ClayBank celebrates album release

claybankNorth Carolina’s ClayBank celebrated the release of Playing Hard To Forget, their debut album on Rural Rhythm Records, with a concert at the Harvest House Performing Arts Center in Boone on Tuesday night. The house was packed for the show, and everyone enjoyed hearing the guys perform the material from the new CD.

It’s a whirlwind year for ClayBank, starting with a 3rd place finish in the SPBGMA band contest in February, and 1st place at RenoFest in March, followed by signing with the Andrea Roberts Agency in April and with Rural Rhythm in May. They were a big hit at the World of Bluegrass convention last week in Raleigh, and now they have their first album in hand.

Not band for a group formed just over a year ago!

Zack Arnold is on mandolin, and lead and tenor vocals. Watching him on stage, and seeing his poise while singing with such precision and conviction, it’s hard to believe that he’s still in high school. This young man is a future star in our music.

He is joined by Jacob Greer on guitar, Tyler Thompson on banjo, and Gary Trivette on bass. They play with the sort of passion and drive long associated with the mountains of western North Carolina.

Deb Miller of B Chord Photography captured this video of the guys doing one of the album cuts, My Baby’s Gone, which was a hit for Sawyer Brown back in 1988

 

Find out more about ClayBank online.

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About the Author

John Lawless

John had served as primary author and editor for The Bluegrass Blog from its launch in 2006 until being folded into Bluegrass Today in September of 2011. He continues in that capacity here, managing a strong team of columnists and correspondents.