Clay Davidson

All quotes by Clay Davidson

(Clay talks about the way his wife Frances has helped him to carry through the hard times he’s all too often encountered over the past five years since he’s been married to her and all the while, working at landing a recording contract. Clay used to work in Nashville as a demo tape singer.)

To tell you the truth, there’s been a whole lot of times that, thanks to my wife and I didn’t loose my sanity. Man, my wife and I, we’ve done this dance and we’ve lived this together . We’ve slept on the floor, lived out in my car and she done it with me. So, she knew exactly what was going on and there’s nothing with that lady and there’s none left in me. She works with me still as a management assistant. My wife has stood by me throughout this whole thing whole- heartledly. I’ll tellin’ you what, she’s pulled me through a lot of bull. I mean, there are times in this business when you start thinkin’,’ What am I doing in this business?’. And she’s stood by me throughout this the whole time. She’s great.

(Clay talks about his sense of surprise at the success of his new single.)

I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m tickled to death. Of course, music is all I’ve ever done anyway. It was always a first. It got me curious about other things and other places other then the hills that I was living in. So, music was actually what got me up and rug me out of where I was.(Back home in the mountains Virginia)

(Clay talks about his unique sound.)

You know most of the people who I know love country music because it’s fun. I mean it’s all about riding around in your pickup truck and listening to a good country song on the radio. It’s fun. There’s no hidden messages. The simple things, mean a lot to me anyway. Maybe life’s going to fast for a lot of people to enjoy the simple things these days. There’s a rawness to it (His music) and I think it sticks out because it doesn’t sound like everybody else’s music. I’m a fan of music, from way back and what always turned me on about music was that driving raw guitar. I don’t want it covered up, I want to hear the fingers squeaking on the strings. That’s what it’s all about to me.

(Clay talks about moving from home to Las Vegas on a Greyhound bus and passing through Nashville one night during the trip.)

I was probably eighteen at the time. So, it was about ten years ago I guess. I was going out to Las Vegas to stay with my brother who was in the Air Force. At that time, I was just helping him with his kids and stuff and I wanted to get out and see a bit of the world I guess. So, I headed out on a Greyhound, and in the middle of the night the buss passes through Nashville. I could see Nashville through the window and when I did, I just lit up and said to myself,’ That’s where I’m gonna be one day. That’s where I belong.’ So, finally years later, I made it Nashville. I always knew Nashville was where I wanted to be. I was there for about eight months and I did play some club gigs. Then I moved back home to Virginia.

(Clay talks about the path that he took to get to Nashville and a label deal.)

In 1994 I won the Charlie Daniels Talent Roundup and my wife and I moved to Nashville at that time. When I got to Nashville I started working as a demo tape ( Session singer for the publishing companies.) singer. I’ll tell you, I didn’t know if I’d ever get my chance or not because I was a little different from all of the rest of the folks who were cutting (recording) songs at that time. Anything and everything that was going on at the time was different from what I was doing at that time. But, I didn’t know any other way to play or any other way to sing for that matter. So I just had to hope that things would change and that there would be a place and a time for me. I mean that’s the only way I could have looked at it. I didn’t know any other way (He laughs.) The more demos that I cut, the more I got around, the more hellos and handshakes I got, I met different people and eventually folks started getting excited about it .(Clay and his music.) Then things started to take off for me and it’s been pretty wild.

(Clay talks about the feedback he’s received from radio.)

I’ve been really fortunate because the feedback I’ve been getting has been good. The album itself is pretty diverse. There’s country, blues, rock & roll, and it’s all reminiscent of something. it’s fresh and something new while it sounds real familiar. The response has been real goo and I’m happy. I was surprised that things have dome so well. Because I thought that different could be bad. So I really didn’t know, I just hoped. So far, so good. We’ve had a great response.