Clay Walker
WALKING TALL
Clay Walker's Guide to Living, Laughing, and Loving
Clay Walker is one contemporary country hunk with a lot more going for him than tight Wrangers and a big-brimmed Resistol. Articulate and thoughtful, the former Texas high school football star sports a clutch of hits that get into the grit and grind of relationships, where difficult struggles beget happy outcomes, thanks to the saving grace of true love. One of the bestselling country artists of the '90s, Walker was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1996. In the lyrics of the songs he writes and covers, in the amiable air he exudes in interviews, he comes across as a fellow who really should title an album LIVE, LAUGH, LOVE because it says everything about who he is, illness be damned. And like his new single, "She's Always Right," says, LIVE, LAUGH, LOVE is right as rain. Between legs of his current tour, Walker took time out to explain how he's managed to live the life of which he sings.
barnesandnoble.com: Five albums into a career, and you're one of the bestselling artists of the decade. Did you feel like it was time to explore some new directions on LIVE, LAUGH, LOVE?
Clay Walker: Probably the only new direction that we went in was on songs like "Cold Hearted" and "Lifetime Love." I don't think anybody's ever heard me do a real rockin' tune like "Cold Hearted" on an album before. It's something we always do during the live shows. It's just in my blood. "Lifetime Love" is a song that comes from probably a little bit of influence of people like Lionel Ritchie and Chicago and Celine Dion -- not that I would be comparable to those artists. That probably is the only new exploration. But the song "Live Laugh Love," which is the title cut, is a little Latin...
bn: One of the pleasant surprises on the album is the Earl Thomas Conley song, "Holding Her and Loving You." You don't normally do cheatin' songs, but you do a great job of bringing out the conflicted emotions of someone who's involved with one person but feels his heart being pulled by someone else. What drew you to that song?
CW: Well, it's in the key of G.
bn: That's deep, Clay.
CW: Well, I've been singing that song since I was 12. I think the song is 17 years old. I don't know.... Maybe it was easier to play on the guitar and the two minors sounded really cool in it at the time I was learning guitar. For some reason it got burned in my brain&. We did a live performance, via satellite, out of Nashville during the Country Radio Seminar. A few radio stations started playing the live version, and it charted -- it went to like 63 on the Billboard charts. When I saw that I thought, Here's a song that's not even a single, it hasn't even been recorded in a studio, and it's charting at 63. This song needs to be heard.
bn: Throughout your career you've sung a lot about people living productively in relationships, about doing thoughtful things for someone you care about, about enjoying life to the fullest for yourself, but also being sensitive to the feelings of those closest to you. You're feeling good about the state of things in your own life?
CW: Yeah, you can assume that. I think with most relationships that you have peaks and valleys. It's kind of like a book, our life is. Every page is different, and if it wasn't, then it wouldn't be a whole book. It would be boring. I am a true believer in the theory that with everything that is gained, you lose something; and vice versa. And I parallel life with a lot of things, one of them being the Bible. And then there's music. And then there's golf. One of the reasons why I love golf so much is that if you hit it in the water, or you hit it out of bounds, you can't just quit. You gotta drop the ball, hit it again and then go find it. Keep hitting it until you get through all 18 holes.
I've had a lot of trials in my life. And a lot of struggles growing up. A lot of times when I didn't know where my next paycheck was coming from. I think those times helped me be strong. And I think in my relationship, I found the right person. I hope everybody can have even a small piece of the good things I've been able to enjoy.
But you know, one thing I do believe is that we're all just borrowing the time that we have here. We're all just borrowing the radio for a little while. We don't own it. You never own it. You never own life. You can't own the music. We really don't own anything. I try not to be as controlling as I used to be. After I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, I thought, Man, the closest thing to me is my own flesh, and I can't even control that.
bn: Behind the scenes you've even been involved in helping others with MS.
CW: I have. I believe that everybody is suffering from something. We're either in recovery or denial, as a good friend of mine said one time [laughs]. I try to tell people that as bad as they think they have it, I have met children -- kids from the Make a Wish Foundation, from St. Jude's -- who are not here now. That's why I don't ever feel sorry for myself. What I have is a scratch compared to what they had and what they went through. Everybody needs to know that just because they may be afflicted, or have something wrong with them, that they can still do things with their lives and their quality of life can still be good.
bn: LIVE, LAUGH, LOVE seems to indicate a kind of philosophical approach to life. But in your case it has a deeper meaning, because you're fighting this thing.
CW: Whenever I get confused about something, I always simplify it. What is the goal? If I'm getting ready to leave the house to catch a flight and I'm running late, just trying to get everything ready to leave, I just say, "Hats, boots, belt." I know I'm wearing undergarments, at least most of the time; and I know I'm wearing Wranglers. So I'm gonna be fine whenever I get there as long as I have hats, boots, belt. And that's kind of the way I feel about LIVE, LAUGH, LOVE: If you have those three things in your life, if you're doing those three things, what else is there? I don't think there's really anything else. Live, laugh, love. Not necessarily in that order.
David McGee
© 2009 All Media Guide, LLC