Cowboy Jack Clement Dead at Age 82

Legendary country music producer "Cowboy" Jack Clement passed away this week at the age of 82 after battling liver cancer.

If you don't know "Cowboy Jack" by his name alone, that's because he spent most of his career making other country and rock 'n' roll acts sound good.  He produced such legendary acts as Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison and Carl Perkins, and he was the man who discovered Jerry Lee Lewis.  He first came to fame twiddling knobs at the legendary  Sun Studios in the 1950s.

"Cowboy Jack" was also the man who made Charley Pride famous and to many was the sonic architect of the Outlaw country sound of the 1970s. But honestly, his reach as a producer went a lot further than even that:

Clement schooled studio protégés Garth Fundis, Allen Reynolds, Jim Rooney, Mark Reynolds and David Ferguson, men who who went on to work with Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, John Hartford, Nanci Griffith, Crystal Gayle, John Prine, Iris DeMent and others. Clement wrote Just Someone I Used to Know for Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton. He co-produced Angel of Harlem and When Love Comes To Town for international supergroup U2.  -- USA Today

"Cowboy Jack" has strong ties to Beaumont, as well.  According to the AV Club, It was there in the 1960s where he convinced George Jones to record "She Thinks I Still Care."  It's also where he produced Johnny Cash's No. 1 "Ring of Fire."

Also a songwriter, he penned hits for Cash, Pride, Bobby Bare and Waylon Jennings.

Thanks for the music, "Cowboy Jack."