Terri Clark stopped by The Bobby Bones Show to talk about creating her new duets album, reveal why she turned down a Playboy offer and more.
Clark had a lot of artists in mind she wanted to work with for her new duets album, Take Two. She went into the project with a wish list of people that included names like Cody Johnson, Ben Rector, Lauren Alaina and more. The first call she made was to Ashley McBryde, who she has been friends with since 2017. She asked her to sing on “Better Things To Do,” because it was the debut single. McBryde had publicly talked about how much Clark’s debut record meant to her as a kid growing up in Arkansas who felt like she was different than the rest of the girls. She was a tomboy and saw Clark’s image and it made her feel better, so her singing on that song was a natural fit. After McBryde agreed, other artists jumped on board like Lainey Wilson for “Poor, Poor Pitiful Me.” Clark knew she wanted to work with Wilson because she loved her individuality and her music. Almost everyone she asked said yes and the ones who said no only couldn’t because of scheduling issues.
While in the studio, Clark revealed why she turned down an offer to pose in Playboy magazine 20 years ago. There was an online poll that asked people which country singer they’d like to see pose for Playboy. She and Shania Twain ended up as the top two answers. They offered her a million dollars and she told her manager there was no way she’d pose for it because meet and greats with fans could already get weird and she didn’t want them bringing in nude photos of her to sign. They made her another offer to go topless for less money, but she declined because she didn’t want a money grab and because she knew she had too many young girls looking up to her. Clark has always prided herself as being a strong woman and if she agreed to do Playboy, it would go against everything she stood for. She’s glad she made that decision and didn’t let greed sway her decision. Six months later, she was asked to become a member of The Grand Ole Opry and she’s not sure that would’ve happened had she posed for Playboy. Lainey Wilson was inducted into The Grand Ole Opry on the 20th anniversary of Clark’s Opry induction. As a gift, she gave Wilson one of her vintage touring t-shirts. She still has some of her vintage merch but gave a t-shirt to every artist who agreed to be on her Take Two album. Clark shared that she likes to move around a lot and tends to buy a house, fix it, then sell it and move again, so she thinks she’s lost some of her old merch in those moves.
Clark considers her big break when she auditioned for Mercury Records. She had a demo tape floating around Nashville when she was playing at Tootsie’s on Downtown Broadway. One day, a producer from Florida heard her play and told her he wanted to create a demo tape with her. She moved to Florida to work in his home studio, and he shopped it around in Nashville and it caught the attention of some label people in town, and she recorded a new demo and Vince Gill sang on one of the tracks. Three years later, she got the call to sing for Mercury Records and the next day she was offered a record deal. It was eight years after she moved to Nashville so she couldn’t believe it was finally happening. She described it as a heartbreaking process but learned that every time one door closed, another one opened for her with another amazing opportunity.
A cowboy hat is part of Clark’s signature look and it’s rare to see her without one. But when she does a rock medley during her shows, she will take the cowboy hat off. Depending on the weather she’ll switch which type of hat she’ll wear. In the spring and summer, she’ll wear a straw one and, in the fall, and winter she wears a felt one. Clark’s cowboy hat is also very much her own unique shape. She revealed she uses a steamer to mold it the way she wants. She told a story about a time she needed a hat for a photoshoot and all of hers were in storage, so she went to a local Boot Country. They told her they needed to shape the hat and she couldn’t, but Clark knew the owner because she used to work at a Boot Country before she got her record deal. So, she asked them to call the owner and explain who she was, and he agreed to let her shape her hat in the store.
Clark is from Canada and some of her biggest hits only charted there and didn’t become hits in America. When she creates the set list for her shows, she tries to perform all her big hits that charted in both countries and add in some new songs as well. She’s currently on tour and is planning to play close to 75 shows by the end of the year. For more information about her tour, visit Terriclark.com.