In The Service of Song Jim Clark gives new life and new voice to the poetry of Byron Herbert Reece. Clark’s music and performance are a wonderful exploration and expression of Reece’s art, inspired and inspiring, for a new generation of readers and listeners. The outstanding poet of the North Georgia mountains could not be more fortunate than to have his work celebrated, set and sung by this outstanding contemporary poet and musician, recalling the ancient, haunting ballads of the mountains.  -- Robert Morgan (author of Gap Creek, Boone: A Biography)” - Robert Morgan
Byron Herbert Reece's strong, adze-hewn lines are given adventurous but respectful settings by Mr. Jim Clark.  Those who know the poems will salute this music; those who have yet to come to Reece's work will be attracted by tunes and harmonies wholly in character with the material . . . Music to listen to by winter firelight - an ideal way to read the poems.  -- Fred Chappell (author of I Am One of You Forever; Farewell, I'm Bound to Leave You; Midquest)  ” - Fred Chappell
Listening to Jim Clark perform is to enter the white-hot core of Southern Appalachian music and literature.  There is no one else in the region with such a wide range of artistic talent. -- Ron Rash (author of Serena, One Foot in Eden, Among the Believers)  ” - Ron Rash
One of the greatest triumphs for the true poet is to have his words set to memorable music.  Reece’s poetry is music too, but to have Jim Clark’s melodies blending so perfectly with his words is to extend both artists’ art into a high new realm.  Clark’s music captures the tone of life as revealed in Reece – soothing, sombre, serious – filled with a spare Celtic melancholy that is lovely rather than morbid.  “The Stay-at-Home” is alone worth all the effort involved in creating this CD.  -- James Everett Kibler (author of Poems from Scorched Earth, Our Fathers’ Fields, The Education of Chauncey Doolittle)” - James Everett Kibler
Interview feature on the process of creating The Service of Song.” - Rebecca Bernard

Nashville Review

A feature article about Jim Clark and The Service of Song from The Wilson Times, pp. 32-33.” - Janelle Clevinger

The Wilson Times

Excellent article about Jim Clark and The Service of Song on p. 24 . . .” - Ted Olson

Rapid River Magazine

[My profound apologies for this pitiful attempt at a translation from the Dutch, assisted by Google Translation . . .]       A sunrise on a misty morning, wallpaper [?], or music to listen to by the hearth – these are the thoughts called up to many listeners by the album The Service of Song by American poet, musician and professor Jim Clark. For me the first applies: beautiful songs which penetrate every pore of your body. A friend of the troubadour suggested that he set some poems by Byron Herbert Reece, who died in 1958, to music.  The poems explore the life of someone who found the hard and simple life of a farmer, and the life of a writer, difficult to reconcile. As Reece wrote in 1952 in the Atlanta Journal Magazine: “Once while I was writing my first novel, I happened to remark to a correspondent that I had been plowing potatoes. She wrote that I should concentrate on the book. She wrote that I should concentrate on the book. 'Anybody can plow potatoes,' she said. "Anybody can plow potatoes," she said. 'Anybody can plow potatoes,' I wrote in return, 'but nobody is willing to plow mine but me. "Anybody can plow potatoes," I wrote in return, "but nobody is willing to plow mine but me.”       The Service of Song is a fine collection of Reece's work, sung by Jim Clark. The music sounds to my ears like a combination of Appalachian and Celtic folk music. The songs are rich in instrumentation. Besides the guitar, fiddle, banjo, mandolin and accordion, the hammered dulcimer and the pennywhistle are also featured prominently. Memorable and enjoyable songs you probably will never get tired of, together with the warm voice of Jim Clark, make The Service of Song a very pleasant listening experience. This is an album full of sweet and fresh folk songs tinged with delicate melancholy.  The CD begins and ends with a poem by Byron Herbert Reece recited by Jim Clark, making The Service of Song a wonderful tribute to a poet who has now been rescued from oblivion.” - Johan Schoenmakers

Alt Country Forum

Listen to this hour-long radio program featuring Jim Clark, North Carolina Poet Laureate Cathy Smith Bowers, and Asheville, NC, poet Jeff Davis.” - Cathy Smith Bowers

"The Laureate's Radio Hour"

Review of Jim Clark's CD Buried Land in Oyster Boy Review 19.” - Cy Dillon

Oyster Boy Review