side profile of William Clark Green
Zack Knudsen

Rooted in Country: William Clark Green on Garth Brooks' 'Rodeo'

For over a decade, singer-songwriter William Clark Green has been one of the most acclaimed artists to come out of the Lone Star State. Green's newly released album Baker Hotel, his first in four years, builds on the 35-year-old artist's storytelling prowess, weaving together rich character studies and tales of his small town Texas roots.

Videos by Wide Open Country

Green says he's long been drawn to romantic story songs that mix country with hard-driving classic rock, going back to Garth Brooks' "Rodeo" from Brooks' 1991 album Ropin' the Wind. 

"My dad, who was not a humongous country fan but more of a classic rock guy, always played that entire album around the house," Green tells Wide Open Country."I think the reason I gravitated so much towards it is because that was the first time I had really heard a rocking county song. It was a mixture between Chris LeDoux and Lynyrd Skynyrd. That sound mixed with that songwriting showed the electricity of rodeos and that way of life. It made it exciting for the uneducated in that world. It romanticized it for me, too."
Baker Hotel is the follow-up to Green's 2018 album Hebert Island.

"What this record means to me is self-reflection," Green says of Baker Hotel. "Realizing that I just turned 35 and it's like, 'Where am I at in life? Where do I want to be? Where did I think I would be?' Not being able to work [during the lockdown], I had a lot of time to sit and think about myself, and what's really locking me down, and that's what I think this record is about."

Check out our Rooted in Country playlist below.

 

READ MORE: Rooted in Country: Dalton Dover on Keith Whitley's 'Don't Close Your Eyes'