|
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.
|