Clay Walker joins Nick Hoffman on the new episode of I Miss…90s Country Radio and looks back at his career, life and biggest hits including “Live Until I Die,” “Then What?” and more. Tune in and listen to the full interview with Clay Walker on-demand here.
Clay Walker on the first time he started singing
My whole family would sing. My whole family, my cousins, uncles, and aunts, they all played instruments and sang, my dad and my grandfather. The first song I can ever remember singing was probably standing up in the back seat of my dad’s truck singing “I’m on the top of the world looking down on creation.” I don’t even know who does that song, but that’s the first time I remember singing.
Clay Walker on his big break
When I was 17 this guy named Joe Carter walked into this Mexican food restaurant I was playing at just by myself, just solo, I mean, I was singing Clint Black “Better Man,” you know George Straight, “He Looks So Good In Love” and Garth Brooks, “Much Too Young,” all those covers, all the songs that I loved. And he walked over, he said, “Hey,” he goes, “I want to take you to Jones Country Music Park,” and of course I knew who George Jones is, and he drove me to Jones Country Music Park, it was a couple of hours away, and I went and auditioned for Nancy Jones, George’s wife, and she heard me sing. I didn’t even know that it was his wife, and she goes, “Well how about you come work here next week?” And I said, “Well yes ma’am, I said, “I’d love to.” I said, “Do you know George?” She goes, “Well I sleep with him.” That was the start of it, that really was the start of it.
Clay Walker on Nolan Simmons introducing him to James Stroud
[Nolan Simmons] goes, “Man,” he says, “I think you’re going to go places.” He said, “And I think it’s your smile.” I didn’t know how to take that. He said, “I like your singing,” he said, but he says, “but what you’ve got on the inside,” he goes, “I think is what people are going to love.” And he goes, “I’m going to send somebody to see you next week,” and it was James Stroud.
Clay Walker on the deal he made with his parents about pursuing music
So I graduated high school. And I said, “If you’ll just give me four years to make it. And if I don’t, I’ll go to college.” Well, four years, at the end of the summer, I was 22 years old. And there it was. James Stroud signed me to Giant Records and the rest is history and it was a dream come true.
Clay Walker on being in the studio for the first time
I’d never been in the recording studio and I was shaking. I was nervous. I mean, I’d waited my whole life to get in there, but I had no idea what it was going to be like in the studio. James made me feel like I was every bit as worthy as Clint Black or any other artist he had worked with.
Clay Walker on “Live Until I Die”
That song is my autobiography. So when I play it every night, there’s something a little bit different for me in it. Every night, I’m walking down that road and there’ll be the blackberries that I picked as a kid, the muddy roads and muddy feet. It’s just true. We’ll do a show on the road where it’s raining and it’ll be outdoors or whatever. There’ll be mud everywhere and I’m just smiling because it just fits who I am, you know?
Clay Walker on being a more “positive” artist
It was intentional. It’s always been intentional for me to be more positive. I had a lot of sadness in my life, childhood, teenage, adult life. Everybody’s got plenty of baggage that they can put out there, and a lot of artists do that. And I always felt like I was blessed, that God had blessed me beyond anything I deserved. And what could I do with music that would be more or less spreading the gospel? Because I’m not a preacher and I’m never going to be. And I wanted to be real, earthy, who I am. Good preacher friend of mine, David Hunter, I called him about it. I said, “What do I do with this?” And he said, “Your message is joy.” He said, “When you bring joy to people’s lives,” he said, “you’re showing them what God is. Not preaching it to them, you’re showing them.” Yeah. I mean, I could’ve gone more the brokenhearted cowboy because I’ve been there. But it makes me feel good to see the joy on people’s faces when they’re at the concerts and they’re singing my songs. But if I had the choice, I’d rather make someone smile than cry.
Clay Walker on “Then What?”
I was doing a show in Minnesota, and Jon Vezner, who’s married to Kathy Mattea, he had come to the show. I think he had family that lived there, and he came on the bus, and he said, “Hey, I’ve got a song for you.” I said, “Do you have a demo?” He said, “No.” He said, “Can I use your guitar?” So I gave him my guitar, and we’re just sitting there, and he plays this song, “Then What.” And it’s this real folky, honest-to-goodness. It’s real folky. That’s the best way I can describe it. And as he’s playing it, I could hear in my head the production for it, the way that I wanted to do it. I said, “Jon,” I said, “I love this song.” I said, “Can you give me some liberty with it?” He says, “What do you mean?” I said, “I want to cut this like a Jimmy Buffett song. I want to cut it with steel drums.” He goes, “You’re kidding me.” I said, “If you’re be totally offended,” I said, “I won’t do it.”
The message in the song is what’s important. The production is fun, but the message of that song is “The grass ain’t always greener on the other side. So if she’s lonely now, she won’t be lonely long.”
