She likes to embarrass men, but that didn’t stop the crowd, men included, at the Jamboree from giving her a couple of standing ovations.
For Amy Clawson, the Jamboree was a kind of homecoming. Clawson sang on the Jamboree stage in 1997. She competed in the Jimmy Dean-True Value Country Showdown, winning, “by the grace of God,” at the state level.
Following that, Clawson and Ken Collins, who books local and regional talent for the Jamboree, attempted to hook up over the next two events. Schedules conflicted, and Clawson wasn’t able to return until this year when she opened for Suzzy Bogguss, John Berry and Billy Dean and Lee Ann Womack.
“The Jamboree has been awesome to me even though I’m from Arkansas,” Clawson laughed as she prepared for her opening gig with Collin Ray during the Lane County Fair. “It was nice. Everybody treats you the same. It doesn’t matter if you’re Garth Brooks or Joe Blow from down the street.”
In 1996, Clawson moved to Florence from Arkansas where she was doing 265 shows a year as part of a Branson, Mo., theater program, which included music and comedy. In Oregon, she started all over, entering the Country Showdown and forming a band.
She now tours up and down the West Coast, and this year will perform in Idaho, Alaska and Nevada.
Clawson started singing at the age of 12.
“No one in our family has ever sung,” Clawson said, but now, “they argue over who it came from. I called mom and told her I wanted to sing. She said, ‘you can’t sing. Nobody in our family can sing.’”
Clawson entered the Country Showdown in Pocahontas, Ark. She was nervous and scared as she competed in that contest, and she didn’t do well, but she kept at it and landed a regular appearance in Branson. She would go through 12 changes in a single show.
She has recorded with Sawyer Brown and Exile and opened for many national acts.
Eventually, she moved, with her husband, Darby, to Florence.
“I needed to break away and start doing my own shows again,” Clawson said. “For the most part, everybody wants a recording contract.”
Clawson enjoys most music, she said. “Gospel music is the most fulfilling. You don’t have to sell it. Anybody can sing Gospel music.”
Each show, Clawson gives credit to God and shares a Gospel song. At the Jamboree and during her acoustic set in Eugene last week, it was “How Great Thou Art.”
Outside of her reverence to God, Clawson’s on-stage antics usually include picking on men and, if she can find a way off-stage, in the audience. At Lane County Fair, she singled one man out to join her as she sang Shania Twain’s “Man, I Feel Like a Woman.”
Clawson made him dance before moving on to dance among the audience and tease men and boys of all ages.
“You know, I love to embarrass guys. I wouldn’t pick on Collin Ray,” Clawson told her audience as she peered over the edge of the stage. “But I can you. I think it’s kind of a long jump.”
It wasn’t long before she was off stage and in the audience.
“I just want to thank for Jamboree for having us in,” Clawson said. She also wanted to add her thanks to her fans, the persons who stand in line looking for autographs, radio stations and the persons calling the Jamboree about her.
“Without fans, period, our job would be really boring,” Clawson said. “Nobody is made by themselves.”
Clawson has released three self-produced recordings, including Amy Clawson: In Studio, Amy Clawson: You and Me and He Loved Me, He Loved Me Not, her most recent. She is looking for new songs for her next CD right now. Ordering information can be found at her website, http://www.amyclawson.com.
She is joined at her shows by her husband and children, Cade and Dillon.