The Clark Family Expirience

The Clark boys, who range in age from 15 to 25, have all been performing virtually since they could talk. Alan, 25 (guitar/harmonica/vocals); Aaron, 21 (bass/vocals); Adam, 20 (mandolin/guitar/vocals); Ashley, 18 (fiddle/guitar/vocals); Andrew, 17 (drums/vocals); and Austin, 15 (dobro/vocals) are the oldest in a family of 11 children who basically grew up on the road traveling with their missionary parents. Their father, a self-taught multi-instrumentalist, served as a music teacher to all of his children.

Alan Clark told POLLSTAR his parents wanted a daughter so bad, they weren’t going to give up until they got one. After having nine boys, including a set of twins who are now 10 years old, Freddy and Sylvia Clark were finally blessed with twin girls. The three-year-olds are already singing “Jesus Loves Me,” Alan said.

The Clarks’ first musical group was a childhood trio of the oldest boys. Alan, Aaron and Adam cut a gospel 45 rpm and sold it wherever they played, mostly at festivals and churches where their father was preaching. “That was our Burger King and fuel money,” Alan said. “We were The Clark Brothers but we sounded more like The Chipmunks at the time.”

By 1993, the six oldest brothers had enough experience to be taken seriously as musicians. They landed on a year-long festival circuit tour and became quite an attraction on the road. Their success prompted Mr. Clark to create a video of his boys to promote upcoming appearances at churches and festivals. The taped performance ultimately aired on 150 local public-access stations. As fate would have it, one influential man would see the video and offer to take the boys to a whole new level.

As a matter of fact, in talking to Alan about The Clark Family Experience’s success, there is one continuous theme throughout – the genius of manager Sherman Halsey. After Halsey saw the brothers on public television in Nashville, he spent six months trying to track them down.

“Our first couple shows, we didn’t leave any address or phone numbers because we were just doing it for fun, basically,” Alan said. “But a couple of months later, we finally caught on, like, ‘Oh, wait a minute. How are they gonna find us if somebody ever wanted to?'” No sooner did they broadcast their contact information that they got a call from The Halsey Company.

Halsey, also a video producer, offered to send them some of his work. “So he sends the videos and we pop them in and it’s like Tim McGraw and Tanya Tucker and everybody,” Alan said. “We were all just like freakin’ out!”

When the Clark boys moved to Nashville about a year and a half ago, it took them all of a day to get a record deal. “We went out and played for the press first,” Alan said. “And by the end of the day, I guess word got out on the record label executive [network] and they were all calling around. ‘Where are those guys? Where are all those brothers?’ And then, at the end of the day, we got an offer in from Curb so it was like in one day, we got a deal. It was really cool.”

The boys’ record company proper is Halsey/Curb, another salute to Sherman Halsey, and The Clark Family Experience is one of only a handful of artists on the label. The group is working on its debut album and expects its release by year’s end.

So how has The Experience come this far with no album? Alan gives much of the credit to the band’s regular appearance on TNN’s Oak Ridge Boys show. How did the Clarks land such a lucky break? “Well, you know, Sherman was the executive producer of the show so he put us on,” Alan said.

As for their strategy for scoring a spot on the George Strait Country Music Festival, the answer is no surprise: “Good management. Great management.”

With a business team (including proud CAA agent Rod Essig) determined to break this band, it seems like the Clark boys couldn’t be happier. They’re doing what they’ve always done – travel, except now they’re in “the nicest bus we’ve ever owned,” Alan said. Their 45-foot Silver Eagle is quite plush compared to the old “GM ‘59 clunker” Alan remembers traveling in when he was a toddler.

That’s not to mention that they’re playing to large audiences and are about to embark on an acting career. A couple of networks are looking to create a dramatic televison series with the boys, who have also been acting out skits since they were children.

Alan, being the oldest, is a good representative of the well-disciplined family. He is fully gracious, giving thanks to the Lord and the blessing of a close-knit family for all their success. And he’s far too humble to acknowledge that he and his brothers have got it made. They just appreciate the fact that they’re having fun here and now.

“If it all ended tomorrow, we had a blast for sure,” Alan said.