Singer Clark making return trip to Black Oak

Country singer Terri Clark had so much fun at last year's sold-out concert at Black Oak Casino in Tuolumne that she's coming back Thursday for another go-round.

"I remember thinking what a fun crowd it was," she said. "I was extra-feisty that night."

Once again, this will be an "unplugged" show with just Clark and her guitar. She said audiences like the intimate feel and the free-wheeling nature of the shows. She doesn't have to stick to a set list and can follow the mood of the crowd.

"It gives them the feeling they're part of the movie rather sitting in a seat watching the movie," she said.

The 43-year-old native of Canada has sold more than 5 million albums and charted nearly a dozen top-10 hits. She first made a splash on country radio in 1995 with "Better Things to Do." She followed up with the hits "When Boy Meets Girl," "Now That I Found You" and a cover of Warren Zevon's "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me," which also was recorded by Linda Ronstadt nearly 20 years earlier. Clark hit No. 1 in 1998 with "You're Easy on the Eyes" and again in 2004 with "Girls Lie Too."

The past few years, she has goneindependent and self-issued her latest CD, "Roots & Wings," in July. Some of the CD reflects her Canadian roots, including the song "Northern Girl" and her cover of Canadian band Trooper's 1970s hit "We're Here for a Good Time."

Clark spent her first 10 years in Montreal and then moved to Alberta. While she maintains a residence in Nashville, she has a place in Ontario, where she can stay connected with the people she grew up with, including her grandmother, who is only an hour away.

The rest of the new album covers different topics, like breaking up and unrequited love. She also included a song, "The One," about singles who aren't in a hurry to get hitched.

"I find there are so many people, they're so bound to the idea of that tradition that you grow up to get married and have babies," said Clark, who has been divorced twice. "There's nothing wrong with that. That's wonderful, that's the dream. It doesn't work out for everyone. Some people are in their 40s, 50s and 60s and they haven't found the one, and they're not going to settle. There's no expiration date to find true love."

Clark realizes that is not a usual country song topic. "There are four subjects for traditional country music: love songs, Jesus songs, drinking songs and working songs," she said. "This song doesn't fit the standard model of what most people think is the outline for country songs, and that's what I like about it."

There is one more subject for country, and that's death songs. Sadly, Clark has had experience with that, too, with her mother dying at age 60 of cancer in 2010.

"Part of me feels like it's not real," Clark said. "It feels like she's on an extended vacation. Maybe that's a part of our brain that helps us cope with the loss."

She wears her mother's engagement ring around her neck and thinks about her all the time. "I feel her presence and feel she's proud of me," she said. "I feel I have an extra guardian angel by my side.

Clark said she's happy issuing her music independently, except that she isn't on U.S. radio anymore. She's tried sending her CDs to country stations but hasn't had success. She believes the only way to get them on is to have an expensive marketing team hounding the stations until they play the music.

But she's not too worried about it. Her career is still strong. "I'm having top-10 songs in Canada every time I put something out," she said. "We're going to Europe for a month. I'm busy enough."

INFO

WHAT: Terri Clark

WHEN: 8 p.m. Thursday

WHERE: Willow Creek Lounge, Black Oak Casino, 19400 Tuolumne Road North, Tuolumne

TICKETS: $25

CALL: (877) 747-8777

ONLINE: www.blackoakcasino.com