Country star Terri Clark returns to her road roots

After more than a year on the airwaves, Terri Clark is happy to be back on the roadways.

The country music hitmaker hosted the nationally syndicated “America’s Morning Show” for NASH FM out of Nashville, Tenn., for about a year before returning to her touring roots last year. The morning show kept her busy five days a week, leaving only the weekend for shows. So she said she was able to do maybe 20 to 25 shows in total during that time.

This year, she has close to 90 dates on the books already, including stops in Europe this summer. One of those dates will be at downtown Modesto’s Gallo Center for the Arts on Wednesday, March 2. Her current tour includes her four-piece band. Local country duo Cottonwood Creek, featuring Mariposa and Los Banos-based artists Maggie Watkins and Scott Patrick Little, will open the show.

Clark, who grew up in Alberta, Canada, broke onto the country music scene in the mid-1990s. She scored hits in the United States and her native Canada with songs such as “Better Things To Do,” “When Boy Meets Girl,” “Now That I Found You” and “You’re Easy on the Eyes.”

From her home in Canada, Clark recently spoke with The Bee about her time away from the stage and what coming back means to her now.

Q: You’ve been trying to ramp up your touring again the past year. You went through a slower period where you took some time off while doing the radio show. How has it felt being back on the road more steadily?

A: I absolutely love it, I didn’t realize how much I missed it until I started doing it again. I loved the opportunity to do a morning show; that was a great opportunity. I am going to remain doing stuff in the radio realm. But when you stop doing something that you’re put here to do, it kind of steals your soul a little bit. I felt like an appendage was missing for a little bit. I’m really meant to be playing on a stage entertaining, or on a bus on the highways and in the skies of the world trying to get to people.

Q: So are you still going to do any radio at all now?

A: Yes, I’m staying with the Cumulus-Westwood One family, but I can’t announce it now. It will be a little easier to do. I’m also doing stuff with NASH Icon FM, these these two- to three-minute vignettes that will run on the Nashville station. There are definitely some more opportunities for me in the radio, thanks to them.

Q: As a Canada native, what got you into country music in the first place? How was the scene there different when you started out?

A: It’s not that different. We don’t have a Nashville in Canada, so I had to go to Nashville. But I had a musical family and got really obsessed with country music in junior high. I moved to Nashville in ’87 out of high school, played for tips at Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge in downtown Nashville. I knew I had to be in Nashville to chase the dream. I wasn’t satisfied to just stay in Canada and hope for marginal success. I’m glad I did.

Q: You’re known, among many things, for wearing the classic cowboy hat. Many male country stars are, but not as many women. Why did you want to make that one of your signatures?

A: It was kind of an accident, really. I worked in retail before got a record deal. And I worked in a Western store selling cowboy boots and apparel. I wore a hat one day because when in Rome. … Then someone from the music business said: “You could be the only female hat act.” This was early ’90s, when all the men were wearing hats and Wranglers. But there were not women doing it.

When I got my deal, I went in wearing it. The art department said, “Oh, my God, that could be the biggest thing ever.” But others said, “I don’t know if I like it.” I’m still the only one wearing it, which is great. It became a trademark. There’s only one show to go to get an image of a woman in cowboy hat on the front of a T-shirt. So it hasn’t been a bad thing.

Q: I believe even your fan club is called the Hat Brats. Where’d that come from?

A: Somebody said we had to make a name for it. We had four choices, and I said, “I’ll take that one.” Most of (the fans) are too old to be brats; it’s an endearing term.

Q: How has country music in general changed since you started out?

A: Oh, gosh, not only has country music changed, but Nashville has changed dramatically. When I moved to Nashville, Cracker Barrel and Shoney’s was the best you could find. Now it is all these more sophisticated foodie restaurants. It’s not a good-old-boy country town anymore. There are people coming who played in classic rock bands.

Of course, now record sales are downloads, because nobody buys CDs anymore. Country music is cyclical; some years, women are hotter than men; some years, men are hotter than women. One year, a bunch of songs about Jesus are doing great. The next year, a bunch of songs about trucks are doing great. It’s all cyclical. For a couple of years, it was all trucks and naked women. Now it’s coming around to more thought-provoking stuff. So there’s room for everybody.

I guess the biggest change in country music, to me, is that it’s not necessarily your grandparents’ country music anymore. It’s youth-driven; it’s going for the college crowd and high school kids.

Q: How do you think you’ve evolved, changed as an artist over that same time?

A: Hopefully, I’ve gotten better. That’s the goal for every artist: to keep going and getting better. You challenge yourself to try new things and not repeat yourself. The audience sometimes wants you to do to what it’s accustomed to you doing, but your goal is to keep challenging yourself. I feel like I play and sing better than I did 20 years ago. I wish I wrote more songs. I feel like, as an entertainer, I’ve grown a lot. The musicality improved, as did being comfortable in my own skin.

Q: What can folks expect from the live show?

A: I’m now with the band, so there’s lots of energy. You will hear all the songs you heard on the radio over the years. The audience wants to hear what it’s familiar with. And I’m an artist who tries to give them what they want to see. It’s high-energy. They will have a good time; otherwise, I didn’t do my job.

This story was originally published February 23, 2016 at 3:20 PM with the headline "Country star Terri Clark returns to her road roots."