Review: Country Legend Roy Clark Finally Gets a Well-Deserved Career Retrospective with 'Roy Clark's Greatest Hits'

No musical artist has ever suffered the effects of typecasting quite as badly as Roy Clark. The beloved country artist was arguably the most skilled country guitarist in history not named Chet Atkins, proving himself adept at classical, Latin, and numerous other styles of guitar throughout his career. But when Clark's face is seen, almost everyone sees the affable “a pickin' and a grinnin” bumpkin persona he played for many years on Hee Haw. While Clark seemed to truly enjoy the corny program and never complained about his typecasting, it is still gratifying to finally see a career spanning collection of Clark's hits, Roy Clark's Greatest Hits, released on Sept. 18 from Craft Records.

There have been a number of hits collections during Clark's career, most have been confined to certain periods or certain labels. Roy Clark's Greatest Hits is the first to span his entire catalog, from his beginnings in 1962 to his death in 2018.

A highly talented multi-instrumentalist, Clark not only excelled at guitar, but also cigar box guitar, fiddle, and banjo. Outside of music, he was gifted with a comedic timing and was also a skilled pilot. But, as is appropriate, Clark's Greatest Hits focuses on his storied career as a musician.

And what a wide range it was. In addition to his well-known country hits like “I Never Picked Cotton” (covered by Johnny Cash on his American Recordings sessions), the compilation also touches on his stunning instrumental work (“Riders in the Sky”) as well as his pop crossover hits (“Yesterday, When I Was Young”), and even a couple of novelty hits from his Hee Haw days (“The Lawrence Welk-Hee Haw Counter Revolution Polka”).

While the collection truly shows off Clark's wide ranging skills, there are some glaring and baffling omissions. The most egregious of them is Clark's dazzling 12-string cover of Cuban hit “Malaguena”, which closed out his concerts for many years and first brought his true guitar prowess to wider audiences via an appearance on the popular TV show The Odd Couple.

Unforgivable omissions aside, Roy Clark's Greatest Hits will appeal to fans of Clark who want a full-career retrospective of his lengthy run. It is also a great jumping-on point for guitar enthusiasts or just fans of classic country and crossover pop melodies who might not think of Clark as anything but his Hee Haw character.