By William Flockton and Nicholas Merl
The members of Clay Street Unit performing at the Fox Theatre. (William Flockton/Radio 1190)
Denver-based bluegrass band Clay Street Unit performed at the Fox Theatre in Boulder on Feb. 1. It was the six-man group’s last tour before the release of their first full-length album, “Sins and Squalor.” Understandably, the band took to the stage at Boulder’s Fox Theatre with an attitude of triumph, delivering a boundlessly energetic performance.
Guitarist/lead vocalist Sam Walker. (William Flockton/Radio 1190)
Clay Street Unit started as a duo, with guitarist/lead vocalist Sam Walker and banjoist Jack Cline being the band’s first members. The two started playing together at Walker’s house on Clay Street after meeting at Zuni Street Brewing in Denver in 2021. By the end of the year Bassist Will Poynor, Steel Pedalist Brad Larrison, Drummer Brendan Lamb and Mandolinist Scottie Bolin had joined the band.
Musically, Clay Street Unit is a marriage between the upbeat twang of Alabama bluegrass and a passionate cadence reminiscent of Chris Stapleton. While not a particularly revolutionary spin on country and folk, their sound is a well-crafted tribute to the genre that manages to be pop without feeling unoriginal.
Thematically, Clay Street Unit’s songs focus on overcoming hardship and misfortune without losing hope. Throughout their music, the listener is reminded to find joy in the little pleasures of life. “Tired of Being Tired,” narrates a failing relationship which the protagonist is tired of trying to fix. The song is a consolation plucked straight from a guitar string, creating solace in the upbeat strumming of a Banjo.
Their cover of The Last Revel’s classic “Engine Trouble” is similarly bucolic. With a percussion section absent from the original, Clay Street Unit adds a playful kick to The Last Revel’s unvarnished country grit. With its expansive lineup, Clay Street Unit wrapped the beloved classic into their more encompassing sound, able to simultaneously lean towards the carefree avenues of pop-country without losing anything in terms of sincerity.
That, in essence, is Clay Street Unit’s sonic identity. Their music has an unmistakable, buoyant self-confidence that doesn’t need any kind of pretension to simply feel good. The band is six individual pieces united around the simple virtues of country music’s tried and true. Lamb’s upbeat tempo buttresses up Poynor and Larrison’s straining, soaring background strings, which seamlessly lift Bolin, Walker and Cline’s interplay.
It’s this basic formula that lies at the heart of the current popularity of country music, unsurprising in an America desperate for the reassuring truths of the rustic and personable. Clay Street Unit tells listeners that it’s okay to turn off the news every once in a while and commiserate about life’s small frustrations, and the beauty that can still be found in them regardless. And in the endless succession of frustration that is America, perhaps it is this that truly unites us.