Born in Toronto, Ontario and raised in the isolated mining community of Schefferville, Quebec, Clarke has since worked at a number of careers.
These include stints as a marine engineer on Great Lakes vessels, a high-rise construction carpenter, a dairy farmer, a Toronto police officer, and a power plant operator at a paper mill.
These song cycles tackle the difficult issues of genocide and child sexual abuse crisis by Catholic clergy, respectively.
In addition, in 2006, Clarke and Flannery composed and performed the soundtrack to the award-winning feature-length documentary film, Facing Sudan, directed and produced by Bruce David Janu of Chicago, Illinois.
The album, titled, From My Window, features 14 songs and was recorded, engineered, and produced by Michael Jerling in Saratoga Springs, NY.