Tulsa is putting Roy Clark's name on a street sign, and it's going up practically next door to another country music legend's. Roy Clark Way will be unveiled on Tuesday, with a free celebration beginning at 11:30 a.m. and the street-sign ceremony at noon at the southeast corner of Fourth Street and Trenton Avenue, honoring the multi-instrumentalist and Grammy-winning entertainer who made Tulsa his home for more than four decades.
The free celebration is scheduled to take place at The Church Studio, 304 S. Trenton Ave., and is free and open to the public, according to Tulsa World. The new Roy Clark Way sign will stand one block south of the existing Leon Russell Road marker, and guests at the unveiling may walk one block to the sign's location at 1602 E. Fourth St. following the event.
A Guitar Icon Who Called Tulsa Home
Clark lived in Tulsa from 1974 until his death in 2018, a run of more than four decades in the city that is now etching his name into its street grid. He entertained audiences for decades as a musician, singer, comedian and television personality, perhaps most famously as a host of the country music and comedy series “Hee Haw” for 24 years.
His list of honors is long. Clark was named Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year in 1973 and Academy of Country Music Entertainer of the Year in both 1972 and 1973. He was also a three-time CMA Instrumentalist of the Year, was named the CMA's comedian of the year in 1970, and was honored twice in the Instrumental Group of the Year category alongside Buck Trent. In 1982, he won a Grammy Award for his instrumental performance of “Alabama Jubilee,” according to TravelOK.
Clark's hall-of-fame credentials stacked up over the years as well. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame in 2000 and into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2009, per TravelOK. The Tulsa Historical Society and Museum notes he was inducted into the Tulsa Hall of Fame in 2011. On the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, sourcing diverges: the Oklahoma Hall of Fame itself lists Clark as a member of its Class of 1982, while Tulsa World has reported his induction occurred in 1982.
The Church That Became a Studio, and Now an Archive
The ceremony's setting carries its own history. The Church Studio was once a Tulsa church before Leon Russell purchased and transformed it into a recording studio in 1972, the same decade Clark moved to town, according to TravelOK. That connection runs deeper than geography: the studio previously hosted the unveiling of Leon Russell Road at Third Street and Trenton Avenue, where Russell's daughter, Tina Rose, and Jimmy Markham of Russell's Starlighter Band spoke, as Tulsa World reported at the time.
Now The Church Studio is taking on a second role tied to Clark's legacy: permanent home of the Roy Clark Archive. Clark's widow, Barbara Clark, donated the archive to the studio, Tulsa World reported, and it is being prepared for a public opening. The collection includes instruments, awards, photographs, correspondence, stage clothing and other personal items documenting Clark's life and career in country music.
Per a news release cited by Tulsa World, Teresa Knox said Roy belongs where the music plays, and that the archive and the Roy Clark Way sign will welcome and inspire visitors and musicians.
Decades of Local Honors
Tuesday's street dedication extends a pattern of Tulsa-area recognition for Clark that stretches back nearly half a century. An elementary school in the Union School District was dedicated in his honor in 1978, and TravelOK notes Clark remained involved with students there in the years that followed. He also supported the Children's Medical Center during his lifetime.
More recently, The Church Studio opened an exhibit honoring Clark, part of a continued local effort to preserve his legacy, as KJRH reported. Combined with the incoming archive and the new street sign, Tulsa is cementing Clark's place alongside Russell as one of the city's defining musical figures.
