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Clayton Anderson

Clayton Anderson is proud to be just a little different. While enrolled at Indiana University, he wrote his first song in the school's library and began playing fraternity parties around town, earning an audience long before graduation. Things changed dramatically in 2008, when he found himself onstage at the Riverbend Amphitheatre in Cincinnati, playing to 10,000 people as Kenny Chesney's opening act. Anderson had won a Battle of the Bands competition the month before; not only did his first-place finish allow him to open for Chesney, but it also convinced him to chase down his musical dreams with refueled energy. Newly inspired, Clayton quit his day job as a landscaper and moved to Nashville. You can take the songwriter out of the Midwest, but you can't take the Midwest out of the songwriter. Now a Tennessee resident for the past decade, Clayton Anderson makes heartland country-rock that's emblematic not only of his new home, but also the region in which he was raised. He continues to tour Middle America at a relentless rate, balancing a busy schedule of headlining shows with high-profile opening dates, including a performance alongside Zac Brown Band at the Indy 500 — with 40,000 people in attendance. The hard work has paid off, and the proof can be seen in Clayton's rabidly loyal following and expansive crowds.

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