NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — In a city with so many amazing music stories, some get under told. That includes the story of Cortelia Clark. Rest assured, no one's story is quite like his. Now, a friend is making sure his remarkable story gets heard.
'Busker' is defined as; a person who performs music or other entertainment in the street or another public place for monetary donations.
One busker from way back is Cortelia. He was a blind man who would sell shopping bags and busk downtown in the 1950s and 60s. Back then, Mike Weesner would often catch Cortelia playing across the street from Woolworth's.
"When he first started out, he was the first [busker] in Nashville and the only one when I knew then," Mike remembered. "Sunshine and rain and everything else, you would see Cortelia. Got to where I was talking to him. Got to know him. We became friends."
Mike was a beginning rock producer. He wanted to record his friend Cortelia.
"He was just interesting," Mike said. "With the folk music craze going, I was hoping it'd get some traction."
Mike recorded a demo of Cortelia and presented it to the RCA record label. A release got an important champion in legendary musician Chet Atkins. A Cortelia Clark album was full speed ahead.
60 years ago. 1965. The actual album recording was set for Hillsboro Village.
"Everybody at the time was eating at the Pancake Pantry," Mike said. "The engineer decided to do it at the Pancake Pantry."
Cortelia played for a three hour recording session outside, capturing the city sounds. There was just one problem.
"The cars weren't loud enough!" Mike laughed. "We needed more traffic sounds!"
A team including musician and actor Jerry Reed drove around the back parking lot of RCA to give the sounds of squealing tires and horns honking.
The album was released; a glimpse into the world of a busker.
Then something shocking happened for Cortelia's Blues on the Street album. In 1967, it won the Best Folk Recording Grammy.
Mike wishes the story of his friend was different. Even with the Grammy, the album only sold around 600 copies at the time and Cortelia just kept busking.
"All the guitars I have went through the house fire that eventually killed Cortelia," Mike said, showcasing a guitar.
In 1969 came a tragedy that has changed how Mike sees the album.
"I think the basic legacy is to give a doorway into what the 50s and 60s were like if you were of color and poor in Nashville, Tennessee," Mike said. "His house did not have water. His house did not have electricity. He died in a house fire cause he was filling up a kerosene heater while it was still running. It blew up on him. The idea that within sight of the state capitol of Tennessee you could have those conditions and have nobody do anything about it is kinda appalling."
60 years after the recordings, Mike's working for his friend. He's donated Cortelia's guitars to to the National Museum of African American Music and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
"This exhibit's called Cortelia Clark's Everyday Blues," said Michael Gray of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. "When his guitars arrived here at the museum and when his broken Grammy Award arrived here at the museum, we wanted to preserve them just the way they arrived. We wanted to preserve the story. Luckily, we have these powerful objects to help tell that story."
"Other people need to know about him," Mike said. "It's a piece of Nashville history that was important."
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
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