Terri Clark joins Caroline on this week’s “Call Caroline” bonus episode! Terri answers voicemails about getting her first big break, signing a record deal and moving to Nashville to chase a dream. She also shares her most memorable collaboration.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Carol Line.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
She's a queen of talking with the song.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
She's getting really not afraid.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
To fing the episol and soul.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Just let it flow. No one can do it quiet,
car Line. Time for Caroline.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Okay, I'm so excited to be back with another episode
of Call care.
Speaker 4 (00:33):
Line, and you guys are gonna be thrilled.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
We've got Terry Clark, Hi Caroline.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
And she's gonna answer your burning questions.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
So let's see what we got.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Hey, huge fan, Terry, A few questions. Tell us about
when you got that first big break. Where were you
at mentally, physically and emotionally in your music when you
finally broke through. What did it feel like like when
(01:03):
you were there? Was it something impossible? Did you know
what was going to happen? We would love to hear
that story. I did. Tell us about the dream you
were chasing when you came to town, and then also
what you left behind when you did make that move,
and how did that dream change after being in town
(01:25):
a few years? What was your thought process day one
versus two years later? Where were you at? Can't wait
to hear thank you?
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Okay, so some of that was I've entered. We talked
about in the episode.
Speaker 5 (01:39):
Yeah we did.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Okay, we did.
Speaker 5 (01:42):
The first big break. And I don't know this gentleman's name,
but whatever your name is. The first big break felt
to me like when I got my record deal with
Mercury in nineteen ninety four, because I had been in
town for eight years playing for tips and I waited
tables eight years. I bartended. Oh it took eight years.
And I had also done other record label auditions for
(02:04):
many other labels in town and I was turned down.
I actually was told by one record label at the
time that he said she may be the most powerful
country music female I have heard, but not what we're
looking for.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Okay, you're like, okay, scratching my head on that one.
Speaker 5 (02:22):
But there was one reason or another, and I got
to be honest with you. Back in the day, labels
had quotas for females, like they were like, we have
three females we haven't broken yet. We can't sign another
one till we either drop one of these or or
we break one of the other ones.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
So you broke in when it was hard to be
a female.
Speaker 5 (02:38):
It was it was hard. It's always been hard. Okay,
it's always been hard, just because we were getting more
airplay in the nineties and two thousands, doesn't mean it
wasn't hard to get a record deal. So so my
first big break after all of that and hearing a
lot of that for years, was Mercury Records. Keith Stegall
heard a demo tape asked me to come sing live
for him in his studio. I brought my guitar, saying
(02:59):
a few songs, and he was busy working with some
other people and he wasn't at Mercury yet, but he
kept me in the back of his mind, and six
months later I got a phone call and he was
now head of an art Mercury Records, and he said,
I want to sign you as one of my first acts,
but Luke Lewis has to hear you. Can you come
to the office. And I took my guitar into Luke's
(03:20):
office and sat there and I played If I Were
You because I had written that song, and I played
a couple of cover songs and they called me the
next day and offered me a record deal. And up
until that point I'd had so many tears shed. I
remember specifically walking from one meeting where they said we
can't sign you right now where I had been banking
(03:41):
on that one in tears walking across the parking lot.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Did you want to walk out and just walk back
home to hate it?
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Ever?
Speaker 5 (03:48):
Oh, there were plenty of times where I'd considered, I
thought about giving up, but it was a thought, it
wasn't a reality anyway. So nineteen ninety four, when I
got my record deal with Mercury, they called the next
day and they said, we would like to offer you
a record deal with Mercury Records.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Oh my god.
Speaker 5 (04:02):
I was just like I could not believe it. I
was like, I didn't believe it until the ink was
dry on until I signed the contract, because I had
been let down so much. So it was it was
a really celebratory day. It was a lot of heartbreak
leading up to that, so that felt like the big
break for me. And and I knew if I could
(04:24):
just get a chance, if I could just get somebody
to take a chance on me, You're going.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
To show them all exactly And look at you now,
look at you.
Speaker 5 (04:32):
It's been a long very it's been the longevity is
the thing I'm the most proud of. I think that
should be been. I'm sitting here talking to you that
many years later, and that you want to talk to me.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
You're doing a Terry Clark take two with the biggest
aids and country music.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
It's pretty cool and.
Speaker 5 (04:49):
Very very grateful, Yeah, very grateful.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
And let's not forget you're also besties in my world
with Dolly.
Speaker 5 (04:54):
I mean, well, I got my picture with Dolly. I
rounded a plane with Dolly, and.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
She was all, how could she not be?
Speaker 4 (05:01):
She's the greatest human honor.
Speaker 5 (05:02):
Oh, I just I think everybody wants to beat Dollie.
I think she should run for president, but we'll get
into that another time.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
I know, I think she's for president. She handles everything
with grace.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
She does.
Speaker 5 (05:12):
She's just uh, she just doesn't say anything wrong everything.
It's like you hang on every word coming out of
her mouth because it's like she's just full of just
down home wisdom and that's the way it should.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Be forgetting so like.
Speaker 5 (05:24):
She doesn't get all fancy. She just tells it, well,
here's the way it is, and it's like, well, yeah,
it is that way.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
You did the Aubrey tribute to her, right.
Speaker 5 (05:33):
Yes, I did nine to five acoustic. Oh oh yeah, god,
it's so much fun.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
I know, and even then her grace with like el
King because Like el King got a little drunk and
played it and I was like, let's give her some grace.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
We've all had a.
Speaker 5 (05:46):
Little bit too much for Elle, and I had had
some great conversations with her that night and I had
left by the time things had had the wheels had
kind of come off. But you know what, I think
that everybody's path is different. I am pulling for her,
and I think she's going to be better than ever agreed.
I think I've got I got a good feeling about
Sometimes you just need a catalyst, and I think she's
(06:08):
going to be fine.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Everybody has those moments, and when you're putting yourself on stage,
a lot of people to see them sometimes.
Speaker 5 (06:13):
And forgiveness is uh is something we could all use
a little bit of. And nobody's perfect. So anybody's throwing
rocks in their glass house needs to not do that.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
Checked it.
Speaker 5 (06:25):
They just haven't been caught yet.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Am I think we have one more question?
Speaker 4 (06:29):
Okay, here we got I got one more.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Oh, do you have any things that you say that
are super Canadian?
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Oh? You know, you bet you?
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Geez got it.
Speaker 5 (06:42):
Sounds more like I'm from Minnesota.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
He terry fan here. I can't wait to hear you
on Caroline's podcast. I have a little question for you.
Out of all the performances and collaborations you've done, is
there one that's most memorable? And why is that most memorable?
Speaker 5 (07:00):
Oh my goodness, that is a loaded question because I've
done a lot of collaborations and here recently on my
album Take two. Wow, there's some good ones.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
I know you really have had too many to have
a favorite, Like, your collaborations are epic, Okay, but.
Speaker 5 (07:17):
I'm going to go back and like go back to
like an icon Well, gosh, I've collaborated with Riba, that's
not it's hard to beat that, Tanya Tucker on Delta
Dawn and Emmy Lou Harris so crazy. From now on,
I think Tanya Tucker, Emmy Lou Harris and Riba are
I can't pick just one out of those three. But
because they're so iconic, yes, and as much as I
(07:40):
love everything on Take two, there they are a lot
of newer artists. But gosh, as far as performance goes,
one performance of a collaboration that maybe not a lot
of people are going to be familiar with it or
that of the album is on my Classic Records. The
covers I did Leaven on your Mind with Jan Orden
(08:01):
and that version of that song. I'm really proud of
our vocal performance together on that song. And Jan Orden's
a Canadian icon, not necessarily a country but she's movie star,
she's a television star, she's a social media star, and
she is a phenomenal songwriter, singer and entertainer. Very very
funny and a good friend.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
The life you have lived, very lucky, what a life,
Terry Clark in the house.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Thank you so much for joining me than you on
this bonus episode and on my podcast. It is just
a thrill and a pleasure and an honor to be
able to sit down with you.
Speaker 5 (08:36):
Well, I'm honored to get to be here. Thank you
so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Thank you and Terry Clark Take two coming out in May.
Carol Line.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
She's a queen of talking with the song.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
She's getting really not afraid.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
To fing the episol and soul.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Just let it flow. No one can do it quiet,
car Line. Time for Caroline.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Okay, I'm so excited to be back with another episode
of Call care.
Speaker 4 (00:33):
Line, and you guys are gonna be thrilled.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
We've got Terry Clark, Hi Caroline.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
And she's gonna answer your burning questions.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
So let's see what we got.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Hey, huge fan, Terry, A few questions. Tell us about
when you got that first big break. Where were you
at mentally, physically and emotionally in your music when you
finally broke through. What did it feel like like when
(01:03):
you were there? Was it something impossible? Did you know
what was going to happen? We would love to hear
that story. I did. Tell us about the dream you
were chasing when you came to town, and then also
what you left behind when you did make that move,
and how did that dream change after being in town
(01:25):
a few years? What was your thought process day one
versus two years later? Where were you at? Can't wait
to hear thank you?
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Okay, so some of that was I've entered. We talked
about in the episode.
Speaker 5 (01:39):
Yeah we did.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Okay, we did.
Speaker 5 (01:42):
The first big break. And I don't know this gentleman's name,
but whatever your name is. The first big break felt
to me like when I got my record deal with
Mercury in nineteen ninety four, because I had been in
town for eight years playing for tips and I waited
tables eight years. I bartended. Oh it took eight years.
And I had also done other record label auditions for
(02:04):
many other labels in town and I was turned down.
I actually was told by one record label at the
time that he said she may be the most powerful
country music female I have heard, but not what we're
looking for.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Okay, you're like, okay, scratching my head on that one.
Speaker 5 (02:22):
But there was one reason or another, and I got
to be honest with you. Back in the day, labels
had quotas for females, like they were like, we have
three females we haven't broken yet. We can't sign another
one till we either drop one of these or or
we break one of the other ones.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
So you broke in when it was hard to be
a female.
Speaker 5 (02:38):
It was it was hard. It's always been hard. Okay,
it's always been hard, just because we were getting more
airplay in the nineties and two thousands, doesn't mean it
wasn't hard to get a record deal. So so my
first big break after all of that and hearing a
lot of that for years, was Mercury Records. Keith Stegall
heard a demo tape asked me to come sing live
for him in his studio. I brought my guitar, saying
(02:59):
a few songs, and he was busy working with some
other people and he wasn't at Mercury yet, but he
kept me in the back of his mind, and six
months later I got a phone call and he was
now head of an art Mercury Records, and he said,
I want to sign you as one of my first acts,
but Luke Lewis has to hear you. Can you come
to the office. And I took my guitar into Luke's
(03:20):
office and sat there and I played If I Were
You because I had written that song, and I played
a couple of cover songs and they called me the
next day and offered me a record deal. And up
until that point I'd had so many tears shed. I
remember specifically walking from one meeting where they said we
can't sign you right now where I had been banking
(03:41):
on that one in tears walking across the parking lot.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Did you want to walk out and just walk back
home to hate it?
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Ever?
Speaker 5 (03:48):
Oh, there were plenty of times where I'd considered, I
thought about giving up, but it was a thought, it
wasn't a reality anyway. So nineteen ninety four, when I
got my record deal with Mercury, they called the next
day and they said, we would like to offer you
a record deal with Mercury Records.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Oh my god.
Speaker 5 (04:02):
I was just like I could not believe it. I
was like, I didn't believe it until the ink was
dry on until I signed the contract, because I had
been let down so much. So it was it was
a really celebratory day. It was a lot of heartbreak
leading up to that, so that felt like the big
break for me. And and I knew if I could
(04:24):
just get a chance, if I could just get somebody
to take a chance on me, You're going.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
To show them all exactly And look at you now,
look at you.
Speaker 5 (04:32):
It's been a long very it's been the longevity is
the thing I'm the most proud of. I think that
should be been. I'm sitting here talking to you that
many years later, and that you want to talk to me.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
You're doing a Terry Clark take two with the biggest
aids and country music.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
It's pretty cool and.
Speaker 5 (04:49):
Very very grateful, Yeah, very grateful.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
And let's not forget you're also besties in my world
with Dolly.
Speaker 5 (04:54):
I mean, well, I got my picture with Dolly. I
rounded a plane with Dolly, and.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
She was all, how could she not be?
Speaker 4 (05:01):
She's the greatest human honor.
Speaker 5 (05:02):
Oh, I just I think everybody wants to beat Dollie.
I think she should run for president, but we'll get
into that another time.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
I know, I think she's for president. She handles everything
with grace.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
She does.
Speaker 5 (05:12):
She's just uh, she just doesn't say anything wrong everything.
It's like you hang on every word coming out of
her mouth because it's like she's just full of just
down home wisdom and that's the way it should.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Be forgetting so like.
Speaker 5 (05:24):
She doesn't get all fancy. She just tells it, well,
here's the way it is, and it's like, well, yeah,
it is that way.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
You did the Aubrey tribute to her, right.
Speaker 5 (05:33):
Yes, I did nine to five acoustic. Oh oh yeah, god,
it's so much fun.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
I know, and even then her grace with like el
King because Like el King got a little drunk and
played it and I was like, let's give her some grace.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
We've all had a.
Speaker 5 (05:46):
Little bit too much for Elle, and I had had
some great conversations with her that night and I had
left by the time things had had the wheels had
kind of come off. But you know what, I think
that everybody's path is different. I am pulling for her,
and I think she's going to be better than ever agreed.
I think I've got I got a good feeling about
Sometimes you just need a catalyst, and I think she's
(06:08):
going to be fine.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Everybody has those moments, and when you're putting yourself on stage,
a lot of people to see them sometimes.
Speaker 5 (06:13):
And forgiveness is uh is something we could all use
a little bit of. And nobody's perfect. So anybody's throwing
rocks in their glass house needs to not do that.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
Checked it.
Speaker 5 (06:25):
They just haven't been caught yet.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Am I think we have one more question?
Speaker 4 (06:29):
Okay, here we got I got one more.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Oh, do you have any things that you say that
are super Canadian?
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Oh? You know, you bet you?
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Geez got it.
Speaker 5 (06:42):
Sounds more like I'm from Minnesota.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
He terry fan here. I can't wait to hear you
on Caroline's podcast. I have a little question for you.
Out of all the performances and collaborations you've done, is
there one that's most memorable? And why is that most memorable?
Speaker 5 (07:00):
Oh my goodness, that is a loaded question because I've
done a lot of collaborations and here recently on my
album Take two. Wow, there's some good ones.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
I know you really have had too many to have
a favorite, Like, your collaborations are epic, Okay, but.
Speaker 5 (07:17):
I'm going to go back and like go back to
like an icon Well, gosh, I've collaborated with Riba, that's
not it's hard to beat that, Tanya Tucker on Delta
Dawn and Emmy Lou Harris so crazy. From now on,
I think Tanya Tucker, Emmy Lou Harris and Riba are
I can't pick just one out of those three. But
because they're so iconic, yes, and as much as I
(07:40):
love everything on Take two, there they are a lot
of newer artists. But gosh, as far as performance goes,
one performance of a collaboration that maybe not a lot
of people are going to be familiar with it or
that of the album is on my Classic Records. The
covers I did Leaven on your Mind with Jan Orden
(08:01):
and that version of that song. I'm really proud of
our vocal performance together on that song. And Jan Orden's
a Canadian icon, not necessarily a country but she's movie star,
she's a television star, she's a social media star, and
she is a phenomenal songwriter, singer and entertainer. Very very
funny and a good friend.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
The life you have lived, very lucky, what a life,
Terry Clark in the house.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Thank you so much for joining me than you on
this bonus episode and on my podcast. It is just
a thrill and a pleasure and an honor to be
able to sit down with you.
Speaker 5 (08:36):
Well, I'm honored to get to be here. Thank you
so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Thank you and Terry Clark Take two coming out in May.
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