Documentary: ‘Cowboy’ Jack Clement
Posted on July 5th, 2012 by Lee Jarvis in Offbeat
A fun, personal documentary about the TN songwriter/producer.
‘Cowboy’ Jack Clement has many elements to his life story: a producer to Elvis Presley and U2, an Arthur Murray dance instructor, best friend to Johnny Cash, Sam Phillips’ right-hand man, a U.S. Marine, a slasher-film producer, and he discovered Jerry Lee Lewis, Charley Pride and Townes Van Zandt.
Born and raised in Memphis, Tenessee, Clement started working at Sun Records in 1956, writing, engineering, and producing for Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash, before discovering and recording Jerry Lee Lewis while Sam Phillips was away on a trip to Florida. He went on to work for RCA Nashville, and played a pivotal role in exposing rock ‘n’ roll music to a global audience.
The maverick producer was quite the entrepreneurial visionary, and created an empire consisting of song publishing, film production, record company and recording studios way before the current majors were around. He worked on soundtracks, inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and even produced his own horror flick. As if that wasn’t enough, at the age of 56 he went back to Sun Studios at the request of global rock stars U2 to work on tracks for their Rattle and Hum album.
The Shakespeare Was a Big George Jones Fan documentary explores the life of Jack Clement, via home movies and stories from longtime personal friends including Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Waylon Jennings, John Prine, and Bono, among others. It also shows some rare footage and commentary of Elvis Presley, Kris Kristofferson and George Jones.
Preview
Full documentary: Shakespeare Was a Big George Jones Fan
Directed by Robert Gordon & Morgan Neville
Starring: Bono, Johnny Cash, Jack Clement
by Lee Jarvis.
Follow Lee on twitter @leejarvis
Tags: cowboy, Elvis Presley, Jack Clement, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Memphi, Sun Records, Sun Studios, Tennessee, U2
