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Born on This Day in 1931, the Cowboy Who Discovered Jerry Lee Lewis, Launched Charley Pride’s Career, and Penned a Crossover Hit for Johnny Cash
Hailed as “a genuine songwriter’s songwriter” by this publication in 2012, Cowboy Jack Clement’s contributions to country music are legion. An abbreviated list of artists who have recorded his songs includes Johnny Cash, John Prine, Kris Kristofferson, George Jones, and Dolly Parton. He is also credited with helping launch the careers of Jerry Lee Lewis and Charly Pride. Today, we’re remembering the illustrious life and career of Jack Henderson Clement, born in Memphis on this day (April 5) in 1931.
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The son of a choir director, Clement began playing guitar and dobro at an early age. Joining the U.S. Marine Corps in 1948, he formed a bluegrass band called the Tennessee Troupers while serving in Washington, D.C.
Clement cut his first record in 1953, for the Boston label Sheraton Records. He earned the nickname “Cowboy” while studying at Memphis State University. During that time, he also played steel guitar for a local band and co-founded his own publishing company.
Recording out of business partner Slim Wallace’s garage, Clement caught the attention of Sun Records owner Sam Phillips, who offered him a job as a producer and recording engineer. That’s where he discovered a then-unknown pianist named Jerry Lee Lewis.
Clement supervised Lewis’ recording sessions while Phillips was on a trip to Florida, overseeing the 1957 hit “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On”.
[RELATED: Mary Gauthier Remembers Cowboy Jack Clement]
Cowboy Jack Clement Truly Did It All
In December 1956, Cowboy Jack Clement found himself in the middle of rock-and-roll history when he supervised the seminal Million Dollar Quartet session featuring Lewis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Elvis Presley.
“I wasn’t trying to get reality, you know?” he told No Depression magazine. “I was trying to make it sound better than reality. A lot of times, it did.”
While Clement pursued a solo career at first, he eventually discovered a preference for working behind the scenes. His first songwriting success came in the form of a pair of 1958 Johnny Cash hits: “Ballad of a Teenage Queen” and “Guess Things Happen That Way”.
In 1960, Clement moved to Beaumont, Texas, where he founded the Hall-Clement Publishing Company and Gulf Coast Recording Studios with Bill Hall. After recording hits for Dickey Lee and George Jones, he returned to Nashville in 1965 and opened his own recording and publishing business.
Coming across a demo by an unknown Black country artist named Charley Pride, Clement said, “I had this office with these big speakers, and I’d get people in there and play Charley’s record. Loud, man. Like really loud.”
After persuading Chet Akins to sign Pride to RCA, Clement wrote his first two hit songs and produced 13 of Pride’s albums.
By the time of his death on Aug. 8, 2013, at age 81, Cowboy Jack Clement was one of country music’s most respected and beloved figures.
“I owe everything that ever happened good to me to Jack,” Kris Kristofferson said in 2013.
Featured image by Beth Gwinn/Getty Images
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