Speaker 1: Hey y all, this is Clay Melson down in Houston,
Speaker 1: Texas and you're listening to the Doctor Sky Experience from
Speaker 1: seventy seven WABC.
Speaker 2: And welcome, ladies, gentlemen to the Doctor Sky Experience, heard
Speaker 2: exclusively here on talk radio seventy seven WABC, As we
Speaker 2: like to say, the Crown jew Live Radio, the iconic
Speaker 2: talk radio station seventy seven WABC out of New York,
Speaker 2: around the nation, around the world, and I'm sure out
Speaker 2: into the universe as a regular listener the Doctor Sky Experience.
Speaker 2: I'm sure by now you might know, and if not,
Speaker 2: our content is based primarily on science from technology, astronomy, space, aviation,
Speaker 2: and weather. But how about this special guests and celebrity
Speaker 2: guest in the mix. And today, ladies and gentlemen, be
Speaker 2: introducing amazing guests. Clay Milton, guitarist, songwriter, vocalist and blues
Speaker 2: guitarist joins us under Doctor Sky Experience. How about this
Speaker 2: blues rock prodigies, every special breed. They live and breathed,
Speaker 2: the fiery swagger of electric guitars and the irresistible loure
Speaker 2: of rhythm soaked sound. That's Clay Milton's music. Calling in
Speaker 2: a nutshell. At only twenty eight, Louisiana Bourne and Texas
Speaker 2: based blues rocker has already spent fifteen years performing live.
Speaker 2: His powerful, raspy voice and wicked guitar lift leaves no
Speaker 2: doubt he's grown up in the school of barroom blues rock.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Doctor Sky Show here and the Doctor
Speaker 2: Sky Experience. Clay, how are you today?
Speaker 1: I'm doing great, man beautiful down here in Texas. Thanks
Speaker 1: for having me on.
Speaker 2: Hey, I love Texas, my friends, and as I mentioned
Speaker 2: to you off air, there's a major event for our
Speaker 2: science friends and astronomy friends, the Big Total Soul Clips
Speaker 2: coming on April late twenty twenty four. And who knows,
Speaker 2: maybe we can all hook up and here's some of
Speaker 2: the great vibes. Oh Light Melton. Hey, let's get started
Speaker 2: by talking a little bit about your background. You're a
Speaker 2: young rocker and blues expert, blues musician, blues guitarist. How
Speaker 2: did you get started in this? Because if I go
Speaker 2: back in time, that means you were performing what he's
Speaker 2: right around even before the high school day? Is am
Speaker 2: I correct?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Yeah, you know. I got into Hendricks first with
Speaker 1: guitar and then kind of a holy Trinity of classic
Speaker 1: rock see Ray Vaughan, Jimmy Hendricks and led Zeppelin, ZZ
Speaker 1: Top and all those albums and interviews I could read
Speaker 1: or listen to from them talking about their influences and
Speaker 1: songs they would cover and stuff kind of informed me
Speaker 1: and pointing me in directions back through blues history. And
Speaker 1: you know, whenever I was graduating from playing crawfish bulls
Speaker 1: and garages with my buddies, you know, and then moving
Speaker 1: into a live environment here, Houston has a rich you know,
Speaker 1: blues history and those like great players that were welcoming
Speaker 1: and I got to grow up playing on stage and
Speaker 1: learning from these mentors and players around here.
Speaker 2: Amazing talk to us because we had a lot of
Speaker 2: people out there that, you know, young aspiring musicians and
Speaker 2: people out there with talent to grow. What's your opinion?
Speaker 2: I mean, you're a young guys. I keep saying here,
Speaker 2: congratulations on your success, and we look forward to seeing
Speaker 2: much more from you. But what advice do you give
Speaker 2: anybody out there who wants to get into this music business?
Speaker 2: And a little advice from you, I certainly think would
Speaker 2: be an.
Speaker 1: Order well man, as a young player, what I'd like
Speaker 1: to tell people trying to become an artist or musician
Speaker 1: is get out there and play with other people as
Speaker 1: soon as possible. You know, all your experience and practice
Speaker 1: of playing alone is compounded and you start to learn
Speaker 1: an accelerated rate when you're playing with other people in
Speaker 1: a live environment, and the lessons are very instant. And
Speaker 1: especially if you can surround yourself with players that are
Speaker 1: more talented than yourself.
Speaker 2: You learn a lot.
Speaker 1: And same goes for you know, if you want to
Speaker 1: be in the in the music business and touring and
Speaker 1: working as a musician, and it's important to surround yourself
Speaker 1: by good team members, and it's and build a team
Speaker 1: and do as much as you can yourself with your
Speaker 1: own team, and treat the business just as seriously and
Speaker 1: as as you do the music.
Speaker 2: Talk to us a little bit about another text. As
Speaker 2: amazing musician Steevie Very ron Vaughn obviously passed away, you know,
Speaker 2: way way too soon. Nobody should pass like that, but
Speaker 2: your kind of love for his style of music. Describe
Speaker 2: him if you can to this audience and the things
Speaker 2: that you want people to remember about Stepene.
Speaker 1: Wow, that's a cool question. I mean, Stevie was such
Speaker 1: a huge influence to me, and uh, you know obviously
Speaker 1: had a huge part in the eighties Blser Surgeon, and
Speaker 1: you know that's that's impart too, how much he paid
Speaker 1: homage to his own influences and heroes. I think he
Speaker 1: tried to lift them up, which is, you know what
Speaker 1: I loved about his music, and he did so in
Speaker 1: doing it in his own voice, you know. And if
Speaker 1: I can encourage anybody that hasn't listened to him to
Speaker 1: listen to the original music and listen to the covers
Speaker 1: he does, and just it's so evident that when he's playing,
Speaker 1: he's putting his whole self into it. It's feeling it.
Speaker 1: And I think that's what blues music is about. I
Speaker 1: think that's what real rock and roll came out, is,
Speaker 1: you know, someone putting themselves completely into the music and being.
Speaker 2: Able to share that with live audience, specifically well Clay,
Speaker 2: as you know better, this music style is invigorating, it's powerful,
Speaker 2: and obviously it comes from a great history, long history
Speaker 2: as now you're part of it. As you continue to grow,
Speaker 2: you're listening to the Doctor Sky experience or special guest
Speaker 2: musician Clay Melton. He's moving up in the charts ladies
Speaker 2: and gentlemen, and you're here with me on Talk Radio
Speaker 2: seventy seven w ABC, the crown jewel of radio broadcasting,
Speaker 2: proudly not only out of New York, around the nation,
Speaker 2: around the world, and what Clay, I'm sure even around
Speaker 2: the universe. A little bit more background. I want to
Speaker 2: read this to the audience. It's so powerful and you're
Speaker 2: the one who's living it. Play's twenty twenty two release
Speaker 2: Live in Texas, which includes ten original songs and one cover,
Speaker 2: was spun on more than one hundred and sixty radio
Speaker 2: stations in the US and abroad, and his riveting cover
Speaker 2: of Zez Tops Jesus Just Left Chicago climb to the
Speaker 2: number one song in the world on the Roots Music
Speaker 2: Blues Rock chart in June twenty twenty two. Congratulations on that, brother,
Speaker 2: that's awesome.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Thank you very much, you know, and I
Speaker 1: mean obviously have to Thank's Easy Top for a lot
Speaker 1: of to be the song and you it our own way.
Speaker 2: Well, folks, here's about you're about to hear a little
Speaker 2: excerpt from Jesus Just Left Chicago here from his album
Speaker 2: I'm from Texas album. As we continue here with our
Speaker 2: very special guest Clay Melton, whose website you got to
Speaker 2: go there, folks. It's simply this Claymeelton dot com. And
Speaker 2: here we go with just an excerpt from Jesus just
Speaker 2: left Chicago.
Speaker 3: Jesus just left, She cackle, ain'tst pound New Orleans. Well now,
Speaker 3: Jesus just left Chicagle.
Speaker 4: Ain'ts power news? Looking on into the other all.
Speaker 3: Voice simple swing, look at Charles you mississippis wo by
Speaker 3: the water, tell the wine Charles and Mississippi.
Speaker 4: Oh my waa, we will get out of California.
Speaker 2: For well, Clay, I thought that was amazing, man, I
Speaker 2: mean that's just incredible. So describe describe the band too.
Speaker 2: I mean, obviously you're the You're you're the talent in there,
Speaker 2: and many other people described to us some of the
Speaker 2: other players in this band of yours. And how how
Speaker 2: how it all comes together? I mean it all has
Speaker 2: to work, and wow, it all sounds great to me.
Speaker 1: Well like it, you know, I mean it doesn't happen
Speaker 1: without the band. And we have Zack Grendel on drums,
Speaker 1: who have been playing with for about nine years now. Uh,
Speaker 1: and then that Cox on base have no since middle school.
Speaker 1: We played in the band in high school together a
Speaker 1: metal band as a matter of fact, and along with Kyle,
Speaker 1: our tour manager, who was my first bandmate on drums
Speaker 1: growing up, but he joined about a year and a
Speaker 1: half ago. And you know, a lot of the songwriting happens.
Speaker 1: I'll bring in some verses and choruses and stuff, and
Speaker 1: then will range you know, the final arrangement together as
Speaker 1: the band in the room. And that's very much how
Speaker 1: Live and Texans happened. You know, all written and arranged
Speaker 1: about three to four months before the recording of the show.
Speaker 2: Wow, that's powerful stuff in here. I'm going to read
Speaker 2: a testimonial here. You know it well, it goes like this,
Speaker 2: and I quote, the passion electricity surely missing in the
Speaker 2: music of many of Clay Melton's peers, is abundant in
Speaker 2: the fantastic performance of Timings Everything. It's another reason why
Speaker 2: Clay is certain to be recognized as one of this
Speaker 2: generation's guitar heroes. End quote from Richie Adams, editor in
Speaker 2: chief of Red Hot Rock magazine. Hey, that's powerful stuff,
Speaker 2: my friend, no.
Speaker 1: Doubt, thanks to Richie over there. And you know, Timing
Speaker 1: Is Everything is an older song of ours from our
Speaker 1: first album, Burned the Ships in twenty seventeen, and I
Speaker 1: still think that that song in particular, carry is the
Speaker 1: energy that we bring into a lot of our songs
Speaker 1: still today.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, let's talk a little bit about current things going
Speaker 2: on with Claim. Milton at Claimmelton dot com talk to
Speaker 2: us about Alive on a Wire. So this was released
Speaker 2: what back February twenty fourth. Describe it to the audience
Speaker 2: because obviously as a songwriter, there's a lot of intent
Speaker 2: and meaning in these songs, not just great music.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, it's definitely the rock forward sound of
Speaker 1: our rock and blues. And you know, the song got
Speaker 1: written when we were coming off of our last year
Speaker 1: summer tour in twenty twenty two. We had been supporting
Speaker 1: Dead's Rocks from New York and the Bluestones out of Canada,
Speaker 1: and the tour was, you know, fantastic. He couldn't have
Speaker 1: gone smoother, and but you know, it's about the whirlwind
Speaker 1: that tour could be, you know, playing shows every night
Speaker 1: and then running off on the highway to the next
Speaker 1: show and just you know how exciting that can be.
Speaker 1: Exhilarating and draining all at the same time. And so
Speaker 1: we came off a tour, just you know, really feeling
Speaker 1: amped about that. And sure, I think if the tour
Speaker 1: had gone there's been a couple more speed bumps along
Speaker 1: y maybe we would have had the same attitude when
Speaker 1: we came off the tour, you know, because when things
Speaker 1: get stopped midway, it's a different game. But we're just excited,
Speaker 1: feeling great coming off. So about that, you know, it's
Speaker 1: really kind of a precursor to what's happening this year.
Speaker 1: It's our busiest year yet on the road, and so
Speaker 1: we'll definitely be playing it and living it.
Speaker 2: And you've got Runner coming out to us here what
Speaker 2: April fourteenth describe that? I mean, you just keep rolling
Speaker 2: them out. It's like an amazing music factory here talking
Speaker 2: to Clay Melton and don't forget his websites Claymelton dot com.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, Runner is it's being recorded and done
Speaker 1: the same way we did a live on a wire.
Speaker 1: All these new songs were recording here at my house
Speaker 1: in Houston, Texas, just in the living room, and we're
Speaker 1: recording it ourselves. And you know, the luxury and that
Speaker 1: is being able to give the songs the time they deserve,
Speaker 1: being able to step away and sleep on them and
Speaker 1: you know, come back and recut any things we want
Speaker 1: to and just really being able to be explortive as
Speaker 1: we want. And you know, it's liberating being able to
Speaker 1: do everything or as much as we can ourselves. And
Speaker 1: it's all being mixed by Sebastian Kure, who I've worked
Speaker 1: with for our first couple of releases in twenty sixteen
Speaker 1: and when he's living in Austin, but he's a long
Speaker 1: time in front of our drummers. Actually how we connect it.
Speaker 1: He's now living in baron Kia, Columbia, where he's originally from,
Speaker 1: and so we're doing all that work over the internet
Speaker 1: and it's a blessing and a key I think. Also
Speaker 1: good advice for artists coming up trying to build a
Speaker 1: team is find a producer that really gets you and
Speaker 1: knows what you want to do. Because music there's no
Speaker 1: rules or laws about how I have to go about
Speaker 1: making art, but there are a lot of subjective tastes
Speaker 1: and you know, finding someone on your team that really
Speaker 1: gets what you want to go after sonically is you
Speaker 1: know an important thing.
Speaker 2: Well, we're proud to have Clay Melton here and get
Speaker 2: a load of this, folks. It continues more on his bio.
Speaker 2: Clay Melton is quickly establishing himself, obviously as a rising star,
Speaker 2: having played world famous venues such as Whiskey a Go
Speaker 2: Go in Hollywood. And how about this one of my
Speaker 2: favorite bands, opening for Grand Funk Railroad on the Chevrolet
Speaker 2: main stage at the State Fair of Texas. You know
Speaker 2: something that's really an honor. They came here, that's Grand
Speaker 2: Funk out to Arizona last year in a fall concert
Speaker 2: on a big farm. And I'll tell you something, my friend,
Speaker 2: those people were jumping up and down, yelling and screaming
Speaker 2: and hooting and hollering. That must have been an exciting time.
Speaker 2: Talk a little bit about that experience with a Grand
Speaker 2: Funk Railroad, a classic in the world of music.
Speaker 1: Oh, it was a lot of fun. I mean their
Speaker 1: rock and roll royalty, you know, and their show is
Speaker 1: certainly that you know, I mean watching them, you know,
Speaker 1: songs that you know, I grew up loving a lot.
Speaker 1: I grew up with a lot of classic rock as
Speaker 1: well as and yeah, it was just a dream.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: We really love where up there. That was up the
Speaker 1: Stay Affair of Texas on their Chevrolet main stage, which
Speaker 1: is about the most Texas stage I've ever seen, because
Speaker 1: it has two Chevrolet trucks vaulted above the stage and
Speaker 1: you're looking at them over your head. The first time
Speaker 1: you play, though, you know, you're you're kind of checking
Speaker 1: out the riggings, like, man, there's some big trucks right
Speaker 1: over your head. Yeah, but it was a great time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Wow, tell us about this. I mean, blues is
Speaker 2: famous and popular all over the world, but what about
Speaker 2: Texas and blues. I mean, just give us a little
Speaker 2: spirit so we can squeeze it out of you. It's
Speaker 2: like something special about blues in Texas. What say you?
Speaker 1: Well, you know what I mean. Texas geographically has so
Speaker 1: many influences coming from a lot of different places, originally
Speaker 1: from a lot of different places when it comes to blues.
Speaker 1: You know, obviously Houston and often have Angels, have rich
Speaker 1: music histores, and the blues and the Lightning Hopkins from
Speaker 1: down here in Houston, and I think you know, there's
Speaker 1: a part of you know, a lot of blues music
Speaker 1: that comes from you know, towards the Delta has its
Speaker 1: own style. You know, obviously New Orleans and New Orleans
Speaker 1: funk has its own style that is very has a
Speaker 1: lot of Delta influences, but then has you know, your
Speaker 1: creole influences, your zydico and those types of rhythm. You know,
Speaker 1: Texas is, especially Houston, you know your it's coastal, it's
Speaker 1: swampy down here, you know, and so you know the
Speaker 1: way that people have lived down here for for years
Speaker 1: and stuff, and especially in the early influences of when
Speaker 1: recording music started begin to happen. I think all those
Speaker 1: factors are something that can't ignore. But then beyond that,
Speaker 1: and especially you know, obviously like when I was growing up,
Speaker 1: this is you know, well after blues has been an
Speaker 1: established style coming out of Texas, but those it's still
Speaker 1: rich in a lot of blues being created, blues being
Speaker 1: played and you know, paid, paid with respect, you know,
Speaker 1: in the live environment. So I was just lucky to
Speaker 1: be able to be around it.
Speaker 2: Yes, my friend. And lastly, I want to mention, and
Speaker 2: you're sharing the stage with sir Earl toon of Cool
Speaker 2: in the Gang. We had Cool in the Gang on
Speaker 2: this program, maybe another year or so ago, but wow,
Speaker 2: that's one that really is near and dear to me
Speaker 2: talk about that for a minute. That's pretty wild.
Speaker 1: Missus Carlton is just you know, one of the kindest
Speaker 1: souls and supportive and real, and you know, to be
Speaker 1: able to sit down with them, we got to send
Speaker 1: some time together outside playing the concert, and you know,
Speaker 1: I mean we were up on stage playing celebration with them,
Speaker 1: which you know, it's wild hearing that song, you know,
Speaker 1: everywhere growing up, in every every kind of movie and
Speaker 1: all that. It's just it was really kind of a
Speaker 1: surreal moment, and I was real pleasure. I was grateful
Speaker 1: to play with them.
Speaker 2: Well, Clay, let's hear a little bit of another song
Speaker 2: here that's so popular, you know in the music charts.
Speaker 2: Here we're gonna hear a little bit of your rendition
Speaker 2: of back to Blue. Here we go.
Speaker 4: When you are down on the ground, you don't know
Speaker 4: what else to.
Speaker 3: Do, when your hid's.
Speaker 4: Down on the ground, you love and left you someone new,
Speaker 4: Oh wound.
Speaker 3: Your man, baby your backs booe?
Speaker 4: Has your man left your hide? Jive? You don't know
Speaker 4: what else to do byself? Some cheap red wave brown,
Speaker 4: some Delta blues, you know, wow yoom, maybe back in
Speaker 4: the summer, not that if you gotta make to keep
Speaker 4: back wow.
Speaker 3: Yum.
Speaker 2: And also obviously that's awesome, my friends. And finally I
Speaker 2: want to ask you the time permitted here talk about
Speaker 2: the Live on a Wire tour. I mean, obviously you're
Speaker 2: not standing still, you're in motion. What talks about tell
Speaker 2: us about this tour? Live on a Wire tour? What
Speaker 2: do we need to know?
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're you know, I'm stoking up the last couple
Speaker 1: of days at home because the rest of this year
Speaker 1: is going to be busy business road. We're heading out
Speaker 1: to April twenty third, starting the tour in Baton Rouge,
Speaker 1: Louisiana at their Bad and Rouge Blues Festival, and that's
Speaker 1: gonna be a lot of fun. And then we're heading
Speaker 1: out to the East Coast. We have a lot of
Speaker 1: dates in Virginia, Massachusetts, New York and all those there's
Speaker 1: up there, some Rhode Island and then basically this whole year,
Speaker 1: you know, we're on and off. When we're coming back,
Speaker 1: we're working on new recordings for the album, for the
Speaker 1: full album, and then getting back out on the road.
Speaker 1: We're going to be out your Way in Phoenix this summer,
Speaker 1: up on Arizona and then in Tucson, and then we're
Speaker 1: gonna be up to Chicago and back to the Northeast
Speaker 1: for the end.
Speaker 2: Of the year. Absolutely something for everybody as WABC. Of course,
Speaker 2: Hall's out of New York City, that great city, and
Speaker 2: that was the entire connecting states and also here where
Speaker 2: we're doing this broadcast live and pre recorded from Phoenix,
Speaker 2: Arizona on talk radio seventy seven WABC, the crown jewel
Speaker 2: of radio, the iconic talk radio station, seventy seven WABC.
Speaker 2: You got the last word. What do you want to
Speaker 2: tell our listeners that's not in the question of a
Speaker 2: you know, not in the form of a question. As
Speaker 2: we conclude this interview today with you.
Speaker 1: Clay, Hey, even if it is in our show, go
Speaker 1: see some live music support those touring bands for your
Speaker 1: New York listeners will be at the Iridium, which will
Speaker 1: be a pleasure as of you know Leftball's home club
Speaker 1: up there. Wow, and you know we'll see you on
Speaker 1: the road. I'll take it's right, Clay Melton dot COM's
Speaker 1: last tour.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much. Clay, stay on the line with
Speaker 2: us as we go to our hard break here our
Speaker 2: very special guest, as you've been listening on the Doctor
Speaker 2: Sky Experience up and coming, Yes blues guitarist and so
Speaker 2: much more. Vocalist and songwriter Clay Melton his website proud
Speaker 2: to say it here on this show, Claymelton dot com,
Speaker 2: dutas Guy reminds you always remember to keep your eyes
Speaker 2: to the skies as we talk mostly in the science
Speaker 2: realms of astronomy, space, aviation, and weather, but as we
Speaker 2: bring it back down to Earth. Great guests from the
Speaker 2: rems of the celebrity guest and today our special guest,
Speaker 2: Play Melton. Thank you so much. Clay got to speak
Speaker 2: to you and and the band and looking to hear
Speaker 2: some great things from you in the world of music.
Speaker 2: So thank you for being our guest today.
Speaker 1: Thanks for having me on