Narrow-minded hypocrisy courtesy of Roy Clark’s ‘Do You Believe This Town’

Decked out in a dark gray striped suit, Roy Clark clings to a Gibson Byrdland sunburst hollow body electric guitar for the cover of “Urban, Suburban: The Fantastic Guitar of Roy Clark,” distributed in June 1968 as the musician’s ninth album and debut on Dot Records. The all-instrumental project sold moderately well, charting at No. 43 C&W. Photography by Jerry White / Universal Music Group / Discogs user “Road Worrier”

“Do You Believe This Town” was Roy Clark’s overlooked July 1968 social commentary on covert rural prejudice, recorded several months before Jeannie C. Riley’s much-ballyhooed “Harper Valley P.T.A.” A nameless pastoral community is not as it seems. Town pillars, from the mayor to the chief of police, are knee-deep in hypocrisy. The church deacon “preaches…