“One morning I was playing golf with a buddy from Georgia down at McCabe Golf Course in Nashville when he turned to me and said that there should be a song about wishing that the streets of gold in Heaven could be streets of Red, referring to the red clay down in Georgia,” remembers Arkansan singer-songwriter JD Clayton. Wheels turning, Clayton went home, picked up his guitar, and finished writing his new single “Dirt Roads of Red” in under an hour. “Now, being an Arkansas kid, I could never bring myself to write a song about Georgia. Thankfully, my favorite state, Colorado, also has a high concentration of iron deposits in its soil.”
With a halftime drum beat and a striding, bluesy piano, “Dirt Roads of Red” has an appropriately slinky vibe. “It feels inherently southern to me and has a super cool groove,” says Clayton. That feeling gets amplified with a slide guitar solo before the song’s final chorus: “Good God almighty I beg you please / Just before I’m dead / Turn them streets of gold to dirt roads of red.” Clayton’s first few lines set up the whole song and come from some personal experience. “It turned out to be a really special track to me because my dad is a pastor and I love the interaction the boy has with his pastor in the first verse of the song,” he says. Typical with the music Clayton has released throughout his budding career, his soulful delivery and funky-leaning instrumentation help frame the story he’s telling in a way all his own.
Today, in addition to the release of “Dirt Roads of Red,” Clayton has announced his highly anticipated sophomore album, Blue Sky Sundays. Due out on February 28th on Rounder Records, Blue Sky Sundays finds Clayton taking the helm as producer in the studio with his touring band to capture the vitality and grit of his crowd-thrilling live show. “When I made my first album I’d never been on the road, but after touring so much over the past few years my band is extremely dialed-in,” says Clayton. “I wanted to make a record that showcased what’s special about each of my bandmates, and I knew the best way to do that was to produce it myself.” Recorded at the legendary Sound Emporium Studios in Nashville and mixed by seven-time Grammy Award winner Vance Powell (Sturgill Simpson, Chris Stapleton), Blue Sky Sundays ornaments its free-flowing sound with plenty of ear-catching sonic details, each crafted with a thoughtful spontaneity. “Life is crazy and it’s got a lot of blemishes, and I believe that music should too,” he says. “These songs all came from us locking ourselves in the studio and really having fun with the songs, and I think that’s the heart of the album.”
Fans can stream or purchase “Dirt Roads of Red” today at this link, pre-order or pre-save Blue Sky Sundays ahead of its February release right here, and be sure to check out Clayton’s previously-released Blue Sky Sunday singles “Let You Down,” “Dance Another Dance,” and “High Hopes & Low Expectations” at their respective links. For any more information, please visit jdclaytonofficial.com.
After a blistering run of shows on 2024’s Blue Sky Sundays tour, Clayton and his band are starting to announce new tour dates. On February 19th, Clayton will perform at the 1884 Lounge in Memphis, Tennessee, and on March 7th, he’ll head out to West Yellowstone, Montana, for the Wild West Winter Block Party. For all tour dates and ticket information, please visit jdclaytonofficial.com/#tour.
