A folksy folksinger

Kerry Patrick Clark has a passion for music and reaching people

WHITEHOUSE – Kerry Patrick Clark is often described as a musical Norman Rockwell, a troubadour who tells stories and makes connections through songs that reflect the spirit of America.

If that means getting nostalgic at times, Clark has no qualms about it depending on the audience.

“One of the things I’ve done for years, part ministry and part music, is I sing at retirement centers and nursing homes,” he said. “It’s perhaps some of the most enjoyable stuff that I do because we do singalongs and tell stupid dad jokes and we get to be present in the moment and present in the community we’ve created.”

At the height of the COVID pandemic, Clark recorded a 22-minute video for seniors to enjoy because people couldn’t go to concerts.

“Well, you know, I couldn’t be in person with these folks, so how can I serve them?” Clark pondered.

It’s a singalong video featuring vintage American tunes, such as Take Me Out to the Ball Game, In the Good Old Summertime and Let Me Call You Sweetheart.

While singing You Are My Sunshine, Clark stopped strumming his guitar for a moment to look into the camera and say, “I love this song – you are my sunshine, my only sunshine! It makes me happy when I sing it!”

Clark’s music is not all vintage Americana, however. He has recorded nine albums of original songs in a variety of genres and has performed concerts across the country.

His musical style spans pop, country and folk genres, but he said he’s generally categorized as a folksinger.

Clark traces his folksinger label to 1985, when he toured the country with the renowned folk music group the New Christy Minstrels. “So I have a history of folk music,” he said.

Most people in the Toledo area have seen Clark perform at one venue or another. He’s been on virtually every stage in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan in his lengthy career, from theaters and bars to Christmas parties and Easter brunches.

This year, Clark has been performing monthly on the Sandpiper, singing and playing guitar as patrons enjoy dinner while cruising along the Maumee River. His last Sandpiper show of 2024 is set for Sept. 18.

Clark has a busy performance schedule, including upcoming concerts in the Cincinnati suburb of Madeira and on “the Left Coast,” as he calls it, in Tehachapi, Calif., near Los Angeles.

“I play a lot at listening rooms. There are listening rooms all over the globe,” he said.

Listening room concerts are organized by people who love music and don’t want to be distracted at a noisy bar or a sports bar to hear an artist. Many are put on by members of the national Folk Alliance that celebrates folk and world music, as well as folk and world dance.

“They offer up their home, church, coffee house or some venue where people literally come for a concert. I do two 45-minute sets. Sometimes they have a potluck meal before or after and talk with the artist,” Clark said.

“I did all the bar stuff. I did all the touring and traveling and gigging and all of that, and my life story is really wonderful and I wouldn’t change it for a minute,” he reminisced. “But where I want to play now is where music matters. And so whatever that looks like, a church concert or a coffee house or a listening room or a senior center, that’s where it is.

“That sounds a little egotistical, like it’s about me, but it’s really about us. … We laugh, we sing, and it’s just this really incredible opportunity for us to come together in a moment in time and be a community for an hour and a half.”

It’s essential for Clark to engage his audiences. He loves talking to people, telling jokes, making comments, asking questions.

“Anybody can play guitar and sing,” he said, “but to move people through story and song or put a show together, that is a sort of an emotional roller coaster.”

Clark was born in Mason, Mich., and moved to Sylvania in the fifth grade. His father was a scientist for Owens-Illinois and his mother was a bookkeeper. His dad played guitar as a hobby and taught Clark to play his first three chords.

“I would barricade myself in my room and just play. I was fairly insecure and was really more happy just being in my room playing a guitar than anywhere else.”

Clark credits the late Eddie Boggs, another well-known local artist, for teaching him to be not just a singer and guitarist, but an entertainer.

Boggs, who passed away in 2014 at age 68, was Clark’s seventh-grade social studies teacher in Sylvania.

During his senior year, Boggs called him up and invited Clark to play a few shows together. That led to concerts at Put-in-Bay, local yacht clubs, restaurants, and clubs and venues throughout northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan.

“He took me under his wing and we became musical partners and I played with him for years, not just that but we became the best of friends and he taught me more about entertaining and the magic of how to put a show together and how to entertain.”

Clark is a Martin Guitar Preferred Artist, which means the prestigious guitar company custom-makes acoustic guitars for him.

“I still pay for them but not as much as a regular customer. I’ve only got two Martins but they are really remarkable instruments. I pick up a model and tell them what I want, what finish I want. And the one they send me is the only one of its kind.”

His first customized Martin guitar arrived on Christmas Eve day about 15 years ago.

“The UPS guy shows up, I didn’t know it was coming that day, and I open the door and this guy says, ‘UPS, sign here,’ and he’s got a Martin guitar box. And I just start weeping. I’m sure the UPS guy is thinking, ‘Just sign and let me get out of here!’”

Clark knew when he was in high school that he wanted to make music his career.

“That’s all I ever wanted to do.” His parents thought differently.

“’Well,’ my dad would say, ‘Music is a good thing, and you can do it on the weekends. But you should get’ – and here it comes – ‘you should get a real job!’,” Clark said with a laugh.

That changed when he was 20 and his mother did his taxes. Clark had made more money that year than his father did as a full-time scientist.

“That conversation-slash-argument of getting a real job stopped. I told my parents, ‘I know you’re fearful for me, but I’m going to figure out how to make this work.’”

Music is still Clark’s passion. He does have a “real job” as a real-estate developer and property owner along with his wife, Amy. But there’s no time clock to punch and no desk to sit behind.

His son, Robbie Clark, is following in Kerry’s footsteps as a singer-guitarist.

Robbie Clark is opening for Crystal Bowersox at the Toledo School for the Performing Arts on Sept. 14 and has a regular gig at Lupita’s in downtown Perrysburg.

Robbie made it pretty far as a singer competing on American Idol.

“I drove to Austin (Texas) with him and he auditioned in front of the judges. He got a ‘yes’ from Lionel Ritchie, a ‘no’ from Katy Perry, and a ‘not yet’ from Luke Bryan.”

Clark said he is working on some new songs after going through a dry spell that lasted several years. His songwriting drought ended after spending three weeks earlier this year in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

“There’s nothing quite like looking out on that point where the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortez come together and seeing whales every single day and sunshine every single day… There was no agenda, no real estate to work on or any gig to get to. Every day I was writing, and I think I have five songs that came out of it. It was such a gift to remember who I am and to have the floodgates of writing open again.”

He said he plans to release the songs as singles, not on albums or CDs, since most music fans are streaming their tunes these days.

“I have a closet full of CDs that are, like, just paperweights now,” Clark said.