James Clay has packed a lot of living in his 22 years and every day of it shows up in this fresh, gritty roots rock debut, packed with well-written songs and powerful vocals.
James Clay - 'James Clay' - The Pros and Cons
All pros ... no cons.
- Articulate writing
- Great diversity of styles
James Clay - 'James Clay' - The Review
James Clay's life is the stuff of Hollywood. At age 10, his mom moved him unexpectedly from the family home in Virginia to join a religious cult in rural Georgia, where the Bible was used to beat down and control its followers. Called upon to provide for his mother and younger siblings, at 14 he began a series of diverse blue-collar jobs in factories, farms, and restaurants before marrying and starting a family of his own. Now 22, two kids later, he has earned the right to speak of the truths he's learned the hard way, and his music enables him to speak it like nobody's business. His rugged voice and tunes bring to mind Blues Traveler and Todd Agnew but his message goes deep and each song rings with hard won conviction.
Starting with a rockabilly version of Russ Taff's "I Believe", Clay's energetic cover lets you know right away you're in for a good time. I'm not sure that the song is a good fit with the rest of the album, for the rest he wrote or co-wrote in a very different vein. Second cut is the John Cougar Mellencamp-reminiscent breakout "Franklin Park", written at age 15, its plaintive but gritty vocals detailing his prayers for those who lived beside him in the trailer park called "the zoo." A close listen reveals Clay's heart for the lost even as he worked through his own teenage struggles.
The rest of the album overflows with diversity, from the powerful ballad of "On Your Knees" to the upbeat pop "Judah", a song of blessing upon his son, to the plaintive rocker "One at a Time", addressing God's call on our individual lives, one at a time. "Wicked Woman", with its blistering guitar solo, rocks hard against the dangers of fleshly temptations for hormone-driven young men. But the standout cuts are "Send Salvation" and "Anyway". The first is a joyous reggae rollick with a country blues feel, not something that every artist could pull off as authentically as Clay. The brilliant "Anyway" is a post 9/11 response to tragedy. Struck by the continuing feelings of normalcy in the midst of turmoil when he saw his kids playing quietly at his wife's feet as she prepared dinner, Clay wrote this slow blues burn, accented perfectly by Phil Keaggy's guest guitar and Jill Paquette's warm background vocals. All that hard living paid off handsomely for James Clay and we are the happy beneficiaries.
