YouTube Gold: Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown

An underrated great of American music

Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, who died in 2005, was a masterful musician. A guitarist, he could play any number of styles from blues to jazz to swing to rock and roll. He was just one of those guys - if you sat down and played something, he could do it.

At some point in his musical journey, he became friends with Roy Clark of Hee Haw fame and made several appearances on that staple of ‘70’s TV.

In this video, he and Clark, along with Leon Rhodes, play Duke Ellington’s classic, “Take the A Train.”

Like Brown, Clark was a masterful guitarist who could play almost anything. He was also a comedian, which at times overshadowed his prodigious talent.

It’s kind of amazing to see what comes together in this video. The composer, Ellington, was a giant of the Jazz Era. Clark was born in Virginia and grew up with multiple influences, including Earl Scruggs of bluegrass fame, and Brown, who was a native of Louisiana and who also lived in Texas, brought an amazing number of influences to his own music.

And it all comes together on this video flawlessly and brilliantly.