CLAY CALLAWAY: PRESS

Clay Callaway Classic Crooner
Review by Vincent Astor

In an age of much banging, twanging, excessive styling and discord at 10,000 decibels, Clay Callaway’s CD "Darn it, Baby That’s Love" is like balm for a soul like mine. I heard excerpts prior to his being booked for the 2008 Pride Festival and knew I didn’t want to miss it. I was not disappointed and neither were those who complimented his performance to organizers of the festival. Clay originally hails from southern Arkansas and, through many adventures, now lives in Hilo, Hawaii.
Our good fortune to get him
at a Memphis festival stems from an engagement to direct South Pacific
at the South Arkansas Arts
Center in his hometown of El Dorado. The Memphis festival fell during that time and the show opened in July. He has a great respect
for the show tune and for
what were known “back in the day” as standards. He selected several for the CD which are out of the
mainstream and he gives them a gay man’s touch.
There is great variety, songs ranging from “You Ain’t Woman Enough to Take My Man” (done as written but with absolutely no camp) to “Darn It, Baby That’s Love” (in the best classic swing tradition) to “My Superman” which I could listen to a thousand times and just imagine.
He says of himself: “In the past 20 years I managed to find love, work somewhat in the shadows of “the [music] industry” (as in, behind the scenes) in Los Angeles, New York, Sweden, [the] Dominican Republic and all points in between, boomeranged through Nashville and came to live in Hilo, Hawaii. Hawaii is so full of music and incredible voices that I found my self facing this love I have to sing out loud and once again I fell in love with the audience, and they seemed to like me, too. This album isn’t a political statement. It is a musical effort meant to entertain and to reach out and touch a community of people that have always supported and inspired me.”

The CD is old style but in a good way. His choice is to perform the songs as the writers intended with just enough style to make it wonderful. I personally welcome a change from the pop star who generally overlays so much style that the tune beneath is difficult to discover. Long live the crooners—I could fall in love so easily.

For more information go to
www.claycallaway.com

CLAY CALLAWAY
DARN IT, BABY, THAT'S LOVE!


We end our gay day by way of Clay. Clay Callaway's first album, the self-released Darn It, Baby, That's Love! is out and proud and out-and-out enjoyable. Despite having a wide variety of genres and tones, it somehow hangs together through the singer's consistent comfort level, goodwill and seemingly effortless ease. Pop, Broadway, humor, country, chirpy upbeat number or ballad, he seems quite at home. Musically, his clear, flexible voice is ingratiating with a particularly sweet, round timbre that beams optimism. His phrasing is natural, saving a sense of drama for the lyrics that tell a story like "Come in From the Rain" (it even has rain sound effects, which may be a bit much, but I'm a sucker for the go-for-it/why-not choices) or "When Sunny Gets Blue" (Sunny, or maybe Sonny, is a guy this time out). And he's easygoing and more casual on the lighter fare.

Clay's open-hearted, refreshing sound is heard in some show tune choices that are refreshing, too. Witness the wistful, wide-eyed worship in "My Superman" from the musical Freeway Dreams by Wayne Moore. Another Moore, one Quack Moore, is the musician (AKA Cheryl Hardwick) whose sensitive piano accompaniment and arrangement enhance the still-fresh pain in "Sometimes a Day Goes By." This Kander & Ebb number from Woman of the Year unfolds as the struggle of recovery from a lost love by someone who might still be lost in love. Older, more frequently covered theatre songs make appearances, too. The gay man's journey takes an easy ride on the Show Boat with "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" done in a relaxed tempo, staying out of the angst and torch zones. The album's title song is from a 1950 revue called Tickets Please and is a jokey duet for a couple musing about what they'll be like as they stumble into latter years, through thick (midsections) and thin (hair). Joining Clay in the mutual teasing about being old and gray (and gay) is his real-life life partner (18 years and counting) Ty Lewis.

The My Fair Lady realization of fondness becomes "I've Grown Accustomed to Your Face," making it a direct statement to the missed party. Though avoiding saying over and over that it's a man's face, the in-denial, misogynist original line, "I'm very grateful she's a woman and so easy to forget" becomes "I'm very grateful you're that kind of man not easy to forget." A welcome choice is to do this with spare accompaniment – the guitar played by talented Andy Belling, who arranged and co-produced (with the singer) most of the CD and wrote the tender final track, "Somewhere, Sometime Ago." It's not gender-specific at all, but the other songs leave no question: "All the Man That I Need," "I Never Loved a Man Before," and some stomping around in his butch cowboy boots: "You Ain't Woman Enough to Take My Man" and "That's What I Like About You," the song that has a series of lines describing the ideal guy ("I like a man who ...").

Though this is his first CD, Clay's no newcomer to performing. He grew up in musical theatre, acts and directs, recently in a theatre in his home state of Arkansas named for his theatre-toiling mother Pat Callaway, and is currently directing South Pacific out there before heading back to Hawaii, and is working on a second album.

Until next time, Aloha!
- Rob Lester

Hawaiian love notes
Gay singer living in paradise releases CD of showbiz standards

REBECCA ARMENDARIZ
Friday, June 06, 2008

Clay Callaway, a showbiz veteran, has finally found his paradise. After trying the Hollywood scene and the back-home-to-Arkansas thing, he moved to Hawaii, where he’s been for almost eight years.

His current location and comfortable situation allowed him finally to record and self-release his debut album, “Darn It, Baby, That’s Love!” which serves as a tribute to the songs he’s always held dear. Featuring “Can’t Help Lovin’ That Man of Mine” from “Show Boat” and “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Your Face” from “My Fair Lady,” Callaway’s album showcases his obvious affinity for musical theater. He mixes in a few modern covers as well.

More than 20 years ago, Callaway was starting his acting and modeling career in Los Angeles. He describes the scene as completely different in its treatment of gays. Once, after an interview in the early ’80s, Callaway’s manager told him that the agency had asked if he was “light in the loafers.”

“That terrified me,” he says.

Callaway took on Los Angeles, though, writing press releases and bios for Capitol Records, driving a limo and taking small acting gigs. After placing an ad in the personals section for the L.A. Weekly, Callaway decided to have a housewarming party, inviting all who had responded.

An hour into the party, his apartment building caught on fire, and he was left homeless overnight.

The incident sent him back home to Arkansas, where he directed community theater and met his partner before they decided to move to Hawaii.

“Hawaii is a beautiful place, and there I was revisited by my musical muse, Cheryl Hardwick Moore.”

Moore was the musical director for “Saturday Night Live” for 25 years, and she’s now Callaway’s partner in staging community theater shows in Hilo, Hawaii.

AFTER SEEING A LIST of the top 25 songs from the movies, Callaway and Moore did a chronological history of the Palace Theater, where they work, integrated through the songs.

Callaway performed “As Time Goes By” with Moore at the piano.

“People just kept telling me, that stage lights up when you’re on it,” he says.

And so the album was born. It was conceived during the time of Callaway’s father’s illness, and developed during Callaway’s many trips back to Arkansas from Hawaii, before his father died.

Now, Callaway’s achieved mild success with the new album.

“We’ve just been marketing it one hairdresser at a time,” he said. “Women 60 and above, they just love it.”

Callaway wanted to cover songs that hadn’t been done before, but also shares tunes that people have known for many years.

“Some of them are a little obscure, like ‘Come in from the Rain,’” he said. “This is a great song because it’s an allegory to the rain we have to deal with as people, but also as gay people … we have to let it roll off our backs, so to speak.”

Callaway’s partner sings backup on some of the tracks, and his friend Andy Belling arranged the songs.

Callaway also takes on “You Ain’t Woman Enough to Take My Man” by Loretta Lynn.
“Of course, the song takes on a whole new meaning when a fella sings it,” he said.

Callaway remembers a karaoke bar in Nashville called Juanita’s where the same guy would always get up and belt out Lynn’s big number. A lot of Callaway’s friends that would convene there have since passed away from AIDS, so he recorded this track as a tribute to them.

Callaway hopes to make a career out of his singing and will perform at Memphis Pride this year.

‘Darn It, Baby, That’s Love’
Wednesday, 28 May 2008
CLAY CALLAWAY (SELF-RELEASE)
Rating lllll
Review by Simon Chan

Hawaiian warbler Clay Callaway has plucked up the courage to self-produce and release his own CD of his favourite songs.

It’s an eclectic mix of lesser-known cabaret and Broadway numbers (does anyone remember Kander/Ebbs’ Lauren Bacall vehicle, ‘Woman Of the Year’?

– there’s a ballad from that here), a couple of camp pop songs, and disconcertingly, some country and gospel ditties that don’t quite fit the album’s we’re-at-a-sophisticated-gay-lounge-act concept, unless Billy Ray Cyrus happened to skip in on a frock.

Callaway has a pleasant musical theatre-type voice, devoid of any Streisand-like histrionics that normally warp show tunes.

In fact, with his understated vocal performance, Callaway is a lot closer to Karen Carpenter than Mandy Patinkin, which is a relief. It’s a shame he’s been let down by some parts of the production.

‘Darn It, Baby…’ is clearly targeted at the gay male market, with its ‘guy singing songs originally intended for girls’, and a big spunky half-naked man on the front sleeve.

Lyrical gender-bending is no novelty, but a staple of pop. Think Rufus Wainwright’s ‘Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall’, The White Stripes’ eerie cover of Dolly Parton’s ‘Jolene’, or Kate Bush’s playful rendition of Elton John’s ‘Rocket Man’. It’s a galvanising trick, and it works for most of the CD.

However, some of the instrumental arrangements are weak. Callaway is at his best with just plain piano accompaniment, or with solo guitar, as on the surprisingly affecting ‘I’ve Grown Accustomed To Your Face’ (Lerner/Loewe).

We’re closest to what Callaway is really about on his best song, Wayne Moore’s touching ‘My Superman’: a beautiful ballad of humble appreciation, shaded with a hint of melancholy.

For those who simply yearn for a guy to sing a gentle love song to another guy, perhaps this album is for you.

Damn It, Baby! A must have for every gay man
by Fred Swink

“Darn It, Baby, That’s Love!”, the debut album of Clay Callaway, the artist attempted to draw the listener into a very intimate place, “ When we recorded the vocals for this track I imagined we were in some gay cabaret, after-hours with just the band and the bar staff hanging out at the end of the night.”

Most of the songs are familiar, but traditionally performed by female vocalists. I particularly was fond of Callaway’s slightly campy rendition of Loretta Lynn’s classic “ You Ain’t Woman Enough to Take my Man”.

This is a CD that every gay man needs to keep in his glove box, an instant cure for those blah days when you might find yourself alone and needing a reminder of how great it is to have, or want, a man to love!

Clay Callaway
Darn It, Baby, That's Love
Openly gay Callaway covers queer cabaret standards like “Can't Help Lovin' That Man of Mine” and “You Ain't Woman Enough to Take My Man.” His partner of 17 years, Ty, joins him on the title cut. Charming, despite its predictability. Self-produced (www.claycallaway.com). — Review: N.F.

"Darn It, Baby, That's Love" by Clay Callaway; no label


Genre: World music.


Distinguishing notes: Clay Callaway has love and romance in his heart; his song choices reflect old-school tastes and styles. At best, Callaway, a Big Islander, has fun sharing this love.

His repertoire won't get much airplay in Honolulu. However, theatrical types might examine his choices: The title tune is one of those idiosyncratic bits that might work in a sophisticated cabaret show; and standards such as "When Sunny Gets Blue" and "Can't Help Lovin' That Man of Mine" would please a discriminating listener. But hey, he's put his vocal imprint on "All the Man That I Need," a composition by my pal, Dean Pitchford (and Michael Gore, his lyricist), and that's a highlight for these ears.

And bravo, Callaway's notations explain why his selections are relevant to his look on love.


Our take: Modest appeal; but you might find a treasure, if you hunt.

"Darn it, Baby, That's Love!"
Clay Callaway
(Self-released)


Big Island resident Pat Rocco made history in 2006 with the simultaneous release of two self-produced albums of romantic pop standards. One of them, "She Touched Me: Pat Rocco Sings Songs for Lovers," was a conventional collection of songs written for male vocalists to sing about women. On the other, "He Touched Me: Pat Rocco Sings Songs For Gay Lovers," he performed 35 songs written for women to sing about men -- although, given the alleged sexual preferences of some of the great pop music song writers, it's possible that some were written with a man in mind.
Clay Callaway, by coincidence also a Big Island resident, follows Rocco's example with his debut album. Anyone open to hearing a man sing about being in love with another man will enjoy his interpretations of 12 mainstream love songs.

Callaway opens, as Rocco did, with "Can't Help Lovin' That Man," a song that establishes the concept of the album in uncompromising style. It establishes Callaway as an expressive and talented vocalist, as well.

From there, he explores a cross-section of modern love songs: "When Sonny Gets Blue," "All The Man That I Need" and "Sometimes A Day Goes By," to name three. Callaway and his arranger/co-producer Andy Belling do a good job with all three. Synth tracks would be a tempting cost-cutting expedient for a self-produced niche-market project, but several of these arrangements have a solid organic sound.

The title song stands out as a lighthearted celebration of love so strong that it survives the physical changes that come with age -- hair loss, expanding waistline and so on. Callaway sings it as a duet with his best friend and partner, Ty Lewis, and they make it a joyous highlight of the collection.

On the other hand, "You Ain't Woman Enough To Take My Man" is an awkward fit. In this context, a gay man is telling a woman (or perhaps a transvestite?) that she isn't woman enough to take his boyfriend. Does that imply that a more womanly woman could do it? In any case, the arrangement is fun, with audience noise that suggests a barroom setting, but "Stand By Your Man" would be a better fit.

Callaway completes this labor of love with annotation that reveals the story behind each song as well as the names of their composers.

THAT'S LOVE - CLAY CALLAWAY'S DEBUT CD GAINING GROUND

By Lisa Malakaua
Wednesday, April 9, 2008 8:35 AM HST

He promotes his CD by sending it to media, friends and family with a few chocolate covered macadamia nuts and a hand written note. "I guess I'm a has-been that never was making a come-back," he jokes. In a tough business, Clay Callaway's wit keeps him going.

His offering -- a collection of songs to share with other gay men and those that love them -- isn't an original concept but the presentation has some unique twists, making "Darn it, Baby, That's Love!" worth a listen. On his debut album, Callaway takes love songs many written by men and popularized by women then turns them on end by singing them in his distinctive vocal style to other men. It's a creative approach that can make for some rather interesting word play. Take the case of Loretta Lynn's "You Ain't Woman Enough to Take My Man."

It's easy to compare Callaway to the likes of Mel Torme, Neil Sedaka and Michael Buble. His voice is smooth and controlled, the perfect vehicle for a love song.

Originally from South Arkansas, he currently resides in Hawai`i with his partner of over 17 years -- Ty Lewis. You can hear Lewis in a duet on the title track.

Darn it Baby was skillfully produced by Callaway and composer/arranger Andy Belling over the past year in Los Angeles, with additional arrangements provided by Jerry Styner and Quack Moore. Callaway has collaborated with Moore on a number of productions at the Palace Theater with him directing the script and her directing the score.

Already Callaway is experiencing some success. Two cuts from the album, "My Superman" and "Sometimes a Day Goes By," have been in regular rotation on the Pat Marino "Sunset Cruise Show" on Sirius's Q109 satellite radio after debuting on that program the first of the year. With less than three short months in circulation, the CD is being played on gay radio programs from Houston to Denmark to Australia and even the Crab Apple Point jukebox outside his hometown in South Arkansas. Callaway is soon to be featured on the internationally syndicated radio program "This Way Out."

There's a mix of Broadway, cabaret, Jazz and Country music on Darn It Baby -- with most of the tunes familiar but a few relatively unknown. The beautiful vocals and deft instrumentals provide quality entertainment that gets you dancing, singing or clapping along, and quite often, cracking a smile. "As a gay man, I have always grown up listening to popular music, as we all did, but I often felt a certain disconnect to what I was hearing since I felt they weren't singing to or about me . . . This album isn't a political statement. It is a musical effort meant to entertain and to reach out and touch a community of people that have always supported and inspired me as many of us have struggled with sometimes savage hatred and unkind stereotypes," states Callaway.

BIW attended the informal CD release party held at the Flip Side Too (94 Mamo Street), where Callaway performed songs from the collection. Sharing this landmark in his career with friends and fans, he drew a fun crowd. That night the clapping, hooting -- yeeeehaaaaw -- foot stomping and table slapping were all evidence that this rising star has what it takes to get a party started. Tasty pupus and smooth libations kept the party going strong.

When asked how he and Lewis celebrated the completion of Darn It Baby, Callaway answered, "Actually, we didn't get the finished CDs from from Discmakers until New Year's Eve. We celebrated the occasion with Quack and her husband Rick over some wonderful caviar and lots of champagne (compliments of our hosts), while we listened to the finished album with some very special friends. I don't remember much after that until the next morning." He shakes his head as if reliving a very vague moment. Darn It, Baby, That's Love!, can be purchased in Hilo at CD Wizard, The Girl Next Door Store on Kilauea as well as several stores on the mainland. His CD is also available for download or purchase at CDBaby.com and iTunes. Callaway can be reached through his website at http://www.ClayCallaway.com.

TIME HAS COME
HAWAII TRIBUNE HERALD - April 4, 2008
By JOHN BURNETT Tribune-Herald staff writer

Clay Callaway has made a name for himself in Hilo as an actor, producer and director. He is best known as part of the braintrust, with music director Cheryl "Quack" Moore and choreographer Lina Manning, behind the hugely successful Palace Theater fall musicals. Callaway has aspired for over two decades to release musical recordings, as well, but understood that as a gay man, to do something that was true to himself, he would have to wait for an opportune time.
That time has come. Bravo TV has scored big with gay-friendly programming, including the megahit "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy." Colleges and even some high schools are teaching courses in a genre called "queer lit." And "Brokeback Mountain," Ang Lee's movie about a love affair between a couple of cowboys played by Jake Gyllenhaal and the late Heath Ledger, broke the bank, as well. Within that historical context, Callaway finally released his debut CD, "Darn it, Baby, That's Love!"
"I actually started doing this in my 20s, but ... to be successful, you still had to be in the closet," Callaway said. "Elton John got married and he was top of the hill then, but felt some need to go in that direction. My path led me a different direction behind the scenes in the music, film and TV business and I kind of pursued it that way."
Most of the album was produced on the mainland, but one cut, the John Kander-Fred Ebb composition "Sometimes a Day Goes By," was recorded live at the Palace Theater in Hilo, with Moore, a two-time Emmy Award-winner arranging and accompanying Callaway on piano. "When I moved to Hawaii, I found the muse again," Callaway said. "There's so much musical talent here and so many voices. Through the years working with Quack, who's a high caliber talent who has an appreciation for my talent ” not just my directing, my musical talent, as well ” I started rethinking it."
Callaway's father, J.C. ” an orthopedic surgeon and avid golfer ” became ill and died last year. Callaway made frequent flights between Hawaii and his childhood home in El Dorado, Ark., to be with his father and to help his mother, Pat. He contacted an old friend, Andy Belling, a music producer with a home studio in Burbank, Calif., about doing the CD, which contains a mix of standards, show tunes, and songs that had traditionally been sung to or about men by women.
"I had to go back and forth between Hawaii and Arkansas, and I would use that as sort of a stopping-off point. ... We sort of batted some ideas around," Callaway said. "I love the standards and the cabaret stuff and my voice is well suited for it, obviously. ... This was something Andy had always had in the back of his mind. It has a niche audience and who knows where the crossover may go? ... There wasn't this kind of album out there for my peers and my contemporaries.
"With Michael Buble opening the door to a whole new generation to this kind of music, it just gives people a little bit of hope that you can be true to yourself and who you are and express yourself musically. ... Before I did this album, I kind of looked online to see what other sorts of albums were out there. You know, Pat Rocco (of Pahoa) did an album a couple of years ago in the same vein ("He Touched Me"), but he's a different generation, as well, and a different kind of performer. ... My focus was to bring some of these standards back in a new light, sung by a man about a man or to a man."
The lyrics in the songs chosen by Callaway are mostly romantic. There is humor, but nothing salacious or tawdry. Callaway said the focus on love is important in this era of AIDS. "I get concerned about the young people these days, because some of them think that it's sort of like diabetes, that it's treatable ” and it's not," Callaway noted. "It's still a terminal illness and very deadly, and I wanted to do something that's more about love and not about sex, but in a genre that I embrace and in a lifestyle that I've embraced."
The songs include the title track, plus "Can't Help Lovin' That Man of Mine," "When Sunny Gets Blue," "All the Man That I Need," "I've Grown Accustomed to Your Face" and "You Ain't Woman Enough to Take My Man."
"These are songs I've always really liked and then there are a couple that I didn't really know, like ˜I Never Loved a Man Before,'" Callaway said. "That was written by Tom Snow and Gerry Goffin and came off a Diana Ross album that was never even released in the United States ("Take Me Higher," released in 1995 in the United Kingdom)."
Callaway found unconventional ways to market his CD, as well. "So far, my marketing headquarters have been right here at home," he said. "My press kit is a CD, a postcard, and a two-pack of Big Island Candies chocolate covered mac nuts."
The CD is available locally at CD Wizard and The Girl Next Door as well as online at CDBaby.com, with downloads also available on iTunes, Napster and Rhapsody. It is being played locally on KHBC Radio and due to OutRadio.com, it is getting airplay in places as diverse as Denmark, Australia, Thailand, West Virginia, North Carolina and Houston, Texas. It is also becoming a staple in gay piano bars across the U.S. and Canada. "I'd call them up and say, ˜Hey, would you like a complimentary copy?'" Callaway said. "At least, when you don't have a piano player, you can play something other than Bette Midler or Cher."
Callaway, who has been in a committed relationship with his partner, Ty, for 18 years, said that his goal was to present himself and his music in the most, well, straightforward way possible."You can't really change how people perceive you, but you can control how you present yourself," he concluded. "I wanted to present this in a matter-of-fact way." On the Internet: www.claycallaway.com

EL DORADO NEWS TIMES - January 11, 2008

By Rod Harrington
Local native Clay Callaway has released his first CD, a collection of love songs called “Darn It, Baby, That’s Love.”

Now a resident of Hilo, Hawaii, Callaway is the son of Pat Callaway and the late Dr. J.C. Callaway. Callaway’s CD is a grand collection of both classic and contemporary material, including “All The Man That I Need,” “Come In From The Rain,” “Can’t Help Lovin’ That Man of Mine,” “You Ain’t Woman Enough to Take My Man” and “I Never Loved A Man Before.” I especially like “I’ve Grown Accustomed To Your Face,” a lovely ballad with only an acoustic guitar behind Callaway.

An openly gay man, Callaway, writes about the issue in his CD. “Many of these songs, most of them written by men, were made popular by wonderful women vocalists through the years so perhaps many have never heard them sung on an album by a man, to a man. The idea is to offer gay men a collection of love songs, of sorts, created expressly for our friends. Some songs were selected to make you laugh. Some songs might give you a smile. There’s a bit of Broadway, cabaret and country, as well as a couple you’ve maybe never heard before.”

Callaway said he always wanted to make his debut effort a concept recording. “The thought of a concept album is maybe almost lost on the download generation ... so in case the idea carries on, with this album I am offering an eclectic selection of songs with me singing about my love for my man. This concept in and of itself isn’t new, but it is my first outing, so to speak, with a collection of songs to share with other gay men and those that love them.” Choosing to remake a Loretta Lynn classic such as “You Ain’t Woman Enough” was a tribute to friends, both past and present. Callaway writes that Tuesday nights used to mean Karaoke at Juanita’s Bar in Nashville, Tenn. “Of course the song takes on a whole new meaning when a fella sings it,” he writes in the CD.

One gets a hint of Michael Buble, Neal Sedaka and others when hearing Callaway. He’s a very gifted vocalist with stylings and tonal quality to match just about anyone on the market today. Especially on the tender ballads, where Callaway is at his best. Callaway even shares vocal credits with his partner, Ty. The two have been together for 17 years.
On his CD and website, Callaway also discusses how trying the past year has been. “It has taken a full year from concept to completion of this offering, and emotionally it has been perhaps the most rigorous I have experienced. Since in the midst of its creation, my dear father was ill and sadly passed along. On this journey, it has often felt like I’m walking off of a precipice and having the ground come up to meet me at every step, frightening and assuring, empowering and humbling all the way.”

Callaway produced the CD with Andy Belling. Arrangements are by Belling, Quack Moore and Jerry Styner.

You can find the CD locally at Possibilities Hair Salon on North West Avenue or by visiting www.claycallaway.com on the Internet. - reprinted by permission of Rod Harrington, El Dorado News Times - El Dorado, AR