Cowboy Jack Clement, a producer, engineer, songwriter and beloved figure who helped birth rock 'n' roll and push country music into modern times, died Thursday at his home. He was 82. His death came just months after he learned he would be joining the Country Music Hall of Fame. He was to be inducted at a ceremony this fall.
Clement's career included stops in Memphis at Sun Records as an engineer for Sam Phillips, where he discovered Jerry Lee Lewis and recorded greats like Carl Perkins and Roy Orbison. He invited a young Elvis Presley to sit in his band occasionally after returning to Memphis to attend college, where he picked up the nickname "Cowboy" for his role in a radio show. nimble thinking helped Clement insert himself into another historic moment — the fleeting few hours when Presley, Cash, Lewis and Perkins found themselves together in the store-front Union Avenue studio and decided to mess around a little. The result was "The Million Dollar Quartet."
"After a while, Sam went next door to Taylor's restaurant," Clement said in a 2010 interview with The Commercial Appeal of Memphis. "And I was sitting in the control room, turning up some knobs and I heard what they were doing. I remember I stood up and said, 'I'd be remiss if I didn't record this.' So I stuck a tape on, walked out in the studio and moved a few mics around, and I just let it run for about an hour and a half or so. Nobody seemed to object."
This Is Gold
A new ward can be added to Elvis Presley's long list; 'This Is Elvis" (Warner Home Video, 2007) was awarded a Gold Certification.
(Source: Washington Post / ElvisMatters / FECC)
