Clay Street Unit Land On Their Feet With New Label

When Monument Records closed up shop earlier this year, it was hard for some of us to not celebrate a little. The flagship artist for the legacy label that relaunched in 2017 was the “Applebee’s Song” guy Walker Hayes. The shuttering of the label symbolized the continued implosion of the worst excesses of “country” during the Bro era, even if there was some collateral damage incurred in Monument closing.

One Monument-signed band that didn’t deserve to be put on the street was Colorado’s six piece country/roots/bluegrass/folk/rock band Clay Street Unit. Beloved in Colorado and beyond, it didn’t seem fair they got swept up in the often messy affair of record label musical chairs.

The good news is that there was a happy ending for the band. It was recently announced that Sam Walker (lead vocals/guitar), Scottie Bolin (mandolin/vocals), Jack Cline (banjo), Brad Larrison (pedal steel), Brendan Lamb (drums), and Jack Kotarba (bass) were signed to Leo33—the scrappy, upstart label that helped launch Zach Top.

“We’re honored to be signing with Leo33. Since our first conversation, their team has felt like the perfect home that fully understood the vision behind our music,” Clay Street Unit said in September when the deal was first revealed. “As we prepare to release our debut album, we’re confident that their passion and belief in us will help take our career to the next level, and we’re incredibly grateful for the opportunity.”

On Friday (10-17), Clay Street Unit released their first song through Leo33 called “Choctaw County,” featuring bluegrass singer/songwriter Lindsay Lou.

“It’s a song about two people looking back on a relationship in the place they grew up, one from the perspective of someone who left and one who stayed,” says lead singer Sam Walker. “It’s about what could have been and holding onto the memories they shared together when they were young. We really tried to match the melody with the mood and the lift in the last chorus plays into that feeling of lingering regret and how life could’ve played out.”

Clay Street Unit is one of a host of quickly-rising bands that are finding an avenue forward where before a band like this would get a little lost between roots genres. The Creekers are another, and they just signed with Warner Music Nashville.

“We played bluegrass events, folk festivals, and country venues,” Sam Walker says. “We were able to share our music with so many different demographics and dip our toes into different pools, and what we realized is, it’s all pretty similar. Our music seemed to meet everyone in the middle.”

No word about a debut album from the band just yet. But once it’s ready, Leo33 will be the ones releasing it.

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