930. It’s got a very retro country, old-school sound to it. Tonya Isaacs came and sang on that.
And there are a couple that are more mainstream, country-pop sounding, “Northern Girl’s” probably one of ’em. I don’t know. Some really cool stuff that’s got an older country sound to it. I’m very excited about it. It’s very eclectic musically. It’s got a couple of songs that are very rootsy and folky. It covers a lot of ground.
This album reminds me, musically a lot of my third record, How I Feel. I think it covers the same type of gamut as that album.
Matt: Being a guitar magazine, our readers are always curious, what guitars did you bring into the studio to use on this latest recording.
Terri Clark: Let’s see. I have a Gibson Dove that I really love the sound of and I also have a Hummingbird that I love the sound of. I also have a really old Gibson that my grandfather gave me, a 1952, it’s in mint condition and it sounds the best to record with. I played that one on my last album, too. It just sounds really good. I find that a guitar that’s too new is a little bit boomy sometimes for the studio. Even something with really old strings on, it resonates a little bit better recorded.
I have Martins. I have Gibsons. I have Taylors. I have all kinds of guitars. I have a great relationship with Gibson as a company, and I think they make really quality instruments. They’re easy to play, they’re beautifully-crafted. They sound fantastic, the electronics are top notch, they hold up on the road. They sound as good plugged in as they do unplugged. And that’s not always the case with other guitars. [Laughs] I just really love them. They’re the best acoustic guitar’s I’ve played live, plugged-in. They also give me really killer 12-strings that I love, too.
Matt: You mentioned that the album’s coming out this summer. Do you have any tour plans this summer?
Terri Clark: This summer’s going to be a little bit lighter. I’m doing a cross-Canadian tour starting the end of September. It’s gonna span about 6 weeks and about 25 to 30 shows. It’s gonna be a pretty grueling schedule for a while there, and I’m promoting the album. So I’m going to kind of lay low a little bit this summer.
I’ll be doing some stuff around the album release in July, making a couple of appearances here and there, but other than that, I’m going to try to get some time in at my cottage. Spend time with my family and friends, things like that. My little brother’s getting married, so i’m gonna go to that. I’ll be doing a few things professionally, but not too many shows this summer.
