Album Review- Red Clay Strays – “Made By These Moments”

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#562 (Southern rock) on the Country DDS

Whether the world is ready for them or not, the Alabama-bred roots music collective known as the Red Clay Strays are here, and surging in a way that is reminiscent of the meteoric rise of other independent-minded performers with throwback sounds reorganizing the country music world in revolutionary ways. In bold, powerful songs, the Red Clay Strays take you places most other performers are unwilling or unable to.

The appeal for the Red Clay Strays begins with frontman Brandon Coleman’s voice and delivery. He can sound like three different singers from three different genres steeped in three separate eras all in the same phrase, shape shifting so that every single note conveys the maximal amount of emotion. He has the soul of Muscle Shoals blues, the swagger of the Sun Records era, and the conviction of those old country greats all encapsulated into one. It’s impossible to not believe every propulsive note spilling from Coleman’s guts.

Considered one of the fastest-rising live acts in roots music, the band’s recorded output has also been highly admired, but perhaps slightly in arrears from where they are live, unaided by the right producer to really coax the best out of them. Their massive viral song “Wondering Why” was just as much a monster of the Tik-Tok phenomenon as anything. This meant the Red Clay Strays still needed to codify their success through a proper studio effort. They achieve this with Made By These Moments.

Though some regard producer Dave Cobb as hit and miss, he’s perhaps at his best with these projects that blur the lines between Southern roots genres, are unafraid to allow the guitars to get loud when necessary, and when a band comes into the studio battle tested from the road. All this aligned advantageously for the Red Clay Strays, with the energy of the band’s live performances captured in these studio recordings.

It’s the healing force that sad songs convey that has allowed so much of country, blues, and other roots music to withstand the onslaught of electronic influence. How an artist unburdening their own soul can act as a salve for others is one of the brilliant aspects of music, and life.

We live in an era where the American dream seems to be evaporating and the younger generations face the reality that they may not have it better off than their parents. Meanwhile, social media is a constant vector for personal criticism and measuring one’s self against others, exacerbating low estimates of self-worth.

On their new album, the Red Clay Strays venture to tackle these empty, vulnerable, and far too common moments with music that speaks to the anxiety-filled feelings of inadequacy and disconnectedness that weigh so heavy on the conscience of so many.


Written in large part by lead singer Brandon Coleman’s brother Matthew, as well as Brandon himself and guitar player Drew Nix, Made By These Moments doesn’t just labor to address these common anxieties through shared commiseration, it goes a step further by delving into the root causes, which is often a spiritual disconnect or fundamental loss of one’s sense of worth. The album then even goes a step further by attempting to offer solutions.

Many songs and albums provide self-help inadvertently. For the Red Clay Strays and Made By These Moments, it’s active and purposeful. But don’t worry, the results aren’t Stuart Smalley-style affirmations or self-important bromides that are almost mocking of one’s intelligence. They do this self-help work with deep, resonant, and impassioned musical movements that steel the attention, raise the pulse, and enliven the spirit.

The opening song “Disaster” and it’s followup “Wasting Time” will most certainly get you feeling alive. Brute force is not always how the Red Clay Strays get their message across. But they don’t shy away from this approach either. Guitar players Drew Nix and Zach Rishel, along with bass player Andrew Bishop and wildman drummer John Hall can burn down a stage when called upon. But it’s not always tempo and volume that are necessary. Some of the quietest moments from the Red Clay Strays are also some of the most eruptive, with the tension held in Brandon Coleman’s voice boiling the senses.

The band reaches it frenetic peak on the song “Ramblin’.” It sure is fun and perhaps gives the audience a chance to breathe amid all the other heavy moments, but it’s also uncharacteristically light in the writing. Credited to “Dave Cobb and the Red Clay Strays,” it’s as if a sexy guitar riff brayed out in warmup was fleshed into a song.

Also, as the effort by the Red Clay Strays unfolds, the album reveals a rather spiritual underpinning that concludes in a decidedly religious moment, however non-denominational. Believing that one of the ways to resolve the existential dread so many people feel is to believe in something bigger than one’s self, this idea is presented in part in the Drew Nix-written song “Devil In My Ear,” is addressed more directly in the Gospel-esque “On My Knees” co-written by Dave Cobb and the band, and culminates in the final song on the album also written by Drew Nix, “God Does.”

Specifically naming “God” may be a turn off to those agnostic elements of the Red Clay Strays audience while it will be embraced and welcomed by the believers. But neither should get too hung up on the word itself, and understand that the theme of this album is how the instigator of a troubled mind is often a lack of a deeper connection to one’s self, or to something bigger than one’s self, or to a sense of purpose. Whatever you want to call the higher power, embracing it is often the solution. Everything else—including imbibing in music for the short-term alleviation of suffering—leaves the work incomplete.

“If you’re looking for a prophet, I’ll tell you I ain’t,” Brandon Coleman sings in the opening song “Disaster.” But Made By These Moments is an effort to listen to the wisdom of the past, understand that failure is part of success, that every moment and life has value—including, if not especially the most trying ones—and that perseverance through inner strength can ultimately result in the solace we all seek.

All of that is easier said than done. But no different than plugging in the earphones and pumping some up-tempo songs can help you power through your morning exercise routine, perhaps a trip through Made By These Moments by the Red Clay Strays can be the right mood alteration or audio motivation to help you power through life’s most trying moments.

8.4/10

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