Clay Orange has been crafting his unique sound for his whole adult life. As a busking musician living a transient life moving all across Canada working odd jobs, performing small gigs in run-down bars, living hand to mouth, and taking in this Northern continent in all of its extremes from the road.
He’s putting a fresh distilled sound to the table; blending new age alt-country Appalachian folk, psych, indie and bluegrass sound reminiscent of the genre’s early pioneers and legends with an array of countless other rich influences that seep through the imperfect cracks of the songs.
Clay Orange likes to think his music is “like a low dose of psychedelics with a shot of tequila, a cigarette, and a lawn chair watching a meteor shower on a fall night.” After hearing his latest single, “Star”, that’s a sentiment one could find easy to agree with. With a sound drawing equally from Phosphorescent as it is Nashville Skyline, and understated vocals that are easy to believe in, “Star” is a song that’ll do you right when you are looking at a playlist of all your favorites over the past 50 years and just can’t decide which direction to go.
Star was originally a song titled “I just want to be a dog”, written one summer afternoon when Clay Orange was gearing up to go to work and his dog was lazily basking in the backyard sunlight.
After further tinkering, Clay realized that there are two sides to this song’s story, and there’s another part of him that wants to get up and make something happen. He wants to be something.
In the end, it became clear that as much as he likes dogs, he’d rather be your star.
