Biography
Clint Howard earned a standing ovation at the 1963 Newport Folk Festival and contributed to nearly a dozen albums, yet he never adopted a show-business existence. Instead, he supported his family as a welder while tending a modest farm that produced corn and beans and sustained a small herd of cattle. Born in the musically fertile Mountain City region of Tennessee, deep within the Appalachians, he gained widest recognition through his longstanding partnership with one of the district’s leading figures in folk and old-time music, Doc Watson. Both of Howard’s parents performed the same style of traditional ballads that William Clinton Howard would later sing; he first absorbed these pieces as bedtime lullabies and remembered his mother playing the dulcimer to accompany herself. Although his father gave him a guitar on his eleventh birthday, Howard did not begin performing regularly until nearly a decade later, when he reached his late teens. Once committed, he frequently visited the home of Clarence “Tom” Ashley, the informal gathering place for local musicians that included Arthel “Doc” Watson and fiddler Fred Price. The unhurried mood of those sessions was documented on the two volumes of Folkways’ Old Time Music at Clarence Ashley’s, among several recordings Watson made with his neighbors. Watson himself later named the Old Timey Concert collaboration with Howard one of his personal favorites from his extensive catalog. Howard became known for his renditions of such staples as “Footprints in the Snow” and “The Old Man at the Mill.” During the 1960s folk revival his performances left a strong impression on audiences; one reviewer expressed surprise that such unassuming mountain musicians could convey the powerful emotional depth heard in pieces like “Maggie Walker Blues.” Ashley enjoyed a brief career resurgence at the time with a band featuring Watson, Howard, and Price. There is, of course, no relation between this Clint Howard and the actor who portrayed the title character in Ice Cream Man and is often identified as Ron Howard’s odd-looking brother. Nevertheless, the shared name and the Appalachian locale have occasionally prompted unfounded speculation of a connection, especially given the proximity of Ashley’s home to Mayberry, the fictional town where Ron Howard played Opie, the sheriff’s son, and where occasional segments of old-time music appeared on The Andy Griffith Show. Some even imagine that the old-time musician’s name in the credits belongs to the same individual. No such link exists. The closest the traditional musician came to network television was an appearance on Pete Seeger’s series Rainbow Quest. For the actor, one may consult Molly and Matt’s List of Top Ten Winter Movies.
Albums
