Mobile, Alabama-based band The Red Clay Strays made a splash with their debut album Moment of Truth in 2022. Now, after two years of touring and becoming one of the most buzzworthy bands in the land, the band is back with their Dave Cobb-produced sophomore album Made by These Moments.
Red Clay Strays frontman Brandon Coleman spoke about the album in a press release upon announcing it earlier this year. “Made by These Moments shines a light on overcoming the battles we face in life like loneliness, depression, and hopelessness,” he shared. “We hope you listen and recognize that our pain has a purpose,” he added. The album has a distinct ebb and flow, songs take listeners to the darkest depths but the light of redemption and overcoming obstacles is never completely out of reach.
Ahead of the album’s release, the band’s principal songwriters—guitarist Drew Nix and Brandon’s younger brother Matthew—sat down with American Songwriter to discuss Made by These Moments.
Red Clay Strays Strike a Balance
The pair of songwriters revealed that the album’s balance of light and dark may have been intentional. However, they didn’t have a hand in it. “Brandon is the one that kind of created that ebb and flow on the album by choosing the songs,” Coleman said. “All the guys collectively agree on them but I think it was Brandon who was feeling out where it was going,” he added. “As far as how me and Drew write them, I never write a song thinking about where it will go on an album. I just write the songs that I’m feeling at that time.”
“I wish I could have thought of it the way it ended up,” Nix agreed. “We had a bunch of songs going into this album and it just kind of worked out. This whole album is just about the human condition and how sometimes tragedies strike and we just go through these horrible places in our mind or we kind of get so depressed that we’re numb. We end up right back falling on our knees and asking God for help and having that faithfulness to stick to it and stick around,” he explained.
Dark and Light Bookend Made by These Moments
Coleman pointed out that dark and light bookend Made by These Moments. “Disaster” opens the album with examinations of the flaws of humanity. Then, “God Does” brings things to a close with a message of hope.
“The point of the song is that it’s going through all of these different biblical characters that people learn about in Sunday school, the hero characters. But they’re not actually that, they’re actually very flawed people,” Coleman said of the album opener. “That’s what the song is about. Disaster is going to strike, we’re all flawed and we’re all going to fail and that’s just the tragedy of humanity,” he explained. “Then, ending the album with a song Drew wrote in 2020 called ‘God Does.’ It’s like where disaster strikes, God redeems, God renews. It gives that hopeful ending like it’s not all gone to sh-t. There’s still hope, there’s still a reason to be optimistic,” he added.
Favorite Songs from the Album
“For me, it’s ‘I’m Still Fine.’ That’s one that I wrote about Brandon in 2020 or 2021,” Matthew said. “He was scrambling, working for Uber, doing whatever he could do to make money. We had personal stuff going on and I could tell he wasn’t in a good place. But, he’s pretty inspiring in how he deals with that kind of stuff, too. He was able to step back and realized ‘I’m not okay right now but it is okay because I know I’m going to be okay later,’” Coleman explained.
“I remember we were talking and he said, ‘I’m still fine,’ and I jotted it down. At the time, I was working at a restaurant in Nashville at the time bussing tables. I had a pile of plates in my hands and I had this idea for a melody. So, I scrambled into a broom closet and pulled out my phone, and recorded the melody for ‘I’m Still Fine.’ And I wrote the song and sent it over and all the guys liked it. I love how it turned out and I love how they play it. It’s just a beautiful-sounding song. I keep going back and listening to it.”
Drew Nix chose “Ramblin’” as his favorite from the album. “I love the way it sounds. Dave [Cobb] makes the amps sound like they’re going to absolutely blow up. I go back to it like I would a Skynyrd song,” he said. “I love that one for that reason. It’s not the most well-written song I’ve done but it’s one that if I needed to go to the gym, I’d put it on. Not that I listen to my own music a lot because that’s weird,” he added, laughing. “I just love listening to that one, it’s so fun to me. It feels like Led Zeppelin and Skynyrd collaborated. It’s fuzzy with the Skynyrd riffage.”
Matthew Coleman on His Place in the Red Clay Strays
Matthew Coleman isn’t an official member of the Red Clay Strays. However, he’s the frontman’s younger brother and has written several of their songs. He opened up about their musical family dynamic during our conversation.
“We really liked NEEDTOBREATHE as kids. Still do, they’re one of our favorite bands. We found out early on that their singer Bear’s brother wrote the songs for him,” Coleman recalled. “I was kina like ‘Oh yeah! That sounds really cool! I’ll write the songs for my older brother,’” he added. However, it goes deeper than that. “I think it’s also a passion thing,” he explained.
“Brandon has a passion for performing and singing in front of people. That’s his art. I don’t necessarily have that. But I have a passion for storytelling and writing. That’s what I really like to do so it really worked out.”
Made by These Moments is available to stream or purchase everywhere today.
Featured image by Robby Klein
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