The Road to Red Bluff Fest: Sam Walker of Clay Street Unit May 1, 2025 12:53

Interview by Jordan Kirkland: Live & Listen

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Red Bluff Music & Arts Festival represents one of Montgomery, Alabama's latest annual celebrations, and we're counting down the days to the third installment on May 16th - May 18th. The 3rd annual festival will be held at Red Bluff Bar (Friday) and Riverwalk Amphitheater (Saturday & Sunday), featuring a wide variety of national and regional acts across a diverse musical spectrum.

As we prepare for this year's festival, we're catching up with each of this year's performers to gain and share some additional insight for anyone planning to attend the festival. The series continues today with Sam Walker, the frontman (guitar/vocals) of Clay Street Unit. Sam was born and raised in Montgomery, and he's bringing the band back home to close out the festival as the Sunday night headliner on May 18th.

This band has taken massive steps forward over the past few years; touring all across the country and selling out a vast majority of their shows. Their name is surfacing on many of the biggest festival lineups in the country, and they will make their debut at Red Rocks Amphitheatre on May 26th with Leftover Salmon and Kitchen Dwellers.

Check out our conversation with Sam below, and make sure to head over to your preferred steaming platform for all of the band's latest releases. Clay Street Unit is one of the hottest rising acts in the country, and Montgomery is in for a real treat on Sunday 5/18.

It’s been truly fascinating to watch the rise of Clay Street Unit from afar these past few years. I remember seeing you sit in with Mountain Grass Unit at Common Ground Shakedown in Montgomery a few years back, and I’ve been tuned it since. I’d love to hear more about how the band came to life. 

Sam: I met our banjo player, Jack Cline, about 5 years ago, and we just started playing music together immediately. Then over the next few years, we met a bunch of different people in the Denver music scene. The band then evolved from a 4 piece to a 6 piece. We weren’t necessarily ever looking to expand the band, but I kept crossing paths with people who just made sense sonically. Most of them were already friends, for the most part.

I feel like things really started taking off in 2023. Correct me if I’m wrong. I remember y’all doing your first run down South + up the East Coast. It seemed like every show was sold out. At what point did you realize how far this band could go?

Sam: Yeah, that was around the time we decided to really push it and start booking as many shows as we can. The shows weren’t all sold out, but it was a ton of fun. We got to play to some rowdy crowds that really made us believe we could make an honest living doing this. I think after that tour, we started booking a lot more extensively and have really been able to get our sound out to different parts of the country. We’ve got a great team behind us, and we’ve been really fortunate for a lot of the opportunities that have come up for us. 

You seem to have taken the single / EP route thus far, which makes plenty of sense in this day and age. I believe I saw that the band was in the studio with Chris Pandolfi of The Infamous Stringdusters for the latest releases (“Where Have You Gone?” & “Let’s Get Stoned”). I’d love to hear about this experience and how it came to be. 

Sam: Well, we cut an 11 track record with Chris, and I can tell you it was a blast being in the studio with him. He had previously worked on a few albums for a great Denver band called Morsel, which a few Clay Street members played in. We all felt really comfortable with him at the helm of our debut record. He’s such a down to earth guy, who really understood what we were trying to get accomplished and helped amplify that sonically. He really pushed us to make these songs the best versions of themselves they can be.

This latest co-headline tour with Shadowgrass seems to have crushed in just about every market. Y’all seem to be having a blast on the road. Can you share a few highlights from 2025 thus far?

Sam: Our tour with Shadowgrass was one of the most fun experiences we’ve had out on the road yet. They’re such amazing players, but more so just amazing people. It was a really special run for all of us, and it was a little sad when we wrapped everything up at Brooklyn Bowl in New York. I think that tour in and of itself was a big highlight for us, every night had a unique energy and a ton of fun collaborations. 

Speaking of continued success, Clay Street Unit is playing Red Rocks Amphitheater with Leftover Salmon & Kitchen Dwellers just a week after Red Bluff Fest. Can you even begin to put into words what this show means for the band?

Sam: It’s pretty hard to wrap my brain around it, but I know everyone in the band is just so proud and appreciative to have this opportunity. Leftover Salmon and Kitchen Dwellers are two bands we look up to in the Colorado music scene, and it’s a venue we’ve all grown up dreaming of playing. I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet, and I’m not sure it will until we’re up there on May 26th. 

Clay Street Unit returns to your hometown of Montgomery (AL) on Sunday 5/18. You’re headlining Sunday night, which closes out the festival. How special is this one for you, and what can those catching their first taste of CSU expect from y’all?

Sam: Montgomery means a lot to me, so I’m really proud to be coming home and closing out the festival. My best friends are from Montgomery, and it will always be home to me. I can’t wait to see my parents and friends, and I'm just really grateful that the festival’s having us out this year. The band’s played Montgomery once before, but I think this sort of festival is a great platform to showcase Montgomery and bring the community together.