Kerry Patrick Clark giving Christmas concert at St. Andrew's

FINDLAY — St. Andrew's United Methodist Church has a holiday gift for the community. A free family Christmas concert featuring singer, songwriter and entertainer Kerry Patrick Clark will be held at the church at 4 p.m. Dec. 22. The Maumee resident is a former member of the New Christy Minstrels, a Martin Guitar Preferred Artist and the singer/songwriter of the #1 folk song of 2014, "In A Perfect World." He is also a familiar face on stages in Northwest Ohio. "Sometimes there's a really lovely synergy that happens in live music. I use 'concert' lightly. I feel like it's a family gathering if we can just celebrate the reason for the season and the silliness." His wife, Amy, and their youngest son, Robbie, will also perform with Clark. This is one of only three Clark family Christmas concerts to be presented this holiday season. Clark and Robbie will be on guitars and they'll be singing together in three-part harmony. "It's a DNA thing," Clark said. "When families sing together, that blend, there's just something magical about it." Clark has nine albums, including one from 2016 filled with Christmas songs that are either public domain like "Silent Night" or songs that he has written. "So it's just a journey of silliness and sacredness and singalongs," he said. "Lord knows there's enough silliness and craziness around at Christmas time and the Advent season and the holiday season, and so I talk about that," added Clark. "I have a protest poem that Christmas comes earlier and earlier and earlier every year. And it's sacred and silly and it's just a really sweet time." Clark, 61, was born in Mason, Michigan. His family moved to Toledo when he was in the fifth grade because his dad, a scientist, worked in research and development at Owens-Illinois and that plant was shut down. "So we came kicking and screaming over the Ohio-Michigan border," he laughed. "But I love Toledo. I love Northwest Ohio. It's an amazing place to live and raise a family." Music has always been his main interest. "When I was a kid, I would play a tennis racquet on the front porch. And as I recall, the dandelions in the front yard used to give me a standing ovation after every song," he said. At some point, his mom bought his dad a guitar for their anniversary. "I had never seen anybody play the guitar. I didn't know my father played. And so he taught me three chords and it captured my heart," Clark said. "Back in those days I was pretty shy and didn't really get out a whole lot. And I just sat home and played the guitar." Clark attended Sylvania Southview High School. "Southview was a brand new school at the time. I thought we had more music than any high school I had ever heard of; music theory and swing choir, music appreciation and big choir," he recalled. His seventh grade social studies teacher was Eddie Boggs, a fairly well known entertainer in Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan. He would become a mentor to Clark and later a friend. The two would play music together in the summertime. After graduating from high school, Clark was ready to play his music which caused an argument with his father who wanted him to attend college. So they struck a deal that he would attend the University of Toledo for one quarter. Clark hated it. "I got through the quarter and then I said I'm going to go find my fame and fortune. I had been playing and at the time I think I was about 23 years old. And my mom did their taxes and my taxes. She came to me and said, you made more money than dad did last year," he said. In 1985, Clark became part of the New Christy Minstrels, a large-ensemble folk music group founded by Randy Sparks in 1961. The group helped launch the musical careers of several musicians, including Kenny Rogers, Gene Clark, Kim Carnes, Larry Ramos and Barry McGuire. "It was the 25th anniversary edition. It was magical," said Clark. "We traveled the entire United States." The group performed six shows a week for the better part of a year. "We're in a tour bus and we're pulling a trailer with a sound system. We did everything. We set the sound system up. We ran it. We did everything from play in 4-H barns after the pig showing to playing with the Portland Symphony Orchestra," he said. At one point, Clark called himself a Christian artist but now chooses to say that he's a folk artist. "I have a really big God box so most of my stuff is very positive oriented and talks about the journey, the conversation that we as humans have between our head and our heart. So there's a lot of God in my songs," he said. In 1996, he married his wife, Amy. They met when she was in a musical called "Lend Me a Tenor" at the Waterville Playshop. "She used to come and hear me sing at a local club here in Maumee, and I thought she was gorgeous. I got to know her and I got to know her heart," said Clark. She brought two sons to the marriage. (Their middle son lives in Findlay and has four of their grandchildren so the couple comes down often to visit.) The couple then had Robbie, who is 21 and has become a singer, songwriter and guitar player. He was also an American Idol contestant in 2022. "We have three boys. I call them my kids. I love them. They're really wonderful human beings," he said. Clark said he's lucky to have made a living doing something that he loves. "It's been a remarkable life," he said. "And I get to still play music and I choose to, so it really is a joy and a blessing."