Carl Caulkins was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama in 1945. The family moved to Kansas five years later, and his mother began teaching him to play the piano. His father was the director of a local theatre, and would cast his son whenever the script called for a kid.

Carl learned the music that he loved best -- blues and country and rock'n'roll -- and first performed onstage in Denver in 1965. Then he moved on to San Francisco, where he heard his heroes, watched them play the music he'd learned from records and the radio. He met James Koller and Neal Cassady and Samuel Quick Spencer. He got to know painters and writers and singers. From that moment on, his life was a string of shows, one after another. And he began to write his own songs. His two main influences, American poets and Midwestern slang, give his verses a unique turn ... imagine that Harmony and Chaos go out dancing together.

In 1993 Carl moved to France. He took a new stage name -- Clay -- in honor of his father, and formed the group "Ancestors at the Door." His tours have brought the vitality of traditional American music to wide audiences.

His keyboard abilities have attracted the attention of Americans touring in Europe, and he has played for Wanda Jackson and Doug Kershaw and Johnny Powers. Clay often collaborates with the New York bluesman, Mike Greene. He has performed with his friends Steve Lacy and Franco Beltrametti and James Koller for poetry festivals in Italy and Switzerland.

 On a dark night, one lonesome whistle can
cut through the fog and show the way ... so ...
Come on along
Follow this hobo's song
And dance down those endless rails with him.