Lee Clayton – Biography & Discography

Most people can’t stand country music, and I was one of those people. That was before I heard about Lee Clayton. Later, I got into other famous “outlaw country” artists like Johnny Cash, Tom Rush, Waylon Jennings… and they all have covered Lee Clayton’s music!

Who is Lee Clayton?:

Lee Clayton (born Billy Hugh Shotts, October 29, 1942, in Russellville, Alabama, died: – June 12, 2023, Whitehouse, Tennesee)

Lee Clayton is not the most famous country music artist (endorsed by Bono from U2), but many people have heard his songs through other well-known artists like those mentioned above. Lee Clayton’s background is also pretty interesting: He first started to play harmonica and guitar at the age of 7, encouraged by his father (a country music fan), and received his first steel guitar at the age of 9. He also took guitar lessons. After just one year of playing the guitar, young Clayton got to play a radio gig on the “Saturday Night Radio Show,” where he played “Steel Guitar Rag” by Leon McAuliffe. Not long after this, young Lee took a break from playing the guitar.

At the age of 16, Lee Clayton started playing the guitar again. Just before he graduated from college, he got married, and it was time to put the guitar down again. Clayton got a regular job and was ready to settle down. Shortly after, he felt that his life was boring, so he decided to take some flight lessons to fill the gap in his life. Within a year, he had divorced from his wife and joined the U.S. Air Force as a trainee pilot in 1965. After working three years as a pilot, it was time to get back to music again.

Clayton began writing songs and hanging out in Nashville, Tennessee. According to Lee Clayton, he started to make music professionally in September 1969. His first taste of success came in 1972 when Waylon Jennings recorded his song “Ladies Love Outlaws,” a song that later gave the name to the whole outlaw country movement. Lee Clayton’s self-titled debut album “Lee Clayton” (MCA) was released in 1973. The debut album wasn’t a huge sales success, but it got nice reviews from the music critics. From 1973 to 1975, he lived fast, and it was time to take a break. In 1975, he moved to the desert in Joshua Tree, California. When his own career was on ice, there was plenty of time to write songs for other musicians like Waylon Jennings, Tom Rush, Willie Nelson…

In 1976, it was time to move back to Tennessee and start making his second album. In 1977, Clayton landed a new record deal with Capitol Records. His second album, Border Affair, was released in 1978, and his third album, Naked Child, followed in 1979. Naked Child was a little darker compared to his previous album, and Naked Child is the album where Philip Donelly’s guitar work really shines. (Notes: If you like Bruce Springsteen’s album Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978), you’re going to love both of these albums.)

Lee Clayton: I Ride Alone

“Dream Goes On” was Lee Clayton’s last album on Capitol records, and it was released in early 1981. “Dream Goes On” never got released separately on CD (It was released on Capitol Records compilation: Capitol Years). 1983: After intensive touring in Europe, it was time to take a break again.

During the eighties, Lee Clayton continued touring but took a break from recording to focus on his writing. Lee wrote two privately published volumes: K and Who Am I? (sp?). He also put together an autobiographical play, Little Boy Blue, based on the second book.

Lee Clayton’s first live album, Another Night, was released in 1989 (recorded on September 9, 1988, at the Cruise Café, Oslo, Norway), and he would continue touring Europe until 1993.

Spirit of the Twilight (1994) was his first studio album since Dream Goes On (1981). After 1994, there have been no other new releases(other than the Capitol Years compilation album).

Back in 2005-2006, I started to hunt down the latest news about Lee Clayton. I managed to find a friend of his, who told me that Lee Clayton lives in Nashville and still does some gigs locally. He also told me that there would be enough material to put out a new album, but there were no recording plans.

In 2008, a new acoustic song, “We the People,” was “released” on YouTube, and Cat Power covered Lee Clayton’s song “Silver Stallion” on her album “Jukebox”.

Lee Clayton – We The People:

2010 Lee Clayton’s interview (part1) appeared on Youtube. There has been no news about the part 2…

Interview part1:

We The People was released as a “digital single” on February, 2011. It’s available on bigger digital music stores, like Amazon. It’s the first new release from Lee Clayton since the 1994 album “Spirit Of The Twilight”.

Sources: Wikipedia, Allmusic, Finnish Lee Clayton Article, Sleeve notes of Border Affair/Naked Child, Essential Lee Clayton.

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Lee Clayton – Discography

Here is the most complete Lee Clayton discography online. If you know any missing releases, just let me know.

Albums:

1973 Lee Clayton (MCA)
1978 Border Affair (Capitol)
1979 Naked Child” (Capitol)
1981 The Dream Goes On (Capitol)
1989 Another Night (live) (Provogue)
1994 Spirit of The Twilight” (Provogue)

Compilations:

1995 Border Affair/Naked Child (Edsel 434)
2002 The Essential Lee Clayton 1978-1981 (Repertoire 4847)
2008 Border Affair: The Capitol Years (Evangeline/Acadia 7281842)

Vinyl singles:

1973 Bottles Of Booze / Lonesome Whiskey (40151)
1978 My Woman My Love / If You Can Touch Her at All (P-4564) – 7” White label promo
1978 Silver Stallion / Border Affair – (CL 15982) – 7” Promo
1979 The Dreams Go On / Saturday night special (CL 16195)
1979 I Ride Alone (Stereo / I Ride Alone (Mono) (P-4751) – 7” White label promo
1979 I Love You / Wind & Rain (CL 16108) – 7” Promo
1980 I Ride Alone / I Love You (2 issues)
1981 Oh How Lucky I Am / Won`t You Give Me One More Chance (7C 006-86 348) – Swedish – Unique PS – 7”
1981 Oh How Lucky I Am / Won`t You Give Me One More Chance (1C 006-86 348) – PS – 7”
1981 Oh How Lucky I Am / Oh How Lucky I Am – 7” White label promo
1982 The Ballad of John Belushi / Lone Wolf (TL-2) – PS – 7”
1990 Tequila Is Addictive / 10.000 years – Sexual Moon (PRS 10167) – PS – 7”

CD Singles:

1990 Tequila Is Addictive (live) / Watcha Gonna Do (live) / 10,000 Years – Sexual Moon (live) / Saturday Night Special (live) (PRM 20162)

Digital Downloads

2011 We The People

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