Simon Clark grew up coming to his parent’s home on Legge’s Lake just east of North Bend. When he needed a country home for a video, he knew where he wanted to go.
Mendon Hale had a new song and he wanted to make a video. Hale’s management team in Nashville had seen other videos Clark had made. Hale was going to be in Nebraska last summer and the team connected the two artists.
Clark has his own production company, Simon Clark Productions, in downtown Omaha. His parents, Fred and Melanie Clark, also have a business in downtown Omaha and have had a home at Legge’s Lake for over 20 years. They have shopped at North Bend businesses numerous times and driven by the Moser home frequently.
Clark went to meet Mike Moser and he was willing to let them use his home as the setting for the video. He even pulled his 1949 Chevy pickup out of the barn for them to film.
“They were super nice guys,” Moser said. “It’s kind of cool to be a part of this and see it get done.
Hale spent 17 years in a band before striking out on his own to sing country, what he always wanted to do, in 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic. This is his first album and his first videos. He has now done two videos, “All the Way to the Bank” and “Hand on the Heartland” that have scenes of North Bend in it. The latter song is the title track of his first album.
Clark, Hale and crew were in North Bend in May to film the first video, mostly featuring the Corner Cafe and downtown streets. They returned in August for the “Heartland” video, expanding to include other scenes around North Bend.
“My goal as director was to show the heartland isn’t just rural and farmland,” Clark said. “I think that can sometimes be a misconception. I had a few shots of business owners in downtown Omaha, such as my parents, but we did want to show small-town life. For me it showed the authenticity of different roles in the heartland.”
The video shows the North Bend Fire Department with firefighters Jeremy Knapp, Scott Coufal and Beth Krutz, Stuart and Grace Hircock of North Bend Locker, Mike Moser, Steve Hamilton, Greg Kugler, lots of downtown, scenes inside the Corner Cafe, surrounding country roads and farm scenes. Clark also used some of his family in the video besides his parents, an aunt and uncle, Janis and Jeff Merrill, and their neighbors from Papillion and his grandmother, Patricia Morrissey. They were able to drive down the new expressway last May before it was open, a perfect scene for the video with no other traffic.
“It was fun to be part of something bigger,” Ginette Renard of the Corner Cafe said.
Though the video was filmed in August and ready in another month, they had to wait to book a time to release it on the Artist YouTube channel.
“It was a fun and fulfilling project,” Clark said. “An opportunity to showcase the place I grew up in and grew up with. The artist is a great authentic guy and connected with people.”
by Mary Le Arneal
Published 2/16/22
