[2][3] He released more than 20 albums, and his songs have been recorded by other artists, including Townes Van Zandt, Jerry Jeff Walker, Jimmy Buffett, Kathy Mattea, Lyle Lovett, Ricky Skaggs, Steve Wariner, Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell, Steve Earle, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Nanci Griffith and Chris Stapleton.

After he graduated from high school in 1960, he spent almost a decade living in Houston as part of the folk music revival in that city.

His wife Susanna Talley Clark and he eventually settled in Nashville, where he helped create the Americana genre.

His songs "L.A. Freeway" and "Desperados Waiting for a Train" helped launch his career and were covered by numerous performers, including Steve Earle, Jerry Jeff Walker, Nanci Griffith, and Brian Joens.

That same year, bluegrass leader Ricky Skaggs hit number one with Clark's "Heartbroke", a song that permanently established his reputation as an ingenious songwriter.

Among the many others who have covered Clark's songs are Vince Gill, who took "Oklahoma Borderline" to the Top 10 in 1985; The Highwaymen, who introduced "Desperados Waiting for a Train" to a new generation that same year; John Conlee, whose interpretation of "The Carpenter" rode into the Top 10 in 1987; and John Denver, who recorded Clark's "Homegrown Tomatoes" in 1988.

In 1995, he recorded a live album with Van Zandt and Steve Earle, Together at the Bluebird Cafe, which was released in October 2001.

[9] After two months on crutches, he began to perform again on July 4 at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, DC, where he appeared with Verlon Thompson.

In December 2011, This One's for Him: A Tribute to Guy Clark (a two-CD set) was released by Icehouse Music and produced by longtime fan Tamara Saviano.