JD Clayton - Blue Sky Sundays
Dirt Road Rising!
JD Clayton didn’t wait for permission. He wrote the songs, built the band, produced the album—and now he’s building a movement one dirt road and bass drop at a time.
Instead, he's ripping stages across America, self-producing records that slap you in the soul, and proving that roots music doesn’t have to play by the rules.
In this episode, we dive into the unpredictable rise of a Southern preacher’s grandson turned genre-blending Americana artist with a voice built for vinyl and a mindset built for the grind.
From late-night voice memos to full-blown anthems, JD pulls back the curtain on the chaos, pressure, and pure magic of making music on your own terms.
You'll discover:
The song that literally started in a rain-soaked car ride and now melts faces on tour
Why he produces his own albums—and the mental toll it takes
How a failed dinner date became the seed for a fan-favorite track.
And the moment he realized: "The cavalry isn’t coming. You have to be it."
Oh—and you’ll never hear Tracy Chapman’s “Give Me One Reason” the same way again. JD’s version shreds.
This episode is real, raw, and ridiculously fun. If you’re sick of polished PR stories and want the unfiltered truth of what it takes to make it in music today, JD brings it.
Plug in. Press play. And get ready to join the Clayton cult with us!
His new album Blue Sky Sundays is out now!
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Check out JD here: https://jdclaytonofficial.com/
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Transcript
As soon as we get done with the actual song part and we move into the full band, it's gangbusters.
Speaker A:It's over.
Speaker A:When the bass drops, everybody's out and it's just the bass doing that riff and people start cheering and everybody knows.
Speaker A:All right, something's coming.
Speaker B:J.D.
Speaker B:clayton is a rising star in the country roots and Americana scene.
Speaker B:No glitz, just raw, heartfelt music blending soulful reflection with free wheeling energy.
Speaker C:For this new album, you decided to take the helm as the producer.
Speaker A:The whole thing from start to finish was express extremely challenging.
Speaker A:As producer and artist, you've got to figure out a way to separate the two.
Speaker A:Sometimes it's hard to deny your own internal voice.
Speaker A:We gotta figure out where we're going in the beginning and stop trying to change course.
Speaker A:My goal is to just have an album out every year.
Speaker B:Americana music transforms the world and unfortunately too many are unaware of its profound impact.
Speaker B:Americana musicians are the unseen and here you'll join us in exploring these passionate artists and how they offer inspiration and hope for the future.
Speaker B:This show makes it happen in a fun and entertaining way.
Speaker B:You'll discover new music that you'll love, Hard earned lessons from the road, the story behind favorite songs, a big dose of inspiration for you and your friends, and a good laugh along the way.
Speaker B:I'm Ben Fanning and my co host is Zach Schultz.
Speaker B:It's time to get Americana Curious.
Speaker A:Foreign everybody.
Speaker B:Welcome back to Americana curious.
Speaker B:Hailing from Fort Smith, Arkansas, J.D.
Speaker B:clayton is a rising star in the country roots and Americana scene.
Speaker B:With a voice that carries the warmth of his southern upbringing and a songwriting style steeped in authenticity, JD has quickly made a name for himself as a real deal artist.
Speaker B:No glitz, just raw, heartfelt music.
Speaker B:Influenced by legend like ccr, the Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd, his sound bridges the gap between classic country and timeless rock.
Speaker B:Over the last years, JD has become a bonafide road dog, opening for the likes of Dwight Yoakum, Old Crow Medicine show, Hank Williams Jr.
Speaker B:Charles, Wesley Godwin and Ashley Ashley McBride, not to mention headlining his own tour and playing festivals like Bonnaroo and Dreamy Draw, showcasing his talents and highlighting his presence in the Americana scene.
Speaker B:His latest release, It Is so so Good y'all.
Speaker B:Blue Sky Sundays finds JD Taking home as producer and working with his touring band to capture the true vitality and grit of his crowd.
Speaker B:Thrilling live shows showcasing his evolution as an artist and blending soulful reflection with free wheeling energy.
Speaker B:Let's get Americana curious right now.
Speaker B:Welcome JD Clayton.
Speaker A:Thank you so Much, dude.
Speaker A:That was a pretty intense little intro there, Ben.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker B:That's how we roll.
Speaker C:I want to dive into something from your very early childhood.
Speaker C:Son of a preacher in Arkansas.
Speaker C:Your grandfather is in a.
Speaker C:Is a bluegrass musician from what I read.
Speaker C:Maybe that's true, maybe it's not true, but you kind.
Speaker C:He was maybe one of your first early influences and taught you.
Speaker C:I mean, you play multiple instruments.
Speaker C:So what?
Speaker C:Raising or being raised in Arkansas in that environment, how did that shape your kind of upbringing?
Speaker A:Yeah, my.
Speaker A:My grandfather definitely was.
Speaker A:Was a banjo player in a bluegrass band.
Speaker A:They were.
Speaker A:They were called the Jesus Man Gospel Band and they would tour to different prisons across the region of Arkansas and play bluegrass shows and then feed the inmates barbecue.
Speaker A:He was always practicing.
Speaker A:I would.
Speaker A:I basically spent the night at my grandparents house every Friday night from.
Speaker A:I don't even know.
Speaker A:They.
Speaker A:I guess as soon as my parents felt comfortable to leave me spending the night at somebody's house.
Speaker A:Super young to probably 14, like spent every Friday night at their house.
Speaker A:He was always practicing, so just growing up.
Speaker A:Eventually he kind of taught me a few chords on guitar so that I could sit and play along with him.
Speaker A:And that was kind of the extent of it for a long time.
Speaker A:But it definitely.
Speaker A:I remember looking up to him and thinking that band practice and playing in a band was.
Speaker A:Was a really cool thing that I wanted to do.
Speaker B:That's so Johnny Cash playing.
Speaker B:Playing the prisoner.
Speaker B:What.
Speaker B:What got him started in that?
Speaker A:He's.
Speaker A:He.
Speaker A:He was a pastor too, a bivocational pastor most of his life doing real estate and.
Speaker A:And pastoring a church, small church.
Speaker A:And he's just kind of always been a missionary and so that.
Speaker A:That looked different.
Speaker A:All throughout his life.
Speaker A:He went through a stint where he did like 30 years going to Africa to be a missionary and then did this prison.
Speaker A:Prison missions whenever he was at home.
Speaker A:So he's just.
Speaker A:That's kind of always been his thing.
Speaker A:But he.
Speaker A:He loves music and has kind of been able to use both of those together.
Speaker B:You saw music early on as like a vehicle for travel, a vehicle for impact.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And making people happy.
Speaker A:I mean, when.
Speaker A:When I'd watch, you know, them play a show and everybody would light up.
Speaker A:That's pretty impactful on a young kid to see.
Speaker A:While that was on one side.
Speaker A:My dad.
Speaker A: y dad was a huge fan of early: Speaker A:And he also was a huge fan of the late 60s, early 70s era.
Speaker A:Just like all dads that are in their 50s and 60s are today.
Speaker A:So my.
Speaker A:My musical influences kind of were in this.
Speaker A:This knowledge of bluegrass.
Speaker A:I didn't really know many songs other than, like, Cripple Creek or the idea that a bluegrass song was just built on GC and D.
Speaker A:That's kind of all I knew over here.
Speaker A:And then I had the idea of, like, singer songwriters writing songs and touring, and then over here, like, just the world of the Beatles and CCR and all the late 60s, early 70s classics.
Speaker A:That kind of is what got me started on everything.
Speaker B:You're a musical melting pot.
Speaker B:Judy Clayton.
Speaker C:Would you say that's where maybe.
Speaker C:I mean, your music influence is.
Speaker C:It goes so many genres.
Speaker C:I mean, country, rock, folk.
Speaker C:I.
Speaker C:I hear blues in that voice sometimes.
Speaker C:Would you say that those kind.
Speaker C:That's what led to maybe combining all them?
Speaker A:Yeah, I mean, that's.
Speaker A:That's the only answer I can come up with.
Speaker A:I just.
Speaker A:It also probably has to do with being a little bit indecisive.
Speaker A:I love every type of music, and it's hard for me to make a decision on what I want to do, so I'd just rather combine it all and that I don't have to make a decision.
Speaker B:Oh, man.
Speaker C:We hear that that's kind of the same thing from people, or we've heard that before.
Speaker C:Kind of the melding of genres is because of indecisiveness, but we call it being an artist.
Speaker C:So we won't hurt you army for that one.
Speaker A:No, no, no.
Speaker A:There's so much good stuff out there, and I don't know.
Speaker A:I've always felt like I wanted to be all these different characters.
Speaker A:Maybe that's to my own detriment.
Speaker A:I probably would.
Speaker A:Would do better if I just committed to one thing, but that's kind of been my whole.
Speaker A:My whole life.
Speaker A:I just.
Speaker A:I was not.
Speaker A:Not an expert in anything, but pretty good at a lot of things.
Speaker B:Well, so my understanding is that you had an ambition to be a dentist, so you're going to be Dr.
Speaker B:Clayton initially in school, is that.
Speaker A:That was the plan.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:I mean, I.
Speaker A:I even went as far as to go with my.
Speaker A:My grandfather on mission trips to Africa and, like, went.
Speaker A:Worked with the dentist all day to, like, prepare.
Speaker A:Before I graduated high school, just.
Speaker A:I was full throttle.
Speaker A:Was a.
Speaker A:Was a biomed major, and then just.
Speaker A:I went a different way.
Speaker A:I basically hit freshman year of college and was in a music appreciation class.
Speaker A:And, you know, a lot of kids just have to take that class.
Speaker A: be a different answer, but in: Speaker A:And I just, after class went up to him and I was like, hey, if you ever want to jam, I found out that we want to start a band.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And like two weeks later, we started a band called Small Town Symphony.
Speaker A:Yeah, that was kind of the beginning of the bug, and I just couldn't put it down.
Speaker C:I did hear a funny story is that you played your high school graduation.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Was that a paid gig or.
Speaker A:No?
Speaker A:I wish.
Speaker A:It was just something that students could apply to be chosen to perform.
Speaker A:And a friend of mine that was in choir was like, I was always like avoiding choir, never wanted to do it.
Speaker A:And she was like, hey, I know you can sing.
Speaker A:You've got to.
Speaker A:Let's.
Speaker A:Let's pick a song and do it together.
Speaker A:You play guitar, I'll harmonize.
Speaker A:And we did it.
Speaker A:And it was just first time playing.
Speaker A:Not in like a worship environment at church, out in front of like 2 to 3,000 people.
Speaker A:It was just crazy.
Speaker A:It was like, all right, man, maybe I have something here.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker B:Let's try this.
Speaker B:This is not what this is.
Speaker B:Your degree was in business, is that correct?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I ended up graduating with a degree in marketing.
Speaker A:And I've got something else tagged.
Speaker A:I can't remember now, but so from.
Speaker B:My understanding about especially Americana and the world where you're initially now, now you're with a label, but you're independent, there's not a lot of musicians running around with business degrees.
Speaker B:How has that benefited you?
Speaker B:What lessons did you learn or not learn that might have helped you in this?
Speaker A:It's tough.
Speaker A:There are definitely things that I took away with my marketing degree.
Speaker A: and ideas behind marketing in: Speaker A:There's nothing.
Speaker A:Not a single thing is still used.
Speaker A:So I mean, other than like Facebook ads, but even those are fewer and far between as being like a vital process to growing.
Speaker A:So I.
Speaker A:I think more than anything, what I took away from, no chance my parents would have ever let me drop out.
Speaker A:It was just non negotiable.
Speaker A:If you're not going to be a dentist, you got to come up with some other degree.
Speaker A:So I got out and I don't know, I think what I took away most was what I had.
Speaker A:What happened my senior year.
Speaker A:I basically positioned myself to be mentored By a ton of these old.
Speaker A:These old kind of movers and shakers in my hometown.
Speaker A:And I was constantly going to coffee.
Speaker A:I was just trying to learn anything I could from anybody that had done well in business.
Speaker A:And it led to me serving, doing all the marketing for a mayoral campaign in our hometown, like, just led to all these different things that, when I look back, really served as giving me, like, this an entrepreneurial mindset that I didn't know I had.
Speaker A:And that more than anything, just having the mind of an entrepreneur and knowing, like, because at the end of the day, music business, we can wrap all this, like, romance and wrap it up into, like, you know, whatever.
Speaker A:Whatever you want to make it.
Speaker A:But at the end of the day, it's just somebody making a product, and you've got to sell your product.
Speaker A:No different than a restaurant makes a sandwich and they're trying to.
Speaker A:You can't just make a sandwich and hope that people show up the next day to eat the sandwich.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:You've got to have a good product, and then you've got to be able to tell everybody to come to your restaurant.
Speaker A:And now you've got 100,000 sandwiches being made every single day.
Speaker A:And everyone is screaming that my sandwich is better than yours.
Speaker A:And that's just chaos there.
Speaker B:The field of dreams thing, if you build it, they will come.
Speaker B:Is a dangerous thing to buy into.
Speaker B:Because I wrote my first book.
Speaker B:You're like, ben, however.
Speaker B:However long you spent writing that book, you need to spend equal that time on the marketing.
Speaker B:I was like, what do you mean?
Speaker B:It's not going to just sell itself?
Speaker B:They're like, no, man, the work is beginning now.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:The work is beginning now.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:It's easy for people to.
Speaker A:It's easy for people to say that the work will sell itself after it's already become a success.
Speaker A:And there's so much that goes into promoting a product and making sure that it's completely aligned with who it's for.
Speaker A:There are the cases out there where somebody blew up quicker than somebody else.
Speaker A:But even Zach Bryan was writing songs.
Speaker B:I write a campfire, a certain artist.
Speaker B:Zach Bryan, right.
Speaker B:I'm on YouTube and all of a sudden, bam.
Speaker B:But I'm curious about you.
Speaker B:How do you think about your.
Speaker B:And I'm really curious about this, your day, because you are a creative.
Speaker B:I mean, fantastic.
Speaker B:You're putting out great music.
Speaker A:Thanks, man.
Speaker B:How much of your time are you thinking about that?
Speaker B:And then thinking about marketing the business side, you were independent and now you have a label.
Speaker B:So that kind of changes.
Speaker B:How you think about this, too.
Speaker B:How are you thinking about, like, structuring, you know, sort of like your.
Speaker B:Your life and your music around this?
Speaker A:Well, I mean, it's something I'm.
Speaker A:I'm going through right now.
Speaker A:I think that it's really.
Speaker A:It's really tough because I've got two little girls.
Speaker A:I'm married.
Speaker A:I live in Arkansas now, and so I'm not in the scene in Nashville as often.
Speaker A:So it's really pertinent that I design a routine and schedule that can.
Speaker A:Can continue to grow this business.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:Right now, like, what I'm looking at is designing.
Speaker A:Designing my year with a lot more smaller projects that kind of force me to.
Speaker A:To have to be working constantly, that then those can build up to a bigger project.
Speaker A:My goal is to just have an album out every year.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:You don't seem like someone that likes to just sit around and wait for it to come to you.
Speaker A:It's never going to come.
Speaker A:The Calvary is not coming.
Speaker A:No, that's.
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker A:That's the tough part.
Speaker A:It's like, yeah, everybody around.
Speaker A:It's like, yeah, I'm gonna just keep posting TikTok videos and like, yeah, it's.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's never coming.
Speaker A:It's never coming.
Speaker A:So that's where I'm at right now.
Speaker C:So let me ask something about tagging on that.
Speaker C:For this new album, you decided to take the helm as the producer.
Speaker C:What went into that thought process and was it what was like, a challenging thing that maybe you had to overcome doing that?
Speaker A:I mean, the whole thing from start to finish was extremely challenging because as producer and artist, you've got to figure out a way to separate the two.
Speaker A:And, like, when the artist voice is saying, well, I want to.
Speaker A:I want to recut the vocals because they stink, the producer probably would go, man, these are great.
Speaker A:What are you talking about?
Speaker A:Like, they're fine.
Speaker A:Let's move on.
Speaker A:You got to get this project done.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:That was a tough.
Speaker A:That's definitely the con of doing it without a producer or trying to produce it yourself is that sometimes it's hard to deny your own internal voice because you can get in your own way.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:But the beautiful thing about it was that I got to.
Speaker A:I got to bring in my.
Speaker A:My touring band, and I don't know, I just.
Speaker A:I know them all so well.
Speaker A:They're my brothers.
Speaker A:I know what they're capable of.
Speaker A:I know what they can do.
Speaker A:And it was just every day we'd show up around 9:30.
Speaker A:And it would just be a whole deal of like, kind of telling them how we're going to play the song and then sitting down and letting them show what they can do.
Speaker A:And if, if there, if we hit a moment where there was like a kink, somebody like, just wasn't getting it and they, they needed to take a break, I could, like, sit down with them and like, we could work through it.
Speaker A:And then, then they would, like, blow me away with something that's incredible.
Speaker A:So it just, it was a really beautiful thing because I just got to work so closely with my best buds.
Speaker B:Having done that process.
Speaker B:And I think about the writing process.
Speaker B:When you're being creative, you don't want to edit at the same time.
Speaker B:If you, if you do at the same time, you know, like, you'll never get done.
Speaker B:So you got to create like a madman.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And then when it's time to wind that up, change this.
Speaker B:Having gone through that, are you going to do this again?
Speaker B:Or you're like, man, that was exhausting.
Speaker B:That was brutal.
Speaker B:I don't want to do that again.
Speaker B:Or you're like, oh, I got it.
Speaker A:I'm going to do it again.
Speaker A:I'm going to try to do it again pretty consistently, but in just a different way.
Speaker A:One of the key elements to the whole process was having my buddy Parker McInalley as the engineer.
Speaker A:And he and I got.
Speaker A:We became friends on a construction job, just doing like, handyman work, changing light bulbs or mudding roof, anything.
Speaker A:He doing drywall.
Speaker A:We just kind of hit it off and became buddies.
Speaker A:And so when it came time to record, I knew he was an engineer and I knew what he could do, and I just asked him to come be a part of it.
Speaker A:And his main.
Speaker A:He's a good engineer, but the main thing is, as one of my dearest friends, he's able to help me get out of my own way and remind me, okay, this is what you told me six months ago.
Speaker A:This is what we had established as what was going to happen.
Speaker A:And now you're going back on what you said.
Speaker A:And I need that because I start to.
Speaker A:If we commit to doing a song, really chill.
Speaker A: t sounding like ELTON John in: Speaker A:That's a problem.
Speaker A:We got to figure out where we're going in the beginning and, and stop trying to change course.
Speaker A:That's a, That's a big struggle whenever you're.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Trying to be the producer and the Artist.
Speaker B:Well, thinking about being on the road, what is the response you're getting from.
Speaker B:From the crowds now with the new songs?
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's really cool.
Speaker A:We've been playing songs from my first album for two years to get in front of some new crowds, and they've never heard you before and then rip into Dirt roads of Red or Madeline, and it's.
Speaker A:It's really fun.
Speaker A:It.
Speaker A:It depends on the crowd.
Speaker A:I think that now that my second album is out, we've.
Speaker A:We've definitely started to position ourselves with a.
Speaker A:With a certain brand.
Speaker A:And, you know, we went out and opened for an artist in.
Speaker A:Out in West Texas, and I'm not 100% sure that the fans got it, so.
Speaker A:But in Austin, Texas, they ate it up.
Speaker A:So I think it's.
Speaker A:It's definitely, you know, I'm starting to.
Speaker A:You can tell I'm starting to carve my.
Speaker A:My niche.
Speaker A:And it's just going to be.
Speaker A:Sometimes music you make is.
Speaker A:Is for some people, and it's not for everybo.
Speaker D:Cause I don't want to leave you lonely?
Speaker D:But you gonna make me change my mind?
Speaker D:Baby, I got your number?
Speaker D:Oh, I know that you got mine?
Speaker D:Baby, I got your number?
Speaker D:And girl, I know what you gotta find?
Speaker D:You can't call me, baby, you can call me anytime?
Speaker D:Oh, you got to call me.
Speaker B:Let.
Speaker C:Let me ask this one, because on the new album, there is a cover of a Tracy Chapman song, Give Me One Reason, and it does not sound anything like Tracy Chapman's Give Me One Reason.
Speaker C:I mean, it is a heater.
Speaker C:I mean, I was listening to it, and I love Tracy, and I was listening.
Speaker C:I'm going, why do I know this song?
Speaker C:Why do I know this song?
Speaker B:And then same experience.
Speaker C:So I'm curious.
Speaker C:Do you play that one in your live now?
Speaker A:And I've been playing it.
Speaker C:I'm just curious what people think of that.
Speaker A:Yeah, I mean, that's.
Speaker A:It's at the top of our set every night.
Speaker A:I've been playing that song since after that graduation song.
Speaker A:The very.
Speaker A:Like two weeks later, I was at the Farmer's Market in Fort Smith, and there was a kid busking on the street.
Speaker A:And I was like, man, he's making some money.
Speaker A:I need to try that.
Speaker A:So the very next Saturday, I was out there and I did that the whole summer.
Speaker A:I would just play for four hours cover songs.
Speaker A:And Give Me One Reason was.
Speaker A:Was one of the.
Speaker A:What was one of the ones that.
Speaker A:It was just on a CD that my dad had in his car.
Speaker A:One of Those that, like.
Speaker A:I just.
Speaker A:I never knew.
Speaker C:Me and your dad are about the same age.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Really?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I got.
Speaker A:I got young parents.
Speaker C:I had that CD as well.
Speaker A:Yeah, I'm blessed to have some pretty, young, young folks.
Speaker C:They sound cool.
Speaker A:They are pretty.
Speaker A:They're pretty cool.
Speaker A:But, yeah, that's.
Speaker A:That.
Speaker A:That song.
Speaker A:When we play that at the show, I mean, it just.
Speaker A:It's fun to watch.
Speaker A:It's fun to watch the kids that are about my age or younger who also had parents that educated them with the same type of music.
Speaker A:And they.
Speaker A:They recognize that intro guitar part, and they're like, man, how do I.
Speaker A:How do I know this?
Speaker A:And it's like, okay, we've got everybody on the hook, so we always.
Speaker A:We.
Speaker A:We always try to put that at the top of the set to try to get everybody interested in what the rest of the show is going to be.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:There was one other song, if I can ask about it, Ben the Dirt Roads and Red.
Speaker C:Red.
Speaker C:I heard that this was idea came while you were on a golf outing.
Speaker C:So how does something that rocking come out of a.
Speaker C:A slower sport?
Speaker C:Let's just say I have a friend.
Speaker A:Named Cole Calfie that he was saying, you know, somebody needs to.
Speaker A:There needs to be a song about this idea about when you go to heaven instead of streets of gold, it's.
Speaker A:It's streets.
Speaker D:Early one Sunday morning I heard a word from the preacher man he said, be sweeter to your mamas and love your neighbor like you know you can.
Speaker D:Cause there's a place I know called heaven and someday you may want to go.
Speaker D:They never get tired of sick up there in their streets are made of gold.
Speaker D:I said, well, preacher, see, I'm the.
Speaker A:Son of a southern man and he's a Georgia boy.
Speaker A:And I being from Arkansas, I couldn't have that.
Speaker A:And so I tried to come up with something that felt more like where I spent a lot of time growing up, which was in Colorado, the red dirt in Colorado.
Speaker A:So I.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:It was one that.
Speaker A:I wrote it in, like, 45 minutes.
Speaker A:I got home, and just like being the son of a pastor, I just was like, this is.
Speaker A:This is easy.
Speaker A:I mean, this is like.
Speaker A:You can make this so cheeky and, like, make it.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And it's a fun idea, you know?
Speaker A:And that's where I guess that got started.
Speaker A:Once we got in the studio, I mean, we played that song for a few years or I guess a year.
Speaker A:And so I kind of had the bones already built from playing it live.
Speaker A:And then when we got in the studio, we had everything kind of there, but the guitar parts were just.
Speaker A:They.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:It wasn't.
Speaker A:It wasn't there.
Speaker A:And so I ended up retracking my guitar parts.
Speaker A:And then I had my buddy Bo Alman, who's the guitar player on the album, had him come back in and do a bunch of slide stuff because I knew that song.
Speaker A:I really wanted to feel like, almost like Creedence Clearwaters.
Speaker A:Looking out my back door where I see that my band, we're all big, big Lebowski fans.
Speaker A:And that scene where Jeff Bridges is hitting the top of his roof to looking out my back door, I was like, that.
Speaker A:It's like.
Speaker A:It's amazing, and it's just so rock and roll, but it's.
Speaker A:There's comedy in there, so how do we get that feeling to come across?
Speaker A:And when we changed the guitar solo and had Bo start rip and slide on it, it was like, okay, this is the comedic relief that the song needs.
Speaker A:And it immediately just makes it feel like just a bunch of dudes hanging out.
Speaker B:And what's the story behind Dance Another Dance?
Speaker A: g that I wrote back in, like,: Speaker A:I wrote it after I.
Speaker A:As soon as I came home from recording my first ep, Smoke out the Fire.
Speaker A:I just kind of was in a state of writing and just was super inspired and wrote that one a long time ago.
Speaker A:But when I moved to Nashville, I worked for a trucking company at the.
Speaker A:In the lnc Tower downtown.
Speaker A:And my.
Speaker A:I got the job because my cousin worked there.
Speaker A:And when I started working, within the first couple weeks, I realized that there was, like, a thing going on between my cousin and the manager of the office.
Speaker A:And basically, it was like.
Speaker A:It was just understood that they, like, they probably liked each other, but nobody would, like, make a move.
Speaker A:And so she kind of got fed up with, like, the games and moved to Colorado.
Speaker A:And he realized, like, a couple days later that he'd messed up, and he got on a plane and went back and got her.
Speaker A:And then I.
Speaker A:I played a song at the reception at their wedding, so just, like, super funny story.
Speaker A:And, I mean, there.
Speaker A:There are some.
Speaker A:Mine and my wife's best friends.
Speaker A:We.
Speaker A:We hang out with them all the time.
Speaker A:But it's.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:You know, that that song kind of like, it was already written, but I was able to finish it, and it had way more meaning after that story happened.
Speaker D:I'm sure that she meant well.
Speaker D:How can I really tell?
Speaker D:Yeah, how can we ever tell?
Speaker D:Cause Sometimes people Damn pretty people.
Speaker D:They let you down Let you down real slow and even if we don't make a sound they'll just let us down I missed the morning feeling Sonny driving his fancy cars he didn't make it far and made him promise to change this whole town around and turn them frowns upside down Now I'm sure that he meant well how can I really tell?
Speaker D:Yeah, how can we ever tell?
Speaker B:And I was gonna mention, too, when.
Speaker B:When the first track on the album let you down.
Speaker B:When I hear.
Speaker B:When I heard that song.
Speaker C:There's a lot going on there.
Speaker B:There's changes.
Speaker A:Is.
Speaker B:It's almost like two or three songs together.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And it is so good.
Speaker B:It's like a journey.
Speaker B:And I've.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:Of all the songs, I listened a lot on repeat.
Speaker B:And my daughter has this thing called.
Speaker B:It's called Airbuds.
Speaker B:Have you heard about this?
Speaker B:It's like a thing where if you're on Spotify, you invite people, you know to it, and then you can see what they're listening to.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:Okay, cool.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:She's like, dad, what is this song you keep playing?
Speaker B:And you're.
Speaker B:And then.
Speaker B:And then she's like, who's this?
Speaker B:J.D.
Speaker B:clayton?
Speaker B:You're, like, listening to all this.
Speaker C:Archer's getting some education.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I was like, well, you need to listen to J.D.
Speaker B:but that song, I was wondering, what kind of response are you getting?
Speaker B:Because it seems like multiple different sounds.
Speaker B:You.
Speaker B:I don't know what.
Speaker B:Where you were, what you were going for that, but it's really captivating, man.
Speaker A:Thanks.
Speaker A:I don't know, man.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's one of those songs that.
Speaker A:That I saved for later in the week when we were recording at Sound Emporium, because I knew it was one of the last ones we did, because I knew it was going to be kind of challenging.
Speaker A:Basically what I did was I spent the whole week living up in a cottage about an hour outside of Nashville.
Speaker A:And I would wake up six in the morning and sit and drink coffee and prep the whole day till 8 or so when I needed to get in the car to get to the studio on time.
Speaker A:And on one of the last days, it was coming up on Let yout Down.
Speaker A:I just.
Speaker A:I had the whole song, but it basically just.
Speaker A:It kind of got to the end of the second chorus, and it was just, like, boring.
Speaker A:And there was no way to basically get us back on track with how.
Speaker A:How.
Speaker A:How strong that chorus is.
Speaker A:There's no way to get us back to, like, the.
Speaker A:The verse.
Speaker A:Setting.
Speaker A:And so I just.
Speaker A:I was on a hike, I guess.
Speaker A:Yeah, one of the.
Speaker A:One of the last days of recording, I was on a hike and just like, started kind of.
Speaker A:I do a lot of work with my voice memo app, and I'll, like, get ideas when I go for long walks.
Speaker A:I basically just, like, came up with the part and how we would, like, basically break down the song.
Speaker A:And I ended up going into the studio early and grabbed one of the basses and kind of figured out that we could do this cool breakdown.
Speaker A:And then that would lead into, like, I would come in, and then the keys would come in, and then boom, the guitar rips a solo.
Speaker A:And then you have a drum soul.
Speaker A:And it would basically highlight every single person in the band.
Speaker A:And then we would just drop it down to, like, the outro chords and that.
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker A:It just kind of happened very in the moment Lee Williams came in, I was like, hey, man, I may play this.
Speaker A:This is, like, what I'm thinking how we would get out of Let yout Down.
Speaker A:And then he sat down and with.
Speaker A:With real bass fingers, played my idea, and he.
Speaker A:He polished it to how it should be.
Speaker A:And then it was.
Speaker A:Then we were off to the races.
Speaker B:And when you're playing a corral and you're taking them on that ride, are they moving?
Speaker B:Like, what.
Speaker B:Like what's happening in the crowd?
Speaker A:As soon as we get done with the actual song part and we move into the full band, it's.
Speaker A:It's gangbusters there.
Speaker A:It's over.
Speaker A:I mean, people wait to see it.
Speaker A:When the bass drops, everybody's out, and it's just the bass doing that riff.
Speaker A:I mean, everybody knows, all right, Something's coming, and people start cheering, and then.
Speaker A:And, yeah, it's.
Speaker A:It's really fun.
Speaker C:That's.
Speaker C:That's great.
Speaker C:So I read somewhere you say inspiration guides your process.
Speaker C:So tell me the weirdest spot where a song maybe came to you or maybe a song idea.
Speaker A:Well, I'll just give you two.
Speaker A:I mean, since we're talking about let you down.
Speaker A:I mean, Lee Williams, I had just.
Speaker A:He was a student at Belmont.
Speaker A:I had.
Speaker A:I had emailed the dean of the College of Bass at Belmont if he had any graduating seniors that wanted to play music.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker C:Oh, that's great.
Speaker A:He gave me Lee's number, and he's been my bass player ever since.
Speaker A:And teachers.
Speaker A:Patrick.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Oh, he.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And rightfully so.
Speaker A:I mean, he's.
Speaker A:He's incredible.
Speaker A:So it was like.
Speaker A:It was.
Speaker A:We were on one of our coffee dates.
Speaker A:If you will to like, that's kind of how I hire musicians.
Speaker A:I just say it's not.
Speaker A:It has nothing to do with their playing.
Speaker A:I'll scope them out a little bit and then we, we go sit and have coffee and I can know within like five minutes if they're going to be a good fit or not.
Speaker A:And we were sitting there and we had a few drinks and then we kind of ran out of time.
Speaker A:It was, it was basically time to go get some dinner.
Speaker A:And we were sitting across from this barista lady and it was like, hey, do you like, where would you recommend to go get dinner around here?
Speaker A:And she proceeded to come up with about five different ideas.
Speaker A:And when we would look them up, every.
Speaker A:I think it was a Monday, every single one of these restaurants were closed.
Speaker A:And I just, by the time we got to like the fifth or sixth restaurant, it was so funny.
Speaker A:We were all laughing.
Speaker A:It was like.
Speaker A:So I.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And it was pouring rain outside.
Speaker A:I got in my car and I just was like, man, sometimes people let you down.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And then it just was like, I had the song done as soon as I got home.
Speaker C:That's amazing.
Speaker A:Pretty fun, Madeline.
Speaker A:I wrote in a hotel room in Grand Junction, Colorado.
Speaker A:Just.
Speaker A:We were just killing time, waiting to go to soundcheck and just, you know, made up.
Speaker A:Made up a song about some made up girl.
Speaker C:Amazing.
Speaker B:Well, it's funny, like this whole voice memo thing.
Speaker B:We were interviewing Devin Allman and he, he pulls out his phone and what song was he.
Speaker B:He had that, man.
Speaker C:It was White Horse, his new single.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:He's like, and here it is when I.
Speaker B:And he had, he had sent it to.
Speaker B:With his bass player.
Speaker B:He was a well known bass player that I can't remember.
Speaker B:But anyway, it's.
Speaker B:It's like, man, what do we do?
Speaker B:But he's like, you're not gonna believe what I'm doing.
Speaker B:But of course, you know, JD's are the younger generation.
Speaker B:He's like, he's like, we've been doing this forever.
Speaker A:It's, it's.
Speaker A:I mean, yeah, here's.
Speaker A: ,: Speaker A:There's a version where I'm.
Speaker A:You can hear like the initial car recording where I'm driving home from the coffee shop and it's pouring rain.
Speaker A:And I'm like, try.
Speaker A:You can hear me, like, coming up with it.
Speaker C:That's amazing.
Speaker B:So why can't.
Speaker B:Why won't you put that on the album?
Speaker B:Like a bonus cut?
Speaker B:Like, no one does bonus cuts anymore.
Speaker B:Yeah, they don't do that stuff.
Speaker A:That's a good point.
Speaker A:I don't.
Speaker A:I mean I love that stuff.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:A lot of people do.
Speaker A:Maybe I should.
Speaker A:I know, I know that Jack Johnson, you know, in like 20, 20, 15 or so, like the big thing was to do commentaries and.
Speaker A:Oh yeah, you would release the whole album and then the B side of the digital version was just the commentary of every single song.
Speaker A:Deluxe albums where it includes stuff like that have kind of started to go away.
Speaker A:I think some of the major, major labels still, still do it.
Speaker A:And it's.
Speaker A:It's hard to say if the way that people consume music now digitally is there.
Speaker A:There may be a better way.
Speaker A:I think there's still a way to do that.
Speaker A:It just.
Speaker A:There might be a better way to.
Speaker A:To do it that.
Speaker A:Where people can consume it in a different way.
Speaker A:I feel like they're on Spotify.
Speaker A:It's really hard for people.
Speaker C:You have to remember Ben, we're very old.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker B:Yeah, let me get my eight track out here.
Speaker B:Yeah, but.
Speaker B:But I think you know, in terms of building your following.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Like your newsletter letter, you know, you're like that those types of things would be.
Speaker B:They're really special for a lot of people.
Speaker A:I think you're right.
Speaker A:That's something that I really have not.
Speaker A:I have not done enough of for fans.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's.
Speaker A:It needs to be done.
Speaker B:That's cool.
Speaker C:Let me ask a couple quick fun ones about tour life.
Speaker C:Ever forgot lyrics on the stage?
Speaker C:Because I was at a show the other night and somebody, I won't mention, one of my favorites, forgot the first lyric to his song and he handled it perfectly.
Speaker C:Everybody in the crowd knew and he didn't say a word and just went on.
Speaker C:It was quite, quite brilliant actually.
Speaker A:It's really tough, I imagine.
Speaker A:What was it?
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:In Lexington, Kentucky last fall.
Speaker A:It was the moment of our show when we do Long Way From Home.
Speaker A:Which is.
Speaker A:Which is.
Speaker C:Love that song.
Speaker A:Thanks, man.
Speaker A:It's like.
Speaker A:It's a.
Speaker A:It's a tear jerker moment and it's.
Speaker A:It's a down moment in the show and I got to verse two and like opened my mouth to make sound and it was.
Speaker A:It was just not available completely.
Speaker A:Couldn't remember.
Speaker A:Couldn't remember even how to start it.
Speaker A:I like just kind of was laughing about it because that's.
Speaker A:That's my.
Speaker A:That's how I get out of things.
Speaker A:I just laugh about it and then I'm like, you know, and this is a sad moment and I'm like leaning over to my guitar Player like, dude, what's the.
Speaker A:What are the words?
Speaker A:Everybody's starting to kind of, like, chuckle and, like, be like, what the heck's going on?
Speaker A:And we just had to.
Speaker A:We just had to go into the chorus and finish the song.
Speaker A:Like, just.
Speaker A:We.
Speaker A:We had to land the plane because it was already.
Speaker A:It was done.
Speaker A:It was dead.
Speaker A:There was no.
Speaker A:There was no rescuing the moment.
Speaker A:It was.
Speaker A:It was crazy.
Speaker B:I always.
Speaker C:I mean, I've seen multiple people do it.
Speaker C:Giant stars, and I always fascinated by the.
Speaker C:What goes on after that moment.
Speaker C:I think it.
Speaker C:Brandy Carlisle did an oh, and then.
Speaker C:And then started again when she forgot lyrics.
Speaker A:It would depend on the moment.
Speaker A:But if I was playing something that felt very, very weighty and had a lot of pressure around it.
Speaker A:Yeah, you got to restart the song.
Speaker A:And I think everybody understands that.
Speaker A:And it's funny and you laugh it off, but it's.
Speaker A:It's weird, man.
Speaker A:I mean, it's like you sing these songs so much, it's almost like your brain has created a pathway for the lyrics.
Speaker A:And I'll just be playing, and then, like, look up, and I'll make eye contact with somebody that will spark just the most wild, random thought, and then it's gone, and I cannot get it back.
Speaker A:I can't.
Speaker A:There's no rescuing that.
Speaker A:That plane.
Speaker A:It's over.
Speaker C:I got one more about it.
Speaker C:I'm just wondering, what's the weirdest fan interaction they may be at a show?
Speaker C:Uh.
Speaker A:Oh, let me think.
Speaker C:Maybe a request of some sort or something.
Speaker C:I don't know.
Speaker A:This.
Speaker A:This is one of those that, like, I'm just gonna.
Speaker A:I'll.
Speaker A:I'll.
Speaker A:I'll say it.
Speaker A:And then we might have to.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:There was one tour we did where we had a.
Speaker A:A camera guy with us that was undeniably attractive.
Speaker A:And a fan said, hey, man.
Speaker A:Like, hey, my wife and I are gonna go get drinks.
Speaker A:Like, you should come.
Speaker A:You should come hang with us.
Speaker A:And then that turned into him, like, being at their house with them together.
Speaker A:And it wasn't until later that he, like, started to put two and two together.
Speaker A:What was about to go down.
Speaker A:And then he got out there, and it was.
Speaker A:It was honestly so annoying because he had the keys to the van.
Speaker A:And then this is all going down, and we're trying to load up the van, and no keys are to be found.
Speaker A:And then he comes running back.
Speaker A:He's like, y'all are never gonna believe what just happened.
Speaker A:Luckily, I don't think anything happened, and he got out of there in time.
Speaker A:But you Never know.
Speaker A:Fans have.
Speaker A:Sometimes fans have ulterior motives.
Speaker C:My minds are their own.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:The cameraman, of all people.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:Well, why not come after the star?
Speaker A:I'm fortunate to.
Speaker A:We really.
Speaker A:I just did my first headline tour last fall, and it was the first time kind of being able to, as an artist, lay eyes on, like, what my fans look like.
Speaker A:You know, they're coming to my show.
Speaker A:That's interesting money to see my show.
Speaker A:It's like you kind of quickly understand, like, what the.
Speaker A:What your demographic is.
Speaker A:And fortunately, we had just some unbelievable, sweet, really, like, family oriented fans.
Speaker A:I don't know, it's just really.
Speaker A:It surprised me so much that there would be people there that, I don't know, like, you couldn't paint that picture better.
Speaker A:It was just like, oh, these are people that I like, kind of identify with.
Speaker A:That's crazy.
Speaker A:How did they find my.
Speaker B:You know, it's really special when your customers quote in quotes.
Speaker B:Your customers are people you go have a beer with or go have coffee with.
Speaker A:Exactly.
Speaker A:And that is.
Speaker A:That is the.
Speaker A:That.
Speaker A:That weird scenario that I told you about with the cameraman.
Speaker A:That was when we were opening for somebody else.
Speaker A:And the.
Speaker A:This.
Speaker A:The first time doing my own headline tour was just magic.
Speaker A:Like, everybody was so sweet.
Speaker A:And I hope that.
Speaker A:I hope that that continues for the years to come, that we.
Speaker A:We get to build a family with all the fans.
Speaker A:And that would be my hope.
Speaker A:And I.
Speaker A:I think we're on track to do that.
Speaker A:It's really cool.
Speaker B:Well, we're in it.
Speaker A:We're in the Clayton family.
Speaker A:Y'all seem like stand up guys.
Speaker A:Welcome to the family.
Speaker B:And if I invite you to my house, it will just be for music.
Speaker B:It's not gonna be anything, but if.
Speaker A:It'S for anything else, you will be sorely disappointed.
Speaker B:Yo, we gotta.
Speaker B:We gotta.
Speaker B:Gotta line the plan here with JD So check out the album.
Speaker B:Go see JD Clayton and his great band on tour.
Speaker B:And I mean, you're gonna be delighted.
Speaker B:It sounds like they're gonna be a lot of other cool people, not just JD and the band.
Speaker B:All the.
Speaker B:All the fans sound cool.
Speaker B:Zach and I'll be there too.
Speaker B:Thanks for coming on the show.
Speaker A:Oh, thank you guys so much for having.
Speaker A:It Means a lot.
Speaker A:Thanks for.
Speaker A:For being interested in the music and.
Speaker A:And listening to it.
Speaker A:I apprec.
Speaker A:I really appreciate it.
Speaker C:Love it.
Speaker B:Thanks for joining Zach and I for this episode of Americana Curious.
Speaker B:Subscribe where you listen to your podcast so you are notified when a new episode is released.
Speaker B:I'm Ben Fanning, and it's been great sharing these artists and music with you.
Speaker B:Until next time, stay Americana curious.
