JOHN HALL: We live in a bus with six other men, and they won't shut up (laughter).
DEBBIE ELLIOTT, HOST:
The Red Clay Strays are on the road. Last night, they played Rexford, Mont., just under the border with Canada. That's a long way from their hometown of Mobile, Ala., and they've grown way up from their roots as a cover band.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DISASTER")
THE RED CLAY STRAYS: (Singing) So what do you have to say about saints? They're no better than the ones they say the world taints. If you're looking for a prophet, I'll tell you I ain't.
ELLIOTT: The first track on the Red Clay Strays' new album is a haunting callback to classic outlaw country with a rock 'n' roll edge. It's called "Disaster." The album, "Made By These Moments," is anything but.
(SOUNDBITE OF RED CLAY STRAYS SONG, "DISASTER")
ELLIOTT: Lead singer Brandon Coleman is more soft-spoken than you might expect for a frontman. John Hall - well, he's as energetic as you'd think a drummer should be. They joined us, as you can probably hear, from their tour bus. It's an upgrade from the old Ford they used to drive themselves, which they named the Breeze.
(SOUNDBITE OF RED CLAY STRAYS' SONG "RAMBLIN'")
HALL: Brandon, you said something yesterday that was wicked thought provoking for me. You were talking about how it's almost more exhausting not having the Breeze to work on.
BRANDON COLEMAN: Yeah, when we - it's like, when we were driving ourselves on our little bus, there was no time to rest or relax, you know. We would play the show and then pack up and start driving and go to sleep and wake up and start driving again to the next place, and we were always on edge, you know, hoping we don't break down. And now we're on the tour bus, and we can relax a little bit. And kind of just get tired more, I guess. I'm not even sure if that's really how it is, but it does seem a little more tiring these days.
HALL: Yeah, we're lazy. We can afford to be lazy now, I guess. I don't know.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "RAMBLIN'")
THE RED CLAY STRAYS: (Singing) Well, I was born to ramble. I keep on rambling on.
ELLIOTT: If you listen to this album, this has, like, a southern rock sound. There's clearly some outlaw country there. There's some soul, a little rockability (ph). Where did all of this come from? What was the beginning of how you guys came together and decided this was going to be the sound of the Red Clay Strays?
HALL: I think it just kind of happened.
COLEMAN: Yeah, we definitely didn't decide it. It's a - we just - we've been playing together for, you know, seven or eight years now.
HALL: We're just all jamming trying not to get fired (laughter).
ELLIOTT: Well, as fun as some of this music is, I would say there's also some real pain in some of the songs here, and definitely some yearning, as well. I'm thinking of the song "Wanna Be Loved."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WANNA BE LOVED")
THE RED CLAY STRAYS: (Singing) Everybody's waiting for a break, like fast cars and freedom. Everybody wants the same old thing - tell me, what will it bring? My friend, I'm tired of being this way. I'm tired of running astray. Oh, God, I need to know you're still above. I just want to be loved.
COLEMAN: My littlest brother Dakota wrote that song. I think at the time he had gone through a breakup. And he had written that and sent it to my other brother, Matthew - that was a poem, and then Matthew added a few lines and come up with the melody, just to see how it connects and resonates with everybody is really cool.
ELLIOTT: I want to talk a little bit about the song drowning that's on this record. I believe your guitarist Drew Nix wrote this one.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DROWNING")
THE RED CLAY STRAYS: (Singing) It's like I'm going overboard with an anchor 'round my waist. I lie awake at night with tears in my eyes, my heart beating out of my chest. There's no light at the end of this tunnel I'm in. I'm callin' for an SOS. Somebody help me. I'm drowning. I can't tread much longer...
ELLIOTT: It's a striking song.
COLEMAN: We were all working side jobs during COVID. Me and Drew in particular were driving for Uber, and, you know, we were trying to make money and pay bills, and get a life started and get married and everything else. And that's when he wrote that song. He was in his car driving for Uber.
HALL: Yeah, I think that he was filling up his gas tank with his last, like - I don't know - 50 bucks that he had just made to try and go make 50 more dollars, you know? And then he was going home at night to his wife, Laurie Ann (ph), and was just feeling really bad about not being able to do what he thought was his fair share.
(SOUNBITE OF SONG, "DROWNING")
THE RED CLAY STRAYS: (Singing) But they're all just shadеs of gray. And it's only getting duller...
ELLIOTT: So despite the darkness of some of the songs like that, you also hear a lot of hope on this record.
HALL: Faith, too.
ELLIOTT: The record certainly takes us on this journey from dark into the light. In particular, when you get to that song "On My Knees," I almost felt like I was, you know, back in church as a kid.
HALL: Oh, yeah. That one will make you put your hands up for sure.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ON MY KNEES")
THE RED CLAY STRAYS: (Singing) I'll lift my hands in his company. For you know, I am grateful for what he has done for me...
ELLIOTT: How big of a role does religion play in your lives now that you're out on the road all the time?
HALL: I mean, I talk with God every day, you know? Just praying and playing.
COLEMAN: Everybody wonders why they're here. You know, Everybody wonders, what's the meaning of all this? And when your answer to that question is God, and you realize that a God who created everything created you, and he put you here with a job to do and he put you here with a purpose, once you figure out what that purpose is, then you're going to work towards that every day. And it is a battle every day.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ON MY KNEES")
THE RED CLAY STRAYS: (Singing) I'll lift my hands in his company. For you know, I am grateful for what he has done for me...
ELLIOTT: This album is called "Made By These Moments." I'm curious - if life is like a house, what moments are your foundations?
HALL: Playing with my dad and being around my brothers and stuff, growing up with them. You know, that made me who I am now, you know, learning how to be around them and with them and loving them and everything.
COLEMAN: Yeah, just, you know, growing up with my brothers and being around family and going to church with my grandmother and playing in church and the endless nights of bar gigs - all that, all that's moments of my foundation.
ELLIOTT: Singer Brandon Coleman and drummer John Hall, members of the Red Clay Strays. Thanks for making time to talk with us.
COLEMAN: Yeah, thank you guys.
HALL: Thank you for having us.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MOMENTS")
THE RED CLAY STRAYS: (Singing) There's joys and trials as you walk down every mile. I've been... Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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