It’s a finely grained silicate material that can be molded when wet and used to make bricks, pottery, ceramics and some superlative, splinter-kicking, poignant bluegrass tunes. With the help of Tommy Brown, the Downhill Bluegrass Band, Bradford Lee Folk, The Dixie Travelers, Seldom Scene, Blue Highway and Higher Ground, Chosen Road, Hazel Dickens and Chris Cairns, we’ll be looking at Alabama Clay, Colorado clay, Franklin County clay, feet of clay, small pieces of clay and Clay County.

PROGRAM PLAYLIST

Tommy Brown & County Line Grass: “Beneath the Cold Cold Clay” from Mountain Bluegrass (Hay Holler)
Jeff Barbra & Sarah Pirkle: “Bury Me In the Red Clay’ from Barb Hollow Sessions (Barb Hollow)
Downhill Bluegrass Band: “Beneath the Clay” from Wonderland (Linestonehouse)
Bradford Lee Folk & the Bluegrass Playboys: “Soil and Clay” from Somewhere Far Away (self-released)
Clay County: “Clay County Breakdown’ from Waiting For the Fall (Clay County)
Chris Cairns: “Alabama Clay” from Me and the Jukebox (Fireheart)
Higher Ground: “Franklin County Clay” from A Game That I Can’t Win (Stone Fever)
The Bertye Maddux Band: “Colorado Clay” from Little County Schoolhouse (self-released)
Brad Davis: “Feet of Clay” from This World Ain’t No Child (FGM)
Chosen Road: “Small Piece of Clay” from Love’s Purest Light (Poor Mountain)
Tommy Brown & County Line Bluegrass: “Saturday Night At Clay City” from Mountain Bluegrass (Hay Holler)
Hazel Dickens: “Clay County Miner” from Coal Mining Women (Rounder)
Susan Nikas: “Clay County Remembered” from Clay County Remembered (Clay County)
Claybank: “Up On Claybank” from Playing Hard to Forget (Rural Rhythm)
Nell Robinson: “Red Clay Creek’ from On the Brooklyn Road (NRM)
Powder River: “Peeler Creek / The Clayhole” from Powder River (Folk Legacy)