All photos © David McClister. Above: Dolly Parton

According to David McClister the best part of photographing musicians, other than getting to meet so many of his heroes (Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Eric Clapton, Sam Shepherd, etc), is, he says, the fact that “they’ll often break into song without any prompting.” McClister says that in the beginning, he would find himself letting his camera fall to his side as he just watched. “I learned pretty quickly to quietly move and watch at the same time, waiting for that special moment to capture.” he says. “The other great part is just getting to hang out and chat with them, even if it’s just for a small amount of time on an editorial shoot. I’ve never asked for an autograph or for a photo with them. . .what I take away from these sessions is more than I could have ever hoped for as a young music fan— interesting stories and hopefully a nice portrait as well.”

A book on McClister’s documentary series on small town wresting in the South (Rastlin: A Southern Survey) will be published by Stephen F. Austin University Press in December of this year.

Mandy Barnett as Patsy Cline

Emmylou Harris

Willie Nelson

Brad Paisley

The Avett Brothers

Miranda Lambert

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss

Johnny Cash

Randy Travis