Song of the Summer
08/13/2024 02:17PM ● By Amelia Davis
(Photo: Adia Clark Lay will soon be releasing her new EP, “On the Rocks.” Courtesy of Adia Clark Lay.)
Steamboat Springs, CO - Singer and songwriter Adia Clark Lay has been a staple on the Steamboat Springs music scene for years. Now, her music will be widely available thanks to the release of her first EP, “On the Rocks.” The album marks Adia’s debut into the country music genre, taking her a long way from where she began. After spending the majority of her childhood outside of Chicago, her family moved to Steamboat before her eighth grade year. By that time, her passion for music was already well underway, having started choir and guitar lessons in second grade, band in fifth grade, and playing gigs in seventh grade. She now attends Berklee College of Music in Boston, studying songwriting and music business. Steamboat Magazine caught up with Adia to hear more about the EP, her new songs and how she’s incorporating local businesses into her first music video.
Steamboat Magazine: This is your first foray into the country genre. How did you decide you wanted to go in that direction?
Adia Clark Lay: I started listening to country during the pandemic, I think because I was just in the car and by myself all the time. And I don't know what made me start listening to country music – probably the move to Steamboat, because it's definitely more cowboy than [what I listened to] when I was living near Chicago. I started listening, and then eventually a few years later, I just started writing country songs. I think in my other songs you can hear the country influence, but they weren't what I would say is the country genre. My biggest influence overall is definitely Taylor Swift. I started listening to her when she sang country and watched her transition into pop. My favorite small country artists right now are Erin Kinsey and Avery Anna, but I also love Carrie Underwood, Kelsea Ballerini and Carly Pearce.
SM: The songs for the EP were recorded in Nashville; what was that like?
ACL: Going to this studio [Off The Row Studio] was such a cool experience; I've recorded at school and with other students, which is fun because we're all doing it pretty much for the first time or the first couple of times. But [in Nashville] I was recording with professionals who are Grammy award winners and Grammy nominated, and they're called session players – the studio hired them to play on my song, and I just sent them a video of me playing it and what key it was in. And then they pretty much took it from there and had creative liberty and then anything I wanted to change or add, I could just say, 'Oh, can we do this or this?'
SM: Your music videos were filmed locally with the help of some businesses. Tell me about that.
ACL: My music videos were filmed all over the Yampa Valley with the help of local small businesses such as F.M. Light & Sons, the press, Into The West and Wandering Creek Ranch. F.M. Light & Sons dressed me for three out of four music videos (“On The Rocks,” “Caught In Traffic” and “Water My Flowers”). the press was the venue featured in the “On The Rocks” music video. Into The West's furniture appears in the “Right About You” music video, and Wandering Creek Ranch was featured in the “Caught In Traffic” music video, as well as their blue 1978 GMC Sierra. A lot of videos feature the landscape of my beautiful town; Clark. They were filmed by my parents, Colleen Clark Lay and Alan Lay, and edited by me.
SM: How are you preparing for a career in music with your studies?
ACL: I got to college and I thought that I would be going for songwriting, but then I also decided to study music business as well. I chose a major where I could do both. It's called professional music and you get to choose your track, kind of a DIY major. I took a music business course my first semester and I was like, ‘Wow, okay, I love this. It's so important.’ So I decided to go down the path of studying both instead of just songwriting. If for some reason, I can't sing anymore, I can write songs for other people and I can work in the music business and still be involved in music without having the ability to perform. But ultimately I do want to perform, and that's what I'm trying to do at school as well. I started a band [the Adia Clark Lay Band], so I'm writing songs and we're playing them. And then I recorded a song with them at school, separate from the EP, called “Sweet and Sour.”
SM: What are you hoping for with the future of your music and career? What do you envision yourself doing in a few years?
ACL: I mean, obviously, the ultimate goal is to be like Taylor Swift; she's one of my biggest inspirations. But I want to continue what I'm doing. I want to write, I want to release music. I want to perform, and just hopefully on a bigger scale than what I'm doing now. I used to act; I've had a manager and an agent. I don't do that anymore, but I know what it's like to have a manager and an agent. So, I'm definitely open to the idea of having a music manager and agent. Then hopefully I'll get a record deal and everything will sprout from there.
Catch Adia at the press on Wednesday, Aug. 21 at 7:00 p.m. and visit adiaclarklay.com for more information, or stream her music on Spotify and Apple Music.
Steamboat Springs, CO - Singer and songwriter Adia Clark Lay has been a staple on the Steamboat Springs music scene for years. Now, her music will be widely available thanks to the release of her first EP, “On the Rocks.” The album marks Adia’s debut into the country music genre, taking her a long way from where she began. After spending the majority of her childhood outside of Chicago, her family moved to Steamboat before her eighth grade year. By that time, her passion for music was already well underway, having started choir and guitar lessons in second grade, band in fifth grade, and playing gigs in seventh grade. She now attends Berklee College of Music in Boston, studying songwriting and music business. Steamboat Magazine caught up with Adia to hear more about the EP, her new songs and how she’s incorporating local businesses into her first music video.
Steamboat Magazine: This is your first foray into the country genre. How did you decide you wanted to go in that direction?
Adia Clark Lay: I started listening to country during the pandemic, I think because I was just in the car and by myself all the time. And I don't know what made me start listening to country music – probably the move to Steamboat, because it's definitely more cowboy than [what I listened to] when I was living near Chicago. I started listening, and then eventually a few years later, I just started writing country songs. I think in my other songs you can hear the country influence, but they weren't what I would say is the country genre. My biggest influence overall is definitely Taylor Swift. I started listening to her when she sang country and watched her transition into pop. My favorite small country artists right now are Erin Kinsey and Avery Anna, but I also love Carrie Underwood, Kelsea Ballerini and Carly Pearce.
SM: The songs for the EP were recorded in Nashville; what was that like?
ACL: Going to this studio [Off The Row Studio] was such a cool experience; I've recorded at school and with other students, which is fun because we're all doing it pretty much for the first time or the first couple of times. But [in Nashville] I was recording with professionals who are Grammy award winners and Grammy nominated, and they're called session players – the studio hired them to play on my song, and I just sent them a video of me playing it and what key it was in. And then they pretty much took it from there and had creative liberty and then anything I wanted to change or add, I could just say, 'Oh, can we do this or this?'
SM: Your music videos were filmed locally with the help of some businesses. Tell me about that.
ACL: My music videos were filmed all over the Yampa Valley with the help of local small businesses such as F.M. Light & Sons, the press, Into The West and Wandering Creek Ranch. F.M. Light & Sons dressed me for three out of four music videos (“On The Rocks,” “Caught In Traffic” and “Water My Flowers”). the press was the venue featured in the “On The Rocks” music video. Into The West's furniture appears in the “Right About You” music video, and Wandering Creek Ranch was featured in the “Caught In Traffic” music video, as well as their blue 1978 GMC Sierra. A lot of videos feature the landscape of my beautiful town; Clark. They were filmed by my parents, Colleen Clark Lay and Alan Lay, and edited by me.
SM: How are you preparing for a career in music with your studies?
ACL: I got to college and I thought that I would be going for songwriting, but then I also decided to study music business as well. I chose a major where I could do both. It's called professional music and you get to choose your track, kind of a DIY major. I took a music business course my first semester and I was like, ‘Wow, okay, I love this. It's so important.’ So I decided to go down the path of studying both instead of just songwriting. If for some reason, I can't sing anymore, I can write songs for other people and I can work in the music business and still be involved in music without having the ability to perform. But ultimately I do want to perform, and that's what I'm trying to do at school as well. I started a band [the Adia Clark Lay Band], so I'm writing songs and we're playing them. And then I recorded a song with them at school, separate from the EP, called “Sweet and Sour.”
SM: What are you hoping for with the future of your music and career? What do you envision yourself doing in a few years?
ACL: I mean, obviously, the ultimate goal is to be like Taylor Swift; she's one of my biggest inspirations. But I want to continue what I'm doing. I want to write, I want to release music. I want to perform, and just hopefully on a bigger scale than what I'm doing now. I used to act; I've had a manager and an agent. I don't do that anymore, but I know what it's like to have a manager and an agent. So, I'm definitely open to the idea of having a music manager and agent. Then hopefully I'll get a record deal and everything will sprout from there.
Catch Adia at the press on Wednesday, Aug. 21 at 7:00 p.m. and visit adiaclarklay.com for more information, or stream her music on Spotify and Apple Music.