Singer/songwriter/guitarist Clay McClinton's musical sound is woven together with rawhide and hemp, barbwire and willow reed. It's that eclectic sound born in Texas where honky tonk, Delta blues and soulful rock meld seamlessly. Clay's debut CD, Out of the Blue, is a collection of self-penned songs that epitomize his personal blend of influences against a backdrop of stripped-down production where less is definitely more. Clay not only wrote or co-wrote the material, he also co-produced the CD not long after his career move to Nashville.The honky tonk of Heartache, horn-powered Left My Baby Blue and the Texas swing of Rambler somehow fit together like soulmates. Other cuts bear the distinct influence of Clay's blues-legend father, Delbert McClinton. Starting to Itch and When It Rains are co-writes with Delbert, but Clay's solo write, Far Too Long, displays his dad's influence as well. Being his father's son, it's not surprising that Clay's eclectic influences lean toward songwriters Willie Nelson, Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, J. J. Cale, and John Hiatt. But his personal progression also includes bluegrass greats such as Doc Watson.Few artists have pursued their careers with the clarity and conscious exploration that mark Clay's self-designed path. He grew up in Ft. Worth and began learning guitar and harmonica from both his father and older brother, Monty. At age 19, he began to pursue music as a career more seriously. "I always thought, growing up around Dad, that playing music was the coolest thing," he says. "I never really thought about doing anything else. At the same time, I don't have to be in the spotlight to enjoy the creativity of music. If someone likes what I'm writing and wants to take it and record it their way, well, I've never understood why anybody wouldn't want that. I look forward to producing other artists as well."As a teenager, Clay played in a couple of bands around Ft. Worth, but after graduation he moved to Austin. That would be the first of a series of conscious steps towards his self-development as a musician and songwriter and, eventually, producer as well. In Austin, he sat in with bands, but mostly absorbed the creative atmosphere that clings to the town. Clay was never interested in having strictly a cover band. From the beginning he wanted to develop his repertoire of originals before taking to the stage full time.The young artist's next move was actually a trip across the ocean to experience the rich cultures of Europe. He and a couple of musician friends played music in hostels and enjoyed exploring different ways of living. One of the songs on his debut CD, Left My Baby Blue, Clay wrote during his European journey. "I traveled across Europe for four months", he says. "I thought it would help me as a writer, and I believe it did, plus it was a hell of a lot of fun."When he returned to the states, Clay decided to find a cozy place to focus on performing and decided to explore Flagstaff, AZ. Soon afterwards, he began playing in two distinctively different bands whose other players also performed predominately heir own music. The Blues Project drew on Texas stomp and southern blues for their sound, while Second Harvest was an acoustic blues/ bluegrass/folk band. Clay immersed himself in playing live, performing five or six nights a week with experienced players such as Wild Billy Kneebone, Brian DeMarco and Andrew Lauher, just to name a few. After a couple of years in Flagstaff, Clay added The Clay McClinton Band to the mix, in which he and his Telecaster took center stage.Clay's most recent relocation was different from the others. At 29, he felt he had to make a serious effort to hone his writing and production skills. That meant making the move to Nashville, a town nicknamed Tin Pan South because of the rich songwriting community. It was a move his father had made more than 15 years before. From Ft. Worth to Austin to Flagstaff to Nashville, with a sojourn to Europe in between, Clay's journey has clicked along a single track, one designed to expand and develop his musical career. Out of the Blue is a final exam of sorts, born from his self-made curriculum. With his first co-produced CD of original material, Clay McClinton has crossed a demarcation line in his career, and he's looking forward to whatever musical adventures await him next. "I love performing, but I also like producing and writing. I love sitting down on a rainy day with a cup of joe and writing and maybe not even performing that song but having somebody else do it," Clay explains. "All three aspects of creativity I think will help me develop and grow in different ways. Writing will help my performing and the performing will help my writing, and producing my albums or other people's albums will affect all the above. I just don't think you can learn enough. I think they all hold hands."
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