Like Merle Haggard, The Clark Family Experience, a country band that consisted of six brothers, was also on Curb Records and they, too, filed for bankruptcy. It happened in the early aughts when the siblings moved from Virginia to Nashville, Tennessee to live out their music dreams. But it appears the city wasn’t kind to them financially, as they were pretty much living hand to mouth. Billboard reported they were $800,000 or more in debt. “They were forced to move from Nashville back to the family farm in Rocky Mount, Virginia,” said the band’s lawyer J.D. Larson. “They had no money to pay for things such as rent, bus maintenance bills, or even a nutritious meal. They were eating ramen noodles.”
Larson also said the brothers, who ranged between 18 to 27 at the time, made some poor financial decisions, but he didn’t elaborate. Lead singer Alan Clark spoke about the band’s financial challenges with the Herald Journal. “Finally, it was like, we can’t do this anymore,” he explained. “Our finances were hurting, so we filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy, and now all heck is breaking loose. It’s been a lot of drama.”
Read Related Also: Spike in theft from front porches and apartment buildings
So did Alan, Andrew, Austin, Adam, Ashley, and Aaron Clark live too lavishly in Nashville? Only they and those close to them can say. But maybe they should’ve lived with their folks a while longer. At least until their success steadied some.
