Scottish country singer Liz Clarke was born Glasgow, now lives in central Scotland and has been on the Scottish music circuit for more than 30 years.
Liz and her husband, who also plays keyboards, started their own band called Eclipse. It was a three-piece all-genres covers band with Liz on backing vocals, her husband on keyboard and guitarist Brian Douglas on lead vocals. The band became very busy with three to four shows per week making them one of the most successful bands in Scotland. After four years the young lead vocalist Brian left to get married so the trio became a duo with Liz on lead vocals.
Still at the top of their game with plenty of work coming in from venues around Scotland, Liz decided to form Stetsons & Heels country Band with Gary Macfarlane, an accomplished keyboard player with more than 40 years experience in all genres playing theatres all over Scotland including a recent appearance at the SECC concert hall in Glasgow with an Elvis tribute band.
Gary is the band’s musical director. Lead guitarist Robert Henry from Port Glasgow has played in the music industry for more than 40 years, working alongside artists including Lena Martell. Australian/Scottish bass player John Gilmour has more than 50 years experience in bands. Liz is now searching for a drummer, skilled in both traditional and modern country music, to complete the lineup.
In 2015 Liz was approached by Janey Kirk to appear on her TV show on Sky television’s Keep It Country music channel. To Liz this was huge. She had never recorded a song let alone appear on television so a decision was made and she accepted to appear. She booked a studio, recorded a few songs, then accepted a slot on the show.
During this time Liz had put some of her songs on the online music app Soundcloud and within a few days she was approached by T Jae Christian in Nashville. T Jae is a singer/songwriter, a successful artist in country music and owner of Universal Sounds Records. He asked Liz if she would record a duet with him.
Liz could not believe her luck to be singing and recording with a Nashville artist and musician. She accepted and The Vanishing Breed was recorded. It charted No 2 in the European country music charts and this was the start of Liz moving into the country scene.
Liz then had many appearances on Sky TV and became a household name. She recorded and released her second single Blue Skies Over Georgia written by Mark Moseley, who had produced records for Dolly Parton, George Jones, Porter Wagoner and many more. The song was produced by Mark and T Jae and reached number five in the European country music charts.
Liz continued to go from strength to strength with regular TV appearances and radio interviews and, in 2016, released her first album The Vanishing Breed. Liz continued to work with T Jae Christian in Nashville and took her music to Ireland where she had several number one songs and made some great friends which led to her supporting Dominic Kirwan in London.
Later in 2016, Liz began work on her second album, travelling to Nashville to record with some fantastic musicians at The Sound Kitchen Studios with T Jae and Mark. She met some amazing people including Roy August, Johnny Moore, Tommy Cash, Lynn Anderson’s dad Casey Anderson and many more.
On returning to the UK, Liz completed her second album A Night At The Opry and scheduled a launch show in Glasgow’s Grand Ole Opry for May 2017. The show with her band Stetsons & Heels was a sellout.
During the Covid-19 lockdowns, Liz completed work on her third album To Nashville With Love – a collection of original songs written by award winning songwriters from around the world.
Liz began working with Paul Jackson, lead singer of the 90s melodic rock band Roadhouse, and released several songs as the duo Jackson and Clarke. They no longer record together but Liz and Paul remain in contact.
In September 2022, “Blue Skies Over Georgia” was named the winner of The UKCountryRadio.com Song Award at The UK Country Music Awards
In January 2023, Liz teamed up with fellow UK country singer Darren Knight to record a cover of the Marty Stuart/Connie Smith duet “I Run To You”
In May 2023, Liz released “I Ain’t Going Nowhere” which she co-wrote with the late Scottish songwriter John McKeever. The bluegrass song was produced and recorded by Mark Moseley and T Jae Christian at Universal Sounds Records in Nashville.
In July 2023, Liz released the single “Mother”. It is a cover of a song originally recorded by the US duo Sugarland for their 2018 album “Bigger”. Liz recorded the song at Stealth Recording Studio in Glasgow. The track features backing vocals from Charley Mcgarvey.
Liz was a finalist for UK Country Artist of the Year at the 2023 UK Country Music Awards and nominated for the 2023 Josie Music Awards in Nashville for Best Female Traditional Country Artist. In August 2023, she won Best Traditional Country Duo at The Red Carpet Awards.
For Christmas 2023, Liz released “Silent Night”, a collaboration with Scottish singer Jim Smith. It’s in the style of the Lady Antebellum cover of the traditional Christmas song but with a further Scottish twist complete with bagpipes.
In December 2023, Liz released the single “Because You’re Mine”, written by Michael Blaymore and Tommy Eubanks from Nashville.
In 2024, Liz was named Uncle Tom’s Female International Artist of The Year at a ceremony in the US and also won the awards for Best Bluegrass Country Song of the Year at the Red Carpet Awards in The Netherlands. She was nominated again at the prestigious Josie Music Awards which were held at The Grand Old Opry in Nashville. Liz said it was such an honour and a dream come true to have her name read out at the iconic venue.
In December 2024, Liz released a cover of the Christmas song Little Drummer Boy.
It will be followed in early 2025 by Ray of Light, a song written for Don Williams who died before he could record it. The song was written by Scottish singer songwriter Michael Callaghan who has recorded 11 album. Michael asked Liz if she would like to record the song and she had no hesitation in accepting the invitation.
