Paul Sammon casts his ear over “His Guitar”, the new single from Clayton Smalley
I’ve never reviewed just a single before, only EP’s and albums.
However, over the last year Clayton Smalley and his chief writer, John Griffin, have become friends of mine so when I was offered the chance to hear ‘His Guitar’ I jumped at it.
I won’t be biased. Let’s face it, reviews are just written opinions and you’ll form yours anyway when you give it a listen but, if you like what I would perhaps term “Pure” country, I’m sure you’ll like this.
I call it pure because it’s a simple song with a story, without click tracks or big basslines. This story is about family. In particular Clayton’s great grandfather, Jerrels “Gabe” Clayton, and his 1935 Gibson Guitar. He bought it at a pawn shop in California and played it throughout the 1950’s at a place called The Rendezvous.
Fast forward to 2019 after our Clayton released his first EP, ‘Whiskey Sunrise’ and his grandmother passed this along to him, complete with the strings played by his great grandfather.
As I said, it’s not a big tune but kept simple with guitar and a drum backbeat so you can focus on listening to the lyrics and enjoy the heart-felt warmth of the song, knowing it’s all true.
As is common with Griffin and [Dave] Flint writing collaborations, the tempo is nice and gentle and carries you along on the journey of this instrument into the hands of the musician just nominated for the 2022 Rocky Mountain Country Music Awards “New Artist of the Year”
The single has also been selected as one of Apple Music’s Best New Songs of the week and featured in their New in Country playlist. In other words, all signs are saying get hold of this song, stick it on repeat and imagine yourself by the fireside being entertained by Mr Clayton Smalley.
Good work, guys.