Cowboy Jack Clement’s last musical work, For Once and For All, is being released today (July 15) and is the debut offering from the John Grady-led I.R.S. Records Nashville.
Clement was 82 when he finished the album that features John Prine, Emmylou Harris, Bobby Bare, Duane Eddy, T Bone Burnett, Vince Gill, Marty Stuart, Rodney Crowell, Buddy Miller, Dan Auerbach, Leon Russell, Gillian Welch, Dave Rawlings, Dickie Lee, Shawn Camp, Dierks Bentley, Jim Rooney, Jim Lauderdale, Will Oldham, and daughter Alison Clement. Clement died last year at age 82.
The project is produced by longtime cohort Dave “Fergie” Ferguson and Matt Sweeney with T Bone Burnett as executive producer.
There are only three Cowboy Jack Clement records. He released his first solo album All I Want To Do In Life in 1978, when he was in his late 40s. The follow-up came with 2004’s Guess Things Happen That Way.
Clement was known as a producer and songwriter. He was Charley Pride’s longtime producer and the first to record Jerry Lee Lewis and Roy Orbison at Sun Records in Memphis. He co-produced U2’s “Angel of Harlem” and “When Love Comes To Town.” A friend of Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson and Waylon Jennings, he produced Jennings’ Dreaming My Dreams album.
“What an honor it is to be involved with Cowboy’s final record. This is the perfect way to start I.R.S. Nashville,” Grady says. “All the producers and musicians set the tone for this record. Sometimes we should all get together and do the right thing. I hope Jack is proud of us.”
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