SCENE SCRIBE
By Michael Swanger scenescribe@mchsi.com
Hughes’ musical equation includes Hip-Hop, old country and rock
The record companies might not realize this, but the public likes listening to different styles of music. You know it. I know it. Clay Hughes knows it. Which is why if you like G Love, Jack Johnson, Sublime or Citizen Cope, you might like the mix of old school country, Hip-Hop, rock and blues that Hughes performs on his debut, independent solo album “Burn.”
“I’m a person that can listen to almost anything,” said the Kansas City-based Hughes. “I’m not a pop music fan or a pop country fan, though there’s some of that that I don’t mind. Mostly I’m influenced by the older Hip-Hop stuff and older country, like Johnny Cash, and blues-style country. I have trouble writing one style of music, so I use a little bit of everything.”
Enjoying listening to several musical styles and performing them, however, are two different things. Yet the 26-year-old Hughes, who grew up in the small Kansas town of Waverly hearing country music, is making his way in the urban setting of Kansas City, where his love of urban and rural country music merge.
“I don’t write rap lyrics, but I’m influenced by its beats. I’m into old country and singer-songwriter stuff when it comes to lyrics, people like Hank Williams Sr., Ray LaMontagne and Amos Lee. That’s the style I dig on when writing,” Hughes said.
That much is clear listening to Hughes’ “Burn,” which includes 15 original, laid-back folk-rap songs like “Mr. Dylan,” “Pointless” and “Sunday Stroll.” The album, which includes several guest musicians from Kansas City, like Ha Ha Tonka’s Lennon Bone, took two years for the singer-songwriter-guitarist to produce while performing with the Kansas City band Tidehouse.
When Hughes makes his Des Moines debut on Saturday, Jan. 9 at the Ritual Café, DJ Tony Beats (a former Tidehouse band mate who contributed to three songs on “Burn”) will accompany him.
“We have more than three hours of original material between us, and if we want to throw in the occasional cover of a popular song we can because Tony can sample and cut in so many beats,” Hughes said.
Though Hughes said fans appreciate the duo’s ability to mix genres and create a full sound, it is sometimes difficult for them to find gigs because their music isn’t easily categorized.
“Sometimes when you tell club owners that as a live band you perform Hip-Hop, it throws some places off because they think you’re into gangsta rap. It’s a stereotype I guess,” Hughes said. “Even when I bring Tony, they don’t know what to think. But it’s nothing too loud or obnoxious.”
To help market his music, Hughes recruited the award-winning director Jonathan Dillon (“Fight Night”) to produce a video for the good-times song “Sunday Stroll.” He plans to release the video on his Web site later this month. Shortly after that, Hughes, who calls himself an “unknown,” also plans to release an EP, which he intends to give away for free at his shows as a way to entice fans to buy “Burn.”
“Who doesn’t want free music?” he said.
Though giving away a few songs might help Hughes find a bigger audience, he knows that ultimately he needs to be able to sell his music to make a living performing it. To help make ends meet, he recently took a part-time job working as a graphic designer. But he hopes to return to making music full-time in 2010 and is looking forward to the opportunity to perform in new markets like Des Moines and Omaha.
“It’s worked out well so far, but I’d like to be on the road more. It’s something I’m ready to do,” Hughes said. “I like finding new places to play.”
As long as Hughes continues to seamlessly blend so many musical styles that appeal to so many people, he has a chance to succeed. At the very least, he wants to remind people it’s acceptable to listen to and perform a variety of music.
“I hope people know that all music blends together,” he said. CV
caption: Clay Hughes (pictured) and Tony Beats perform Saturday, Jan. 9 at 7 p.m. at the Ritual Café.
