The rise that The Red Clays Strays have experienced over the past year is nothing short of incredible.
By now you are probably familiar with their story, but to provide some brief context for anyone who may not be – It wasn’t much more than a year ago that The Red Clay Strays were a relatively obscure country rock band from Mobile, Alabama, road-dogging their way around the Southeast in an old, and sometimes unreliable, van called The Breeze. They had some passionate fans out there and some markets where they were doing great, but it was still the sort of thing where they were going into certain shows at new places not knowing whether anyone would bother to show up or if they’d just be playing for the sound guy and the bartender.
Even then, though, the people that really knew The Red Clay Strays and their music knew that they were bound to catch a break at some point. That was inevitable. But I don’t think anyone could have predicted where they’d be right now.
After making the most of a handful of opportunities to open for some of the biggest names in the business, including Eric Church and Dierks Bentley, their tune “Wondering Why,” an endearingly self-deprecating love song, began to experience unexpected viral success over a year after its initial release, and the rest is history. Before we knew it, The Red Clay Strays had capitalized on what was happening and become one of the buzziest, fast-rising bands in country music, bringing more fans into their world with each viral video, opening set, and headlining show.
This rise seems to have culminated, for the time being, in the release of their spectacular Dave Cobb-produced sophomore record made by these moments back in July, and then with their subsequent four night run of sold out shows at the most iconic venue in country music, The Ryman Auditorium.
While tickets managed to sell out immediately upon announcement of each show, which speaks to the band’s popularity given it was their debut at the venue, many fans were left on the outside looking in. But luckily for us, they’ve begun releasing some footage from their shows, and today they even released a live recording of their song “I’m Still Fine” from The Ryman.
The song comes as part of a new Live At The Ryman album, set for release on November 15th.
Check it out here: