BENTLEY WRITES, CLAY UNDERWOOD SINGS

Up and coming Kentucky boy Clay Underwood already has a fan base, who are dedicated to supporting him (sound familiar?). Clay believes, "the artist answers to the fans...give 'em somthing good to listen to...if you love 'em they'll love you back...I still buy into that."

Clay's first single from his first CD--New Beginnings and Old Honky Tonks, hails some heavy writing credits: Dierks Bentley, Tammy Rogers and Lonnie Melvin Tillis Jr. "Behind These Walls" is quickly moving up the charts. The song is currently at #49 on the Music Row Country Break Out chart.

"I call "Behind These Walls" my right place right time song," Clay says. "They never tell me who writes the songs...when I heard it in the studio, I said, 'I think we could make it a single,' and everybody said, YEAH! I said what's the big deal? They said, 'Dierks Bentley wrote it!', and I said YEAH!"

Robert K. Oermann, respected music critic, author and historian, contributes his thoughts on Clay Underwood to MusicRow (Nashville's Music Industry Publication): "On a beautiful day, he’s shut himself in, aching and miserable. Loneliness has seldom sounded better. The production churns and burns around a passionate vocal performance of powerful melody. Get a load of those songwriter credits. Wouldn’t you have loved to have been a fly on the wall when Mel Tillis Jr., Tammy Rogers of the SteelDrivers and Dierks Bentley sat down to write together? Especially when they came up with something as cool as “Behind These Walls.” It earns Kentucky native Clay Underwood a DisCovery Award."

Another cut from the album, God's Up To Somethin' is a duet with Marty Rabon, from Shenendoah fame. "He came walking in with his bib overalls just as country as you please but man when we closed that door to start recording, he just really brought out the emotions," Clay remembers. "When you're down to nothin', God's up to somethin'. I couldn't be prouder to have him on the CD." This caught my ear, because Marty and the Rabon family is from my home town in Sanford, Florida! I remember many Saturday nights cloggin' on a piece of plywood to Marty and his family playing live in the backyard! He and his dad and brothers used to record as a group called American Bluegrass Express. I think I still have the autographed LP in my collectibles!

Thanks to Meg (DBC rep in FL) for finding all these Clay Underwood links:

http://www.myspace.com/clayunderwood

http://www.myspace.com/clayunderwoodfans

Listen to Clay's KLMJ, Hampton radio interview here:
https://www.clayunderwoodmusic.com/News___.html

~Ronna
DB Congress Chair
Florida