#53 HAND TO THE PLOW by Paul Clark (1977)

HAND TO THE PLOW by Paul Clark (1977)
Seed Records - PSR-005

In the early 2000s, I was serving as a Worship and Media Pastor at a church in Taylors, SC. I had heard that Jesus Music pioneer Paul Clark had been scheduled for a concert at a Christian coffeehouse in a town just 2 hours away.

My wheels started turning and before long the beloved troubadour was also scheduled to sing at my church on the morning following the coffeehouse gig. My brother and I made the trek to Cayce, SC (just outside Columbia) to take in the concert and subsequently provide Paul Clark with a late-night ride to our town.

There are three things that I remember about the coffeehouse show that night:

1) It was a standing room only show. And I was one of those left standing. Not complaining, mind you, just reporting.

2) Several of the concertgoers brought album covers, photos and even posters for Paul to sign. He was happy to visit with these long-time friends and sign every last item.

3) Perhaps most interestingly, Paul Clark played an alternate version of the song Hand to the Plow...just Paul and his acoustic guitar. That alone was worth the price of admission. Well...there was no admission price, just a suggested donation. But you get the idea.

My wife Sherry, Paul Clark and me following a Sunday morning
service at our church in Taylors, SC (around 2005).

Hand to the Plow broke new ground in 1977. A heady mix of jazz, soul, and R&B, all with an authentic "classic rock" sound... seven-minute jams...piano and saxophone brought to the fore...lush orchestration performed by members of the Oklahoma Philharmonic...and a guest vocal by a young girl who would later make a huge mark of her own. In short, Hand to the Plow brought jazz-fusion to the mainstream of what would later be called "contemporary Christian music."

But let's back up a little bit.

Paul did end up a full-fledged hippie, and an "amateur pharmaceutical salesman" (as he calls it). But Paul grew up in a tight-knit Midwestern clan with traditional family values.

Paul Clark as a young boy with his sisters

"My grandfather, the son of a German immigrant and a wild west pioneer, taught me the value of hard labor and the joy of building with my hands," he recalls. "My grandmother, a hearing-aid dependent, literature teacher, gave me a love for words and a spirit of compassion. My father, a trial attorney and tireless sports companion, showed me wisdom, knowledge, mercy, justice, and healthy competitiveness. Last, but not least, my mother, an interior designer and constant cheerleader, pointed me to the canvas with its limitless colors and depth of field." It was a loving, upper middle-class upbringing in Kansas City, MO. 

During much of his youth, Paul's Dad secured Kansas City A's season tickets on the front row behind the visitor's dugout. Ditto for the Kansas City Chiefs -- midfield at Municipal Stadium. Paul's life-long love of athletics was nurtured by his father. But young Paul Clark eventually discovered another love at one of the same stadiums where he watched pro athletes. 

The Beatles live at Municipal Stadium in Kansas City - 1964

Paul was one of the 20,280 people in attendance on Sept. 17, 1964, to see and hear the Beatles at Municipal Stadium. Ticket prices ranged from $2 to $8.50. [The $8.50 tickets, adjusted for inflation, would set you back $63 today.] Clark was inspired. "They were so vibrant and joyful," Paul remembers. "I thought to myself, 'I want to be happy... so, that's what I want to do.'" 

He learned to play guitar, formed a garage band with some high school friends, and later landed at the University of Kansas. And that's where things sort of went off the rails.

Paul in Rocky Mountain National Park - 1970

"In 1970, because of student unrest, the campus at the University of Kansas was closed the first week of April," Clark recalls. "I packed up my '64 Volkswagen camper and moved up to Colorado with my band. We had changed our name, ironically, from the Clergymen to Rocky Mountain Goldrush. Our goal for moving there was to write songs. We knew that playing cover material, playing Crosby, Stills & Nash songs, wasn't going to get us a record deal and we were all serious musicians."

He might've been a serious musician, but he also developed a serious drug habit and an acceptance of various eastern religions and philosophies. Clark grew his red hair out long and ended up living in a primitive cabin, almost 10,000 feet above sea level on the Continental Divide. And that's where his spiritual heritage came into play.

After reading a book about Jesus that his grandmother had sent in the mail, Paul Clark experienced a dramatic and joyful conversion to faith in Christ. His music immediately began to reflect the change that had taken place in his heart.

Paul moved to heavily-populated Denver in 1971 and started singing his "Jesus songs" at a place called the Narrow Gate Coffeehouse. A local businessman offered to finance an album for him...and from there, Paul Clark was thrust into the Jesus Movement, eventually gaining a national following.

His earliest recordings (including this one) were simple expressions of faith over a bed of acoustic folk music. Then he made a couple of "band" albums under the moniker Paul Clark & Friends (like this one). 

Paul Clark (L) with Phil Keaggy

“Although I loved the two albums I did with Paul Clark & Friends, I knew that that band, those musicians, we had a signature sound, especially with Phil Keaggy in the band,” Paul told Jerry Bryant in a radio interview. “I mean, Phil is such a strong guitarist that he shapes the band a lot with his sound. And as much as I loved playing with Phil – he was one of my best friends – his signature was so strong it didn’t allow me to put a new color on the canvas that I wanted to express.”

So, as the United States of America was celebrating her 200th birthday, Paul Clark was planning a shift in his musical direction. It would be realized on an album titled Hand to the Plow.

"I started writing songs on the piano," Clark explained to Devlin Donaldson in a print interview. "I loved the guitar, but I was becoming somewhat anguished by the lack of chordal richness that a piano can bring to the palette." 

In addition to lead and backing vocals, Clark played acoustic and classical guitar, piano, synthesizer, and even some drums on ‘Plow.’ But he also employed a new cast of supporting characters for this album, including guitarist Curt Bartlett, bassist Hadley Hockensmith, drummer Lanny Hansen, saxophonist Jim Hochanadel, and keyboardist Harlan Rogers. 

Paul told Jerry Bryant how this new team of musicians came together: “I had met, actually, way back in ’71 when I recorded my first album I met a guy named Hadley Hockensmith at Benson Sound Studios in Oklahoma City where I was recording my album, through Jim Ford, the engineer,” Clark remembers. “And I went down to a bar and I heard the group Third Avenue Blues Band. It was Harlan Rogers (who plays piano on Hand to the Plow), Hadley Hockensmith (who plays bass on Hand to the Plow), Bill Maxwell -- it was basically all the guys that became that band that toured with me and also toured with Andrae Crouch & the Disciples.”

Jerry Bryant (L) with Paul Clark

In an interview with radio host Jerry Bryant, Paul Clark talks about the importance of the Hand to the Plow album and reveals the inspiration behind the album title and the song:

“Hand to the Plow was a big hinge on a big door in my career,” Clark said. “It was probably the biggest Jesus Movement influence I had. It was in 1976 when I recorded it. From ’70 to ’76 there was a tremendous outpouring of the Holy Spirit, with people getting saved right and left. But I would go back to a city I’d been at a year earlier and I’d say, ‘Hey, where’s Bob? Where’s Dave?’ ‘Oh, they fell away.’ I was like, ‘Fell away? How could you have that strong of a transformation of heart, mind, and soul, and fall away and go back into the world?’ And then I began to realize that some of it was like the parable that Jesus talked about – the seed falls on the soil, some falls on the rocky ground, some is choked out by the cares of the world…and I began to realize there was no strong fellowship and there was no strong teaching. You need a feeding trough. And so I named this album Hand to the Plow to call people to press on in community without looking back.”

Clark said that his mission and vision began to change with the release of this album:

“My focus, really, from ’75 to ’80 went from being an evangelist to planting churches and building up the body of Christ. That became my vision. And the Hand to the Plow album is the one that really was the catalyst to make that the focus of my intention, to plant churches.”   

Hand to the Plow’s memorable album cover was designed by Ted Stone. The front cover featured a close-up photograph by Dana Crick of a weathered, wrinkled hand clutching an old plow handle.  Clark himself served as producer while Bob Cotton (who also worked with Phil Keaggy, Andrae Crouch, and many others) engineered the sessions. David Powell provided orchestral arrangements.

The title track kicks off Side One and breaks all the rules. It begins softly with a beautiful piano intro, it's roughly seven minutes long, and more of the seven minutes is instrumental than lyrical. Based on Jesus' words from Luke 9:62, this instant classic encouraged persistence and faithfulness:

Well, I can't think of a reason why I should look back

(Tell me why?)

And I don't intend to start now

(No I don't)

Gonna set my face like flint to Jesus and His Word

Yes, I'm keeping my hand to the plow

After that message is advanced, the song basically turns into a jam session featuring electric guitar and saxophone over a rhythmic acoustic piano.

Much has been made of the length of the song. Of course, the AOR (album-oriented rock) radio format was popular in secular music in the mid-70s. While Top 40 radio stuck to 3-minute songs, AOR radio programmers thought nothing of playing much longer tunes on their airspace. But it's unlikely that Clark had that in his thinking because Christian rock artists weren't recording in 1977 with airplay considerations in mind at all. There really were no full-time radio stations in existence to play their music. Whatever the thinking behind it, the extended length of the song Hand to the Plow was both unusual for a CCM album and a real treat for Paul's listeners. 

Paul's lyrics take a dark and painfully honest turn in the song Help Me to See, a certain indication that the Jesus Movement honeymoon was over:

Hear my cry unto You, Lord

Many times my heart has strayed

From the foundation You laid

When I first knew You

Help me Lord to know

That although I've heard the Word

It does not mean it's what I'm living

Hadley Hockensmith turns in some exquisite blues-tinged electric guitar on this moody rocker. The analog synthesizer parts date the song (but in a really good way).

Blogger David Lowman wrote that the next song, All I Need, might've inspired Gene Eugene and Riki Michele of Adam Again. I can totally see that. It's a funky gem, featuring Harlan Rogers' Fender Rhodes and some scorching organ and guitar work. The female backing trio of Judy Cotton, Rhenda Edwards, and Sandy Judkins lend their support. While it is eminently listenable, this is one of those songs where the musical vibe and lyrical direction are not in harmony. The song's cheerful jazz/R&B/funk disguises a plea for help...reminding the listener yet again that it's not 1972 anymore:

Don't let me fall from my first love

In my commitment to You

Don't let my heart become hardened

To the Word of Truth

You can cast the mountains into the sea

Just don't take your love from me

I need You

The epic Shipwreck wraps Side One. An orchestral intro gives way to a progressive, classic rock arrangement that David Lowman has compared to Pink Floyd. On this song, Hochanadel trades his sax in for a harmonica...and the results are very pleasing. 

Paul Clark (L) with Love Song members
Jay Truax (center) and Tommy Coomes in the mid-70s

Lyrically, this is the 4th straight song to present a somewhat dark and somber message...the title track complained about the pressure of temptation, the lies of accusation, and the weight of condemnation; Help Me to See lamented 

hypocrisy; and All I Need worried out loud about falling away from the faith. Likewise, Shipwreck presents a pretty bleak outlook, with its talk of doubt, confusion grief, and unbelief. However, there's resolution before the end of the song:

Yes, He will come like the sunrise

Proclaiming the birth of the day

Then the dark will be consumed

And peace will resume

And the shipwreck is washed away

“Shipwreck was a great song,” Clark recalls. “I have seen lots of shipwrecks, including things in my own life from time to time. You will – it’s not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’ – you will have wrecks in your life. But God is faithful and He will draw you along, and He is more than sufficient to meet that need.”

A distinction was made between the two sides of Hand to the Plow. [You could do that with albums and cassettes in a way that just isn’t possible with compact discs and mp3s.]

Side One was a classic rock playground, musically…fans of Steely Dan, the Moody Blues, and Pink Floyd found a lot to like. Lyrically, Side One revealed a world-weary Paul Clark.

But help was on the way. Pretty ballads were the order of the day on Side Two. Side Two also did a lyrical about-face, beginning with the album’s 5^th track, Love You So. It’s a tender, unapologetic love song to the Savior, sung over a bed of smooth jazz. Electric piano, sax, and a phase-shifted guitar set the mood. One reviewer called it “smooth '70s Yacht Rock.” Clark’s warm vocal is particularly fitting here.

Clark’s old friend Phil Keaggy co-wrote the album’s next song with him. Spring of Life seems to have been influenced by the 4^th chapter of Proverbs:

My son, attend to my words

Incline your ear to my sayings

Don’t let them escape your sight

But keep them in your heart

They are life to those that find them

Bringing health to their whole body

Keep your heart with all diligence

Then you will find

From it flows the spring of life

A simple, 2-minute interlude…just Paul’s voice over classical guitar and strings. David Lowman noted that it’s “nearly liturgical in its feel and arrangement,” sounding very much like something John Michael Talbot could’ve recorded.

The show-stopper on Side Two of Hand to the Plow was a six-minute romantic medley called Woman…The Man That I Love. It was basically two songs merged to create a wedding song for the ages.

The first half of the medley featured Paul Clark singing lyrics from the husband to the wife that expounded on the message of Proverbs 31. The second half brought a voice to our attention that we would all fall in love with and never forget.

Kelly Willard

Kelly Willard had been a member of the group Seth and, before that, was actually a piano player for The Archers’ live band for a while. But this was her coming out party. Being featured on a Paul Clark album, and in a song that really caught on and took hold, was a significant boost for her. The sweetness, purity, tonal richness and power in her voice would later become familiar and instantly recognizable as her own recording career took off.

Willard sings the “Man That I Love” portion of the medley, from the perspective of the wife toward her husband. The songs blend briefly at the end with Clark and Willard singing the last line together.

A few years back, Paul Clark sat down with Full Circle radio host Jerry Bryant to talk about the backstory behind the song:

“A lot of young people are always idealistic,” said Clark. “I was no different; my songwriting was no different. Especially as a Christian, my songwriting wasn’t any different. And I certainly hoped for the best for my own covenant that I made with my wife, at that time, which tragically ended after thirty years. But that’s another story for another day.”

“Covenant power is something that comes from God,” he continued. “When two lives are surrendered in mutual submission to one another, both people lifting the stone at the same time…that is what a covenant is. When you become unequally yoked, when one person’s lifting and the other person doesn’t want to lift, you’re out of balance. That’s the powerful thing about duets. The song Woman…the Man That I Love sort of gave both sides of the fence, from the man’s and from the woman’s part. Hey, marriage is God’s idea. So it’s something that should be pursued.”

It became one of the best-loved wedding songs in CCM in the 70s, eclipsed perhaps only by Pat Terry’s That’s the Way. A year later, Kelly Willard would record a debut solo album for Maranatha Music, one that will be examined at length later in our countdown.

Now and Forevermore is a classical ballad, heavy on orchestration. Lyrically, it’s a powerful statement of faith:

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord
Now and forevermore
He’ll be our God
We’ll be His people
We will love Him
We will obey Him
Under His wings, we’ll find our peace

And in the bond of covenant
We’ll share the bread that’s heaven-sent
Ever mindful to be thankful
To the One who sent His Son

Hand to the Plow closes with the aptly-named One Final Word. [Oddly, the harp glisses reminded me of an old Isaac Air Freight comedy sketch about Heaven. But I digress.]

Clocking in at about a minute and a half, it’s a simple reminder that Jesus is returning for His bride.

And that wraps up our look at what has been called “the first real ‘classic rock’ Christian album.”

After ‘Plow,’ Paul Clark moved even further into jazz fusion with his next two albums (one of them previously reviewed on this blog). After that, it was on to another musical shift with 3 critically acclaimed albums of sparkling pop/rock on the Myrrh record label.

Phil Keaggy and Paul Clark - together again

Clark then experienced another shift – not a musical one, but in terms of ministry this time.

"By 1986 it was over for me in terms of my zeal," Clark told Devlin Donaldson in a print interview. "I couldn't wait for the concert to get over so I could go down to Denny's and witness to non-Christians. This sounds terrible but I am going to tell you the truth, 

I was bored. I wasn't challenged anymore by singing songs to a nice comfortable crowd who called out their favorite Paul Clark songs. It was too easy a lifestyle to tell you the truth."

Several more albums came along over the years (all available at www.paulclarkmusic.com), and for a time Clark led worship as part of the Maranatha Worship Team, providing music for Promise Keepers stadium events. He has also kept busy as an author and published photographer. Today Paul Clark can still be found singing his songs in churches, coffeehouses, and other venues large and small, telling people about Jesus.

“I hunger to be led by the Holy Spirit,” Clark says. “I feel blessed beyond words to have seen and experienced all that I have.”

Paul Clark smiles and says, “I intend to keep my hand to the plow.”

Fun Fact:

This album was released in the UK on the Myrrh label with the spelling variation Hand To The Plough. The front cover was replaced with a black and white photo of Paul Clark and his grandfather. It was the same photo that appears on the lyric sleeve of the U.S. version.