Roy Clark, County Music Legend, Dies at 85

Roy Clark, a country music icon, died Thursday morning at his Tulsa, Okla., home due to complications from pneumonia, his publicist said. Clark, a Country Music Hall of Fame member, was best known for his banjo pickin', guitar strummin' and 'Hee Haw' hostin'. He was 85.

Clark worked with fellow country musicians for more than half a century, from Hank Williams to Brad Paisley and countless others who either made their way into a 'Hee Haw' skit or the stage at the Grand Ole Opry.

It all started for me with the Roy Clark guitar method song book, trying to learn to play like a buckaroo... pic.twitter.com/Kj5v4KdoqN

— Brad Paisley (@BradPaisley) November 4, 2016

"Roy Clark shaped my path," Paisely said in another Tweet. "My Papaw introduced me to his music as a toddler. Every Saturday we'd watch Hee Haw. My first guitar book was a Roy Clark guitar method. I practiced his style, then practiced making his facial expressions. He was a hero. And so many have the same story."

For 24 years, Clark was co-host the country music variety show 'Hee Haw.' He also made several gueat appearances as host of 'The Tonight Show.'

He was born Roy Linwood Clark on April 15, 1933 in Meherrin, Va. Clark was the oldest of five children in a musical family.

The first instruments little Roy learned at an early age were the banjo and mandolin, but it was the guitar strings that touched his soul.

"When I strummed the strings for the first time, something clicked inside me," he told The [Nashville] Tennessean in 1987.

Not long after learning to pluck those strings, he began playing backup for his father at local square dances. Soon after, he began playing on radio and TV, which became his ultimate calling card.

"The camera was very kind to me, and I consider myself to be a television baby," Clark said in a 2009 interview. "At first, it wasn't that I was so talented, but they had to fill time ... So they'd say, 'Well, let's get the kid.' Later, I got to where when I looked at the camera, I didn't see a mechanical device. I saw a person."

As a teenager, Clark had a brief stint working a show fronted by Hank WIlliams. Clark became a banjo national champion and was invited to play the Grand Ole Opry in Tennessee.

The legendary Jimmy Dean noticed the talented young Clark and hired him to play on radio and TV in the Washington, D.C. area. But Dean had to ultimately fire Clark for his propensity of tardiness.

"He said, 'Clark, you're gonna be a big star someday, but right now I can't afford to have someone like you around," Clark said in a 1988 Tennessean article.

Clark bee-bopped around playing with several artists for years — including David "Stringbean" Akeman and Wanda Jackson — before signing with Capitol Records. His solo career catapulted when he took Bill Anderson's "Tips of My Fingers" hit to No. 10 on the country charts. Clark also found crossover success with the 1969 hit "Yesterday, When I Was Young" — a song he performed at Mickey Mantle's funeral in 1995.

Inspired by 'Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In,' 'Hee Haw' first aired 1969 as a show promoting country music and rural culture. The networks had a rural purge in the early 1970's, resukting in dropping shows like 'The Beverly Hillbillies,' 'Mayberry R.F.D.,' 'Green Acres' and, in 1971, 'Hee Haw.' When the network executives looked back on the popularity of Hee Haw, they relaunched it with Roy Clark and Buck Owens as co-hosts, and "Kornfield Kountry" took off, with memorable skits, picket fences, moonshiners, Minnie Pearl, the post office, Hee Haw Honeys and "Where, Where, are you tonight?"

Clark won the Country Music Association's Entertainer of the Year Award in 1973, and piled up award over the next decade both as a solo artist and with Buck Trent.

Clark was the first country star to open a theater in Branson, Mo. The Roy Clark Celebrity Theater opened in 1983 — the same year he won the Best Country Instrumentalist Performance Grammy Award for his recording of "Alabama Jubilee."

In 1987, Clark became a member of the Grand Ole Opry. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2009 alongside Barbara Mandrell and Charlie McCoy.

"Roy Clark made best use of his incredible talent," said Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum CEO Kyle Young in a statement on Thursday morning. "He was both a showman and a virtuoso, with a love of music that beamed across air waves and into millions of living rooms, where families gathered to watch and listen."

My first CMA memory is sitting on my living room floor watching Roy Clark tear it up. Sending my love and respect to him and his family for all he did. - KU

— Keith Urban (@KeithUrban) November 15, 2018

Uncommon Knowledge

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

About the writer


Scott McDonald is a Newsweek deputy night editor based in Cape Coral, Florida. His focus is assigning and writing stories ... Read more

To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.

Newsweek cover
  • Newsweek magazine delivered to your door
  • Newsweek Voices: Diverse audio opinions
  • Enjoy ad-free browsing on Newsweek.com
  • Comment on articles
  • Newsweek app updates on-the-go
Newsweek cover
  • Newsweek Voices: Diverse audio opinions
  • Enjoy ad-free browsing on Newsweek.com
  • Comment on articles
  • Newsweek app updates on-the-go