Randall Clay Blaker (born June 27, 1950) is an American

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, whil ...

musician, singer-songwriter, and producer based in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

for most of his career. His songs have been recorded by many other artists, including

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and

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. Blaker has also been a popular regional entertainer and has released several albums of his own material with his band, the Texas Honky-Tonk Band.

Biography

After growing up in

, Blaker spent time in Hawaii and California before returning to Texas in the 1970s. In San Marcos, Texas he got to know the members of the Ace in the Hole Band, including their front-man

. Blaker's Texas Honky Tonk Band played with the Ace in the Hole Band at a number of venues in Houston and Central Texas. In 1982, Strait included Blaker's song "The Only Thing I Have Left" on his second album, '' Strait from the Heart''.

later covered the song. Strait has since recorded six more songs by Blaker, including " She Lays It All on the Line" for the soundtrack to Strait's 1992 film '' Pure Country''. In 1999,

recorded his song "We Must Be Loving Right", co-written with Roger Brown, after hearing Strait's version of it. According to Blaker, Streisand's husband

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had been playing Strait's album, and Streisand "heard the song and liked it enough to put it on her next album. That album was all love songs, so it fit right in." He has also written songs with

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and others. Blaker has produced records, mostly for himself and other regional Texas artists, including the Ed Burleson song "My Perfect World". In 2002, Blaker announced that he was retiring and moving to an island off the coast of Panama. Although retired from touring, Blaker is still writing songs and in 2015 released a trilogy of EP's of all new music called "Still Swingin'", "Still Rockin'", and "Still Country". In 2017, a double live album was released of Blaker and his Texas Honky-Tonk Band called "Live-Through the Years 1979–2002". Also in 2017, an article in the Houston Chronicle named Blaker's 1998 album "Rumor Town" one of the best Texas singer-songwriter albums of all-time.

Discography

Blaker recorded the following albums: * ''What a Way to Live'' – Texas Musik Records (1982) * ''Sooner or Later'' – Texas Musik Records (1986) * ''Layin' it All on the Line'' – Neobilly Records (1993) * ''Rumor Town'' – Neobilly Records (1998) * ''Welcome to the Wasteland'' – Neobilly Records (2000) * ''Still Rockin – Neobilly Records (2015) * ''Still Swingin – Neobilly Records (2015) * ''Still Country – Neobilly Records (2015) * ''The Early Singles: 1978–1987 – Neobilly Records (2016) * ''What a Way To Live – Re-release Edition – Neobilly Records (2016) * ''Through the Years 1979–2002, Vol. 1 (Live) – Neobilly Records (2017) * ''Through the Years 1979–2002, Vol. 2 (Live) – Neobilly Records (2017) * ''The Lost Nashville Session – Neobilly Records (2019)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blaker, Clay 1950 births Living people American male singer-songwriters Country musicians from Texas American country singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from Texas