For W.C. Clark, Music Is Medicine

It’s one thing to play the blues and quite another to live through them.

W.C. Clark understands. The veteran singer-guitarist has been a fixture on the Texas blues scene since he and Stevie Ray Vaughan joined forces in Triple Threat Revue back in the mid-’70s.

Clark’s mixture of soul, R&B; and the blues, which has always sparkled with authenticity, was finally recognized with a W.C. Handy Award for his 1996 release “Texas Soul” (Blacktop/Alligator Records).

But it wasn’t until tragedy struck on March 9, 1997, that Clark’s world turned a very real, very dark shade of blue.

Clark was driving home to Austin one night after a tour stop in Milwaukee when his van crashed. His fiancee and his drummer were killed, the vehicle was totaled and Clark sustained serious injuries to his right arm, neck and back.

Authorities ruled that Clark fell asleep at the wheel. Clark insists that’s not true, that his body just gave up on him, as if he had had a seizure.

Clark, who performs with his three-piece band Friday at the Blue Cafe in Long Beach, turned to music as part of his recovery. He released an album (“Lover’s Plea”) and was back on the road within a year.

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“Playin’ the blues is the best thing in the world for me, whether I’m happy or sad,” said Clark by phone from a tour stop in Lake Tahoe. “It’s like medicine to me.

“I believe my playing’s gotten better since the crash too. I’m stronger, I have more endurance and I think I’m singing better than I ever have. It’s very strange . . . and I really don’t know how to explain it.”

Nevertheless, it has been an emotional time for Clark.

The crash “is always on my mind,” he said. “Sometimes when I’m alone in my hotel room, it gets really heavy. I’ll jump up-and-down and shake my head . . . real hard. If that don’t get it out of there, then it’s in the hands of God. All I have to do is remember that I’m still alive, and I’m convinced it’s only because of a higher power.”

Clark dedicated “Lover’s Plea” to the two victims, Brenda Jasek and Pete Alcoser. One song in particular--”Are You Here, Are You There?”--has played a key role in his healing, Clark said. Powered by the swinging Kamikaze Horns and the guitarist’s emotive solo, it’s a hopeful song: “Are you here, are you there . . . I wonder/I had a dream last night of me and you . . . I woke up this morning/With a feeling in my heart/It was like we were never apart.”

“At first you wonder, ‘Why am I still here and they’re gone? How can that be?’ ” Clark said. “I don’t know . . . but it pleases me to sing that song. It don’t answer the questions, but it helps me get through this. It’s been a source of strength for me.”

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Wesley Curley Clark hails from a close-knit, musical family. His father played guitar and his mother, grandmother and sisters sang gospel music in the church choir.

Clark was drawn to the guitar, and at age 16 he played his first professional gig at a local dive called the Victory Grill.

In the early ‘70s, he formed Southern Feeling with singer Angela Strehli and guitarist-pianist Denny Freeman. A then-unknown Vaughan occasionally jammed with the group.

After that short-lived group disbanded, Clark took a steady job as an auto mechanic until Vaughan talked him into joining Triple Threat Revue, which included keyboardist Mike Kindred, drummer Freddie Pharoah and singer Lou Ann Barton. Clark was the group’s bassist.

It was then that Clark and Kindred co-wrote “Cold Shot,” which became one of Vaughan’s signature anthems.

“Stevie practiced all the time,” Clark recalled.

“He was a seeker, whether it was after something deep and spiritual or unusual musical techniques. I enjoyed being around him.”

Although Clark, now 59, is known as the “Godfather of Austin Blues,” he has never achieved the national recognition that Vaughan, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, ZZ Top and other white blues-rockers from Texas have enjoyed. Does he resent their mainstream success?

“Oh, no,” Clark said. “When the east side starting mixing with the west side in Austin back in the ‘70s, I became more of a teacher than a musician. I’d be putting together bands to play this gig and that. . . . I honestly took pride in sticking somebody else out front and helping others to reach their potential.

“I was named the favorite bluesman in the Austin Chronicle readers poll so many years in a row that they had to stop giving me that award,” he added with a chuckle. “I’ve always been very sure of myself, and I know what I’ve been able to accomplish.”

* W.C. Clark performs Friday at the Blue Cafe, 210 Promenade, Long Beach. 9 p.m. $8 (562) 983-7111.