Terri Clark – Older, Wiser and Fearless
By Jane Fuentes-DeFerbrache

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Fans who log on to Terri Clark’s April 12th live webcast will see and hear country’s effervescent party girl in a more somber mood and with a more mature attitude. “With age comes wisdom and confidence," explains the 32-year-old Canadian born singer, “and I don’t feel like I’m seeking approval as much as I used to from other people.”

Clark will be performing songs from her latest album, Fearless, in which she brings down the emotional barriers and reveals a more introspective and subtle part of her personality, which she says is not an easy thing to do. “It’s really putting it out there. You bare your soul and hand it over to the critics to rip it apart or like it. Yeah, that is hard to do.”

Clark enjoyed phenomenal success when in 1995 her first, self-titled album reached platinum status, and her second and third albums, Just the Same and How I Feel went gold. All three albums delivered the rollicking, romping, party style tunes that became her trademark, but Fearless is a project that emerged from her personal and professional growth and self-discovery. “Artists who write songs...what they’re going through usually comes through in their music," she explained. "I think I’ve grown a lot in the last few years, and I needed to express myself as an artist on this. It wasn’t necessarily about going in and making an album chocked full of hit singles...there were a lot of things I did out of the joy and the want to do it.”

While it wasn’t a particular event that triggered her artistic and personal journey toward maturity, she admits that going through a painful divorce prompted her spiritual awakening. “I went on a spiritual journey and started contemplating life. This album very much came out of a lot of emotions and questions I had about the world and God and the things that we all think about. Too, when you turn 30 you begin to look around and wonder, ‘what am I here for, what am I doing on this earth, what is my purpose?’”

In typical Clark fashion, she grabbed life by the throat and took control. “I had to confront my fears about a lot of things, and one of those things is acceptance. I think we spend our lives craving acceptance from other people. I am very much that way. I want to be liked, I want to be loved, and doing an album that meant taking a chance and going out on a limb – I worked with a different producer, wrote with different writers – it was a bit scary, so it did take having some fearlessness to do it.”

Even though Clark has taken a different artistic path than in the past, she’s getting good feedback from her fans. “We just came off a two-month Canadian tour with the acoustic band, and some people are saying they like it even better. I don’t think that anything is lacking at all with us using acoustic instruments. I think people really get a chance to hear the songs in a rawer, more rootsy form that way.”

The inspiration for the acoustic tour stemmed from Fearless’ organic flavor, and reflects the earthy tones of Clark’s co-writers, especially Mary Chapin Carpenter, with whom she co-wrote “No Fear.” “That’s a song about reaching deep inside yourself where you can completely be who you are,” she says, “and of all the songs I’ve co-written, it’s probably my favorite. “No Fear” (the single) currently ranks in the Top 10 on the Canadian radio charts after only six weeks, and is listed in the Top 40 on CMT Canada’s Top 40 countdown.

Clark says she hopes listeners will pick up on the messages contained in the album’s tracks. “There are a lot of undertones to the album – no fear, following your heart, living in the moment, and enjoying the journey and not necessarily always looking for the destination. The track “Getting There” (co-written with Gary Burr) is about how all we have is right now. We’re not guaranteed a tomorrow, so we’d better really enjoy it.”

For those of us who struggle with fear of not being accepted, Clark says, “The best thing to do is stare it in the face and move on. We have to face our fears and plow through. I think taking chances takes a lot more courage than staying stagnant and doing what’s safe and comfortable.”

Doing the safe and comfortable thing hasn’t been a bad thing for Clark. She was named the winner of the 2001 Juno Award for Best Country Female Artist at the annual Canadian music show earlier this month. She’s also up against Kenny Chesney, Sara Evans, Billy Gillman and SHeDAISY for The Fast Track Award in TNN Country Weekly Music Awards, which will be telecast live on June 13 from Nashville’s Gaylord Entertainment Center.

Fans can look forward to the webcast presentation being very acoustic and extremely intimate. “I think people think of me as a party girl with all the up-temp songs -- sort of a one dimensional thing. Now they’re seeing a different side [of me]. It’s not all about jumping up and down and seeing how many guitars I can throw through the air -- it’s actually about singing and playing the guitar.”

This is my first webcast, and I’m really excited. I don’t really know what to expect. I’ve never done anything like this before. It’s always nice to have a 'first,' and after six years [since the release of her first album] I’m still having firsts – that’s good!”

Clark says the party girl is not gone, she’s alive and kicking, but just a little more mature and a lot more grounded.

More information about Terri is available at http://www.terriclark.com/