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By Steve Wildsmith (The Daily Times, Maryville, TN) Liquor has long provided inspiration for poets, writers and songsmiths, and it's no different for former East Tennessean Jay Clark. Alcohol is both bane and balm on Clark's new album, ''Progress.'' His subjects struggle with it, use it as a crutch and remember fondly the days when their grandparents made it. It's no wonder, then, it also provided some stimuli for Clark and Blount County boy Jeff Barbra, with whom Clark wrote a few of the tracks on ''Progress.' 'I'd never tried to sit down and write a song with someone else other than Robin (Contreras, of RobinElla and the CCstringband) until Jeff and I met,'' Clark told The Daily Times this week. ''He e-mailed me one day and said he liked my stuff and wanted to know if we could get together and write. ''So we started getting together and taking care of some PBRs (Pabst Blue Ribbons) and just hammering it out. Jeff's really good at coming up with ideas, and we'd take them and run with them. I was timid at first about throwing thoughts and ideas out there with someone sitting right in front of me, but we got to where we didn't hesitate at all throwing it out and saying whether we liked it or not.'' Not that Clark has any reason to be shy. He put out a fine first album in 2004, ''Pen to Paper,'' and ''Progress'' is a solid, if not stronger, sophomore effort. He's held his own with Contreras and her band, led by Cruz Contreras, over the years and established himself as singer-songwriter worth his salt. Clark's music career coincides with that of Contreras, with whom he partnered up with at the University of Tennessee, back in 1996. They started out singing together at churches and gradually put together a band called The String Beans, which included the mandolin virtuoso who would become Contreras's husband, Cruz. The band played around Knoxville through 1998 and '99 bef
