Top 5/Bottom 5: Clay Walker

[Ten Pound Hammer]

TOP
1. Then What?
2. The Chain of Love
3. Hypnotize the Moon
4. This Woman and This Man
5. Where Do I Fit in the Picture
6. Dreaming with My Eyes Open
7. 'Fore She Was Mama
8. I Can't Sleep
9. Only on Days That End in "Y"
10. Where Do I Go from You
11. What's It to You
12. Bury the Shovel
13. Live, Laugh, Love
14. She Won't Be Lonely Long
15. My Heart Will Never Know
16. Live Until I Die
17. You're Beginning to Get to Me
18. Rumor Has It
19. If I Could Make a Living
20. Fall (proof that great singing can elevate a clunky lyric)

BOTTOM (BUT STILL NOT BAD)
1. Ordinary People
2. One, Two, I Love You
3. Watch This
4. Jesus Was a Country Boy

[Deleted]

I wish i was more familiar with him, i liked his last album but i know very little otherwise

Top:
1. Chain Of Love
2. Where Do I Go From You
3. Only On Days That End In "Y"
4. Jessie James
5. Hypnotize The Moon
6. She Won't Be Lonely Long
7. If I Could Make A Living

Bottom:
1. Fall
I know nothing else...

[tim]

The first country acts that brought me into the country fold ranged from the likes of George Strait, Don Williams, Alan Jackson, Clint Black, Mark Chesnutt, and Randy Travis. The second set of country acts that began to influence me included Shawn Camp, Marty Stuart, Confederate Railroad, and Clay Walker. I can still remember going to Walmart to pick up my copy of his debut album in 1993. I've always found him to be a rather underrated artist and some of his best work you'll find as album cuts (I've included some below). For those not familiar with some of Clay's earlier work I hope this helps as well. His first three albums are superb...jump to A Few Questions which is another stellar album...and lastly his 2010 release She Won't Be Lonely Long is another great release.

Favorites:
1. She Won't Be Lonely Long
2. A Few Questions (I'm not a religious man by any means, but this song came around during an emotional time and always takes me back)
3. Rumor Has It
4. What's It To You (my local Austin station still plays this!)
5. Live Until I Die
6. Bury the Shovel
7. I Can't Sleep
8. This Woman and This Man
9. Who Needs You Baby
10. Where Do I Go From You
11. Dreaming With My Eyes Wide Open
12. One, Two, I Love You
13. Watch This
14. Then What
15. Live, Laugh, Love
16. If You Ever Feel LIke Loving Me Again
17. Where Do I Fit In the Picture
18. She's Always Right
19. You're Beginning to Get to Me
20. My Heart Will Never Know

Least Favorites:
1. Jesse James
2. Ordinary People
3. Only on Days that End In "Y"
4. Jesus Was A Country Boy

Favorite Album Tracks:
Clay Walker - "The Silence Speaks for Itself," "How To Make A Man Lonesome," "Next Step In Love," "Money Can't Buy (The Love We Had)"

If I Could Make A Living - "You Make It Look So Easy," "Boogie Till the Cows Come Home," "Heartache Highway," "Down By the Riverside"

Hypnotize the Moon- "I Won't Have the Heart," "Let Me Take That Heartache (Off Your Hands)," "Where Were You," "Love Me Like You Love Me"

Rumor Has It - "I'd Say That's Right," "You'll Never Hear the End of It," "I Need A Margarita"

Live Laugh Love - "Holdin' Her and Lovin' You"

Say No More - "Real," "I Love It," "Texas Swing," "La Bamba"

A Few Questions - "Everybody Needs Love," "Heaven Leave the Light On," "When She's Good She's Good," "I Can't Forget Her"

Christmas - "Feliz Navidad"

[Kanenrá:ke]

Top
01. This Woman And This Man
02. I Can't Sleep
03. Live Until I Die
04. Hypnotize The Moon
05. She Won't Be Lonely Long
06. A Few Questions
07. Then What
08. Holding Her And Loving You
09. Rumor Has It
10. She Likes It In The Morning
11. The Chain Of Love
12. Where Do I Fit In The Picture

Bottom
01. Only On Days That End In "Y"
02. Say No More
03. Jesus Was a Country Boy

[someguy]

Top:

1. Then What
2. This Woman And This Man
3. If I Could Make A Livin'
4. The Chain Of Love
5. What's It To You
6. Hypnotize The Moon
7. Rumor Has It
8. She Won't Be Lonely Long
9. A Few Questions
10. Live, Laugh, Love

Bottom:

1. Jesus Was A Country Boy
2. Jesse James
3. Fall

[Andy]

Not a huge fan but he has some good songs.

TOP
1. Then What
2. Live Until I Die
3. A Few Questions
4. If I Could Make a Living
5. The Chain of Love

[sabre14]

I don't have my ducks in a row when it comes to compiling a Top 5/Bottom 5 for Clay but I see a lot of love for "Then What". That's probably the one Clay song I change the station whenever it comes on. It was beyond overplayed on WYRK growing up and seemed like the only Clay song they enjoyed playing from his 90's catalog. The song itself was fine but it never made sense to me to have the "paradise, bahamas" type instrumentation considering the fact the song was about something entirely different.


I know I'm on an island (get it, lol) by myself when it comes to not liking that one but just a thought that was bugging me lately.

[tim]

^You're not alone there sabre14. For years (well over 10 years now) I quite disliked "Then What" and always skipped it on the radio. I'd say only in the last couple of years have I been willing and then able to listen and appreciate it. I too have been surprised by the love for this song so far in this thread.

[zebra71]

Then What is also another station changer for me. it had a Jimmy Buffett feel to it and should have been recorded by Kenny Chesney instead of Clay.

[dajross6]

Jan 12, 2015 0:49:28 GMT -5 zebra71 said:

Then What is also another station changer for me. it had a Jimmy Buffett feel to it and should have been recorded by Kenny Chesney instead of Clay.

Except that at the time Kenny was singing songs with more substance and the song was before his beach music days. My Clay Walker list:

Top:

Hypnotize The Moon
This Woman and This Man
Rumor Has It
Only On Days That End in Y
One, Two, I Love You
Who Needs You Baby
You're Beginning To Get To Me
Chain of Love
If I Could Make A Livin'
Watch This

Bottom:

Then What
Fall
A Few Questions
Where Do I Go From You
Bury The Shovel

[Ten Pound Hammer]

Jan 12, 2015 12:42:29 GMT -5 dajross6 said:

Jan 12, 2015 0:49:28 GMT -5 zebra71 said:

Then What is also another station changer for me. it had a Jimmy Buffett feel to it and should have been recorded by Kenny Chesney instead of Clay.

Except that at the time Kenny was singing songs with more substance and the song was before his beach music days.

I actually find that Kenny didn't usually have substance until after he became all beachy. "That's Why I'm Here" and "Grandpa Told Me So" are the only two 90's Kenny songs I can think of that really have any semblance of substance. Compare to stuff like "You and Tequila", "Better as a Memory", "When I See This Bar", "Don't Blink", "El Cerrito Place", etc. Even his "lighter" stuff like "Beer in Mexico" or "Reality" has an introspective nature to it. Heck, even "The Good Stuff", in that weird transitory period between Hat Act!Kenny and Beach Bum!Kenny, was fairly substantial.

My choice of "Then What?" as my favorite is in part because I really like steel drums and timbales, in part because the song really stood out on late 90's radio, and in part because singing along to it is one of the few positive memories I have from 1998, which was otherwise a very tumultuous year for me. (That and "Two Piña Coladas" being everywhere on a road trip to Texas.)

[onebuffalo]

^So not much substance to There Goes My Life?

[bjer127]

Clay is by far one of the most underrated 90's acts. Really nice guy too, hope to get some new music from him this year, as he's promised

Top
She's Always Right
Where Do I Fit In The Picture
Live Until I Die
Where Were You
Cowboy's Toughest Ride
Hypnotize The Moon
That's Us
She Won't Be Lonely Long
Seven Sundays

Bottom
Then What
I Can't Sleep (local radio station overplayed this when it was a single)
If I Could Make A Living (I know it's his most popular, but to me it's just meh. Same 3 lines throughougt the whole song, and vastly overplayed)
Where Do I Go From You

[Deleted]

Top:

This Woman & This Man
Chain Of Love
If I Could Make A Livin
Live Until I Die
Rumor Has It

Bottom:
Then What
Fore She Was Mama
I Can't Sleep

[Deleted]

Jan 12, 2015 13:04:16 GMT -5 Ten Pound Hammer said:

I actually find that Kenny didn't usually have substance until after he became all beachy. "That's Why I'm Here" and "Grandpa Told Me So" are the only two 90's Kenny songs I can think of that really have any semblance of substance. Compare to stuff like "You and Tequila", "Better as a Memory", "When I See This Bar", "Don't Blink", "El Cerrito Place", etc. Even his "lighter" stuff like "Beer in Mexico" or "Reality" has an introspective nature to it. Heck, even "The Good Stuff", in that weird transitory period between Hat Act!Kenny and Beach Bum!Kenny, was fairly substantial.

While I think all of your example above have a lot of substance, I think he had others before he went the "beachy" route. "What I Need To Do" might be my favorite Kenny song of all time.



There's also "I Lost It", "Don't Happen Twice", "Young", "The Good Stuff", and "A Lot Of Things Different", all of which are songs that I find to have a lot of substance to them. Granted, none of these songs were in the 90's, but they were all from 2000 to 2003, before the release of "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems".

Personally, I never thought that Kenny ever went exclusively 'beach bum'. He mixed in some great songs between his island-y ones, songs like "There Goes My Life", "I Go Back", "Anything But Mine", "Better As A Memory", etc.

Anyway...to not be totally off-topic:

I'm actually a really big fan of "Then What?", although I must admit that most of Clay's early discography is fairly unknown to me. But, with that said, here's my lists:

TOP

01 "I Can't Sleep"
02 "She Won't Be Lonely Long"
03 "Fall"
04 "Then What?"
05 "If I Could Make A Living"

BOTTOM

"'Fore She Was Mama"
"Jesus Was A Country Boy"

It's been years and years since I've heard most of Clay's early singles.