A staple of Austin’s blues joints in the ’50s, and soulman Joe Tex’s bass player in the ’60s, W.C. Clark was working as an auto mechanic in the ’70s when the Vaughan Brothers persuaded him to again make music his livelihood. On ’94’s Heart of Gold, which, amazingly, is his first and only nationally distributed release, Clark lends his church-rooted vocals to the full spectrum of styles he has been involved with—upbeat R&B, rough-textured Texas shuffles, and soul standards. While not an innovative genre-leader, Clark has an expressive timbre, and his songbook’s solid, danceable grooves demonstrate why he’s been in demand as a sideman and bandleader for decades. W.C. Clark Blues Band plays at 8:30 p.m. at Twist & Shout, 4800 Auburn Ave., Bethesda. $8. (301) 652-3383. (Steve Kiviat)