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Monday, 15 February, 2010 7:08 PM
Country star
Terri Clark to perform at The Ark on Feb. 19 in Ann Arbor
Photo
credit: Sweet Talk Publicity
Terri
Clark
ANN
ARBOR, Mich. -- Terri
Clark was born as Terri Lynn Sauson on August 5, 1968 in Montreal,
Quebec. She's had success in both Canada and in the United States.
Clark was originally signed to Mercury Records in 1995, then moved
to Capitol Records Nashville in the U.S. and EMI Records in Canada.
She is known for the number one singles "You're Easy on the
Eyes," "Girls Lie Too" and "In My Next Life."
Clark will perform an acoustic show on Friday, Feb. 19 at The Ark
music venue in Ann Arbor.
Although
Clark was born in Quebec, she was raised in Medicine Hat, Alberta,
Canada. The country singer said it was easy for her to get a good
grasp on the English language after learning French first.
"I
didn't live in Quebec very long, but I did know French when I was
in grammar school," she said. "I had to take French classes.
It was kind of a mandatory thing. Then, we moved to western Canada.
I spent my teenage years from 9-10 until 18 in western Canada where
they didn't speak French really. That's as much as that went."
Clark's
grandparents, Ray and Betty Gauthier, were also country musicians
in Canada. They offered some advice to her about the music industry.
"They
told me it was a very hard business," the country singer admitted.
"I needed to be tough and really needed to stand my ground.
They mostly just told me how hard the business was. They played
at bars so they saw that more seedy of it really, the late nights,
the smoke. They had to do a lot more club and bar singing than I
did. I was lucky in that I did some early years at Tootsie's as
a single act, solo with my acoustic guitar, but I avoided a lot
of the bar scene, which I was lucky to do."
She has
had many hit singles over the years including "Better Things
To Do," "When Boy Meets Girl," "Poor Poor Pitiful
Me," "I Just Wanna Be Mad," among many others. But
which is her favorite to perform?
"Oh
my goodness, that's a loaded question," Clark responded. "I
have a lot of songs that I really enjoy performing. 'Better Things
To Do' maybe because it was my very first one. It was the beginning
of that whole dream I dreamt of as a little girl coming through.
Every time I sing that song, it makes me go back to the first year
of my career. It was such a wonderful time."
The country
singer has released all of her albums on the same day in Canada
and in the United States, except for her latest record.
"It
was just because I was independent and my Canadian deal came together
before my American deal did," she explained. "The Canadian
side was just anxious to get it out there. So that's why it happened.
Usually, it doesn't. Next time, I hope they coincide better. I wasn't
too happy about that."
Clark's
latest album, The Long Way Home, was released on Sept.
1, 2009 in Canada and on Oct. 20, 2009 in the United States.
"I've
had a couple of hit singles in Canada called 'If You Want Fire'
and another one 'Gypsy Boots,'" the country singer said. "The
third single now is called 'A Million Ways To Run' and that's a
song basically about not running away from your problems and issues
anymore and just dealing with things instead of escaping with alcohol
or gambling or whatever it is you do to escape. A lot of songs on
this album are very, very deep and introspective for me. My mother's
been battling cancer and a lot of my choices as to what went on
this album were reflective of a lot of personal issues."
How is your
new record different from some of your previous works?
"It's
a lot more personal," Clark answered. "The songs on it
have much more of a personal connection. My previous work I was
a little more focused on churning out radio hits and radio-friendly
tunes that would do well there and this time around I wasn't as
concerned about that. So my choices were a lot less limited. I was
able to record things that mattered to me rather than trying to
second guess would everybody else would like."
She will
make a stop on her "Unplugged & Alone" tour at The
Ark on Feb. 19 in Ann Arbor, Mich.
"The
show's going to be just me and a guitar on a stool," the country
singer said. "I'll be talking a lot. I've never been to The
Ark, but I hear it's a wonderful venue for this type of show. So
I'm very excited about it. I'm going to be signing afterwards at
the merchandise table, meeting people. I'm going to be playing a
lot of album cuts from previous albums that never made it as singles.
Ones that I feel like shoulda been. A lot of my best material is
still laying on album cuts that have never made it to the radio.
A lot of people never got to hear. People who have those albums
will recognize everything I'm playing. I'm going to play a lot of
songs from the new album and the hits too. I think it's going to
be a different show than anyone's seen me do before. I started out
with just me and guitar so there's no reason why I shouldn't do
this type of thing."
Clark performed
twice at the Downtown Hoedown in Detroit -- in 1999 and in 2006.
What are your thoughts on that festival?
"It
was huge, I think it was great," she responded. "I really
enjoyed myself. The audience was great. I do really well up in Michigan.
I think all of us who grew up in the snow can relate to each other.
The show I'm doing at The Ark is going to be very different from
that show. It's a whole different type of thing."
The country
singer recently performed at the Olympic torch relay ceremonies
in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada and in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
What was that experience like for you?
"I
had to learn to saw my fingers out," Clark explained. "It
was hard to play guitar with frozen fingers, but the weather wasn't
too bitterly cold. I really enjoyed it. There's such a spirit that
goes behind the Olympics and the Olympics scene in Vancouver. Canada's
very proud and I'm just really proud to be a part of it. I had a
really nice time doing that. I got a couple of free Olympic sweatshirts
while I was at it."
She said
the upcoming concert will be very intimate. There will be a mix
and match of album cuts, old songs and new singles as well. Clark
describes the concert as her sitting inside someone's living room
and doing a show there.
Click
here to order tickets for Terri Clark's acoustic performance
at The Ark in Ann Arbor.
For
more information on Terri Clark, visit www.terriclark.com
or www.myspace.com/terriclark.
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