Soul Shine Studio Spotlight: Red Clay Strays
The Windjammer welcomes to the Aloha Stage, Red Clay Strays on Friday, October 6th.
Hailing from the red dirt clay of Mobile, Alabama, the Red Clay Strays have spent the past year trailblazing touring behind their most recent album Moment of Truth. The seasoned band of road warriors has kept pedal to the metal as of late, making major festival appearances at HWY 30 Fest, Bonnaroo, Peacemaker Festival, Under the Big Sky, Mile-0 Fest, Lollapalooza, and CMA Fest, as well as opening for esteemed acts including Kip Moore, Nikki Lane, Old Crow Medicine Show, PaulCauthen, Brothers Osborne, and The Steel Woods.
Throughout their 2023 tenure of live performances, the band has rightfully continued to garner industry attention by touring alongside notable hit-makers such as Elle King, Dierks Bentley, and Eric Church. And the industry is certainly noticing–after a jam-packed summer tour that catapulted them onto the fast track of becoming a household name. The band was welcomed to walk into the circle at the Grand Ole Opry, culminating lifelong dreams no doubt a result of the years of hard work and drive spent honing their craft.
This Fall, the Red Clay Strays prepare to continue cementing their well-deserved status as one of America’s fastest-rising bands and taking the world by storm with their first major headlining tour, the Way Too Long Tour. With their explosive chemistry on stage and eclectic rock-n-roll sound that is distinctively their own, they’re bound to burn stages down everywhere.
Soul Shine Studios had a chance to chat with Guitarist / backup vocalist and primary songwriter Drew Nix, who answered a few questions for Island Eye News:
SSS: What’s the link between your home state of Alabama and Red Clay Strays’ music?
Nix: Where we’re at in Mobile, there’s a big melting pot of different cultures, which includes different styles of music. It’s been really cool to experience and learn from all of the fantastic artists in our area. We gather a lot from the blues, rock and roll, and good ol honky tonk country music, which is all pretty big down here. We’ve gotten super into the muscle shoals music in the last few years as well, and that’s had a major influence on our groove structure!
SSS: Tell us a bit about the chemistry between the members of Red Clay Strays.
Nix: We’ve been through so much together, and as different as we all are stylistically, influence-wise, and personality-wise, we each complement each other perfectly. Plus, we’re absolutely family at this point. We’re able to point out what sucks and what we think is cool without upsetting each other..and even if we do upset each other, we get over it eventually. We all have a common goal, and that’s reaching the masses in a way that’s real to us.
SSS: Where did you record Moment of Truth?
Nix: We recorded Moment of Truth in Huntsville at a studio with a dude who had a bunch of vintage equipment from when he owned Muscle Shoals Sound at one point.
SSS: What are your favorite moments on Moment of Truth?
Nix: My favorite moments were waking up on the floor every morning and getting to work. It was like a music camp or something. We produced that album all on our own, so we had all the creative influence in the world. We were new to it all, so it was a great learning experience.
SSS: What can we expect on October 6th at the Windjammer?
Nix: You can look forward to a showcase of a bunch of new material and 5 dudes having an absolute blast on stage. Maybe some awkward silence transitions every now and then, but we love the feedback loop of energy that happens between us and the fans. That’s the drug, and there ain’t anything like us getting a crowd rowdy, and it makes us play harder and better.
