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Jay Clark just finished up a new song. It's about a stripper who's a former classmate of his wife.

Hold up, those of you with your minds in the gutter — it's not what you think.

The song, Clark told The Daily Times this week, is based on the woman, friends with his wife in high school, and her struggles.

"My wife told me I would get to meet her at her class reunion, and I was a little puzzled," Clark said. "My wife is one of those 'I am woman, hear me roar' kind of women, and I was really surprised at my wife's lack of reaction to this girl's former occupation. But when she explained this girl's situation, I understood it a little bit more, and I had to write a song about it.

"That was the last song I finished, back on April 21. It takes me forever to finish a song — from the time I get the idea to the time I consider it done might even be a year or two. This one was kind of a new topic for me, and when I was having trouble finishing it, I called Jeff (Barbra, a singer-songwriter from Walland) and he told me, 'Man, I think you should just Chris Knight it.'"

Those familiar with Knight — a singer-songwriter from Slaughters, Ky. — probably get the use of his name as a verb. Knight's songs are rough-and-tumble, full of the vitality of Southern life and all of the grit and struggle that go along with it. Clark is the yin to Knight's yang — a songwriter whose lighter fare is equally evocative of the South, but not quite as dark or outright morbid as Knight's songs can be.

For Clark to move in such a new direction is a testament to how much he's grown as a songwriter since he started playing music.

Clark's music career coincides with that of Blount County's own Robin Ella Tipton Contreras (of RobinElla and the CCstringband), 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 before Clark left for Oklahoma State University, where he obtained his doctorate degree.

But Clark and the Contrerases kept in touch, and eventually, Clark moved back to East Tennessee. (He now lives in Hazel Green, Ala., just south of the Tennessee line and works as a wildlife biologist for the University of Tennessee.) After moving back to town, he put together his first album, "Pen to Paper" out of songs he had written and accumulated over the years.

His singing and playing style come across as a sweet mixture of folk and bluegrass — "folk-grass," you might call it. His handsome tenor resonates mournfully above delicate-sounding, intricate chords, and when backed by the CCstringband (and accompanied by Robin's vocals, as he is on several songs on "Pen to Paper" and one on last year's sophomore effort, "Progress"), his songs hum with power. On "Progress," his subject matter runs the gamut, from the environmental protest feel of the title track to haunted characters in "Demons" and "Constant Reminder." It lends the album a certain gravity that has a brooding, introspective feel to the music.

Which is another move toward a middle ground he now seems to share with a songwriter like Chris Knight. That, and his distinctly Southern roots.

"Keeping that rural life aspect of it is as important to me as anything in my songwriting," Clark said. "That's why I'm not pitching my stuff to Nashville. That's not my goal musically, first off, and second off, I'm not interested in somebody telling me what I should be writing and who I should be writing it for. I'm trying to stay true to myself — that's who I am and what I am. That doesn't mean I don't branch out, but when it comes down the basics, it's pretty entrenched in that sort of rural feel."

Over the past year and a half, Clark has been pouring more and more of himself into his music. His work with UT has dried up thanks to grant cutbacks, so with his wife's blessing, he hit the road last year opening up for RobinElla in new markets across the country.

"Music is a part of me, and it's something I intend on doing the rest of my life," he said. "I spent the last year and a half trying to do as many shows as possible; last year, I did 70 shows in 11 different states. I really had a good time, and I found a fanbase in a few different places. Hopefully, I'll have a new CD to pitch in another year or so."

Saturday, Clark will headline "The Shed" concert series at Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson, one of five shows he has booked in Blount County through October. (His other dates include a Relay for Life benefit with RobinElla on June 8; opening for the Kentucky Headhunters on Aug. 25 back at "The Shed"; at a house concert in Walland on Aug. 26; and at Back Hills Cafe and Pickin' Parlor on Oct. 5.)