Hailing from Magnolia, Texas, childhood friends Zachary Chance and Jonathan Clay formed the roots rock/Americana group Jamestown Revival in 2010. They broke through to a wider audience when their self-released 2014 debut album Utah built a buzz and landed them a deal with Republic Records. Utah reached No. 13 on Billboard’s Americana/Folk Albums chart. Their follow-up album, The Education of a Wandering Man, was named after the autobiography of Western novelist Louis L’Amour and peaked at No. 11 on that same chart. All told, the acclaimed twosome (and their band) have released four studio albums, a live album, four EPs, and two standalone singles.
Chance and Clay took things to the next level by collaborating with Justin Levine on the score to the supremely popular Broadway musical The Outsiders, a project nine years in the making. The show won four Tony Awards this year, including Best Musical, and the trio was nominated for Best Original Score Written for the Theatre. The soundtrack hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Cast Albums chart. While speaking to Chance and Clay about the musical, American Songwriter asked them to pick three songs they think offer a good representation of their songs to people who are outsiders to their musical world but want in.
“California (Cast Iron Soul)” from Utah (2014)
Chance remarks that this song, their most-streamed, had to be included on the list. “That’s been the original gateway drug for us,” he explains. “It’s been our most significant calling card along the way. It’s a song about feeling out of place. It’s the same reason I think The Outsiders relates to people. I think that’s just something that people feel. It wasn’t a conscious decision, but it was an honest take for what we were going through. And a lot of people over the years have told us how much they can relate to that.”
Interjects Clay: “It’s weird—the most the more specific you write, the more people relate to it, even if it doesn’t apply to them.”
“Wandering Man” from Utah (2014)
Inspired by Western novelist and short story writer Louis L’Amour, this track was included on their debut. They also named their 2016 sophomore release Education of a Wandering Man after L’Amour’s autobiography of the same title. The acclaimed author inspired songs on the six-song EP from 2021 Fireside with Louis L’Amour: A Collection of Songs Inspired by Tales from the American West.
When asked what he thinks “Wandering Man” captured about L’Amour’s view on life, Clay replies, “Not knowing exactly how you’re going to get it done, but letting life take the reins and lead you where it may. Being there for the adventure, and knowing that eventually you know you’re not in control of all these little things, and you got to let it come and it will probably work out. Or trusting that it will.”
“Bluebird” (Single, 2020)
Clay states that this song was born during the COVID-19 lockdown. He says after Jamestown Revival got pulled off tour during the pandemic, he almost did not want to touch his guitar or do any songwriting. Six months into lockdown, he was not feeling good about things.
“My wife was like, ‘What are you doing? Get in there and write a song. I got the kids. I’ll handle it. Go,’” Clay recalls. “So I went out to a little shed off the side of the house because we’re staying in our ranch. It was actually a camper trailer because it’s the only place I could get some solitude without my kids finding me. And right out the window, this Eastern bluebird landed on a branch. They’re such a beautiful bird, and that’s just a gift that it brought me. I was like, ‘Man, my wife is kind of like the bluebird who brings me gifts, just with her presence and with her wisdom, telling me to get off my ass and write a song.’”
“Bluebird” is now one of Jamestown Revival’s most popular songs.
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