Press Release –
SoCal-based Americana singer-songwriter Clayton Chaney (ex of The Show Ponies) will be releasing a new album, Too Far, on February 27, 2026, via Rock Ridge Music.
For Clayton Chaney, songwriting acknowledges darkness and allows the light to shine through. His songs are saturated with themes of love, loss, faith, humility, and humor, and, with nearly two decades of songwriting under his belt, the Arkansan-turned-Angeleno feels more connected than ever to his craft, offering some incredibly heartfelt, pensive, and witty songs grounded in real human experience. “I try to keep my songs simple and have them live in the overlap of specificity and universality,” says Chaney. “I’m realizing that songwriting is my method of saying what’s important to me in ways that I can’t do in regular conversation. It’s a chance to say things that would otherwise go unsaid.”
About Clayton Chaney
For Clayton Chaney, songwriting is a spiritual practice of acknowledging darkness and allowing the light to shine through. His songs are saturated with themes of love, loss, faith, humility, and humor, creating an honest and approachable catalog. With nearly two decades of songwriting under his belt, the Arkansan-turned-Angeleno feels more connected than ever to his craft, offering some incredibly heartfelt, pensive, and witty songs grounded in real human experience. “I try to keep my songs simple and have them live in the overlap of specificity and universality,” says Chaney. “I’m realizing that songwriting is my method of saying what’s important to me in ways that I can’t do in regular conversation. It’s a chance to say things that would otherwise go unsaid.”
Chaney grew up in Texas and Arkansas in a musical family, singing harmonies with his older brother, and he had a father whose musical tastes were wide-ranging. At a young age, his uncle Bart gave him a mixtape that contained the sounds of Roger Miller, Buck Owens, and Elvis Presley. They taught him rhythm. Later, that same uncle showed him Bob Dylan and Simon and Garfunkel. “I quit multiple alt-rock bands in my teens in the early 2000s because I liked Simon and Garfunkel too much,” recalls Chaney. “Listening to 60s and 70s folk artists showed me that a song doesn’t have to be highly produced and arranged. Songs can hit hard just with vocals and acoustic guitar.” He moved to Los Angeles at 18 to attend film school. After graduating, he struggled to find work in the entertainment industry and music took the front seat. “I’ve lived in LA for almost 20 years,” he says. “I’ve come to love it and call it home, but my mind and mouth still move at the pace of the South.”
By his mid-twenties, Chaney was honing his craft and found he had plenty to say. He founded The Show Ponies, a five-piece, indie-folk band where he acted as frontman and bass player. The band released four albums and toured around the United States, playing anything from tiny living rooms to rowdy bars to churches and music festivals – gaining a core following every step of the way. Though the band was growing rapidly and reaching new heights, in 2018 the band members decided the Ponies had run its course, and they said farewell to fans and life on the road. Fans were heartbroken, and the disbanding of The Show Ponies became the subject of a feature-length documentary, “We’re Not Lost,” which explores the emotions of letting go of a dream and continuing down a different, unexpected path. The breakup had a significant effect on Chaney, leaving him unsure of what was next, what to do, or where to go. “I put too many eggs in The Show Ponies basket,” he says. “Leaving it was hard, but it forced me to find out who I am outside of being a musician. The band breaking up really exposed how much insecurity I had, and still have, but allowed me to connect with a stronger foundation.”
These deep sentiments led to Chaney’s first solo effort, and in 2020 he released the EP, Thinking Those Thoughts, an exercise in confession and a gauge for Chaney as to whether continuing the musical journey as a solo artist was worth the fight. The process ignited a new spirit in Chaney, and he has kept the musical coals burning with a slow, but steady, stream of singles, videos, and creative content that is celebrated by new and old fans alike. He has been quietly playing shows and collecting songs for his forthcoming effort. You can hear the wisdom in these tunes.
His new album, Too Far, has lyrics that are hard-hitting and humorous, and his voice is incredibly expansive and crisp. It sounds effortless. If you’ve seen Chaney live, his delivery ranges from light and witty to intense and at times explosive. He’s a true performer, and that comes through on the record. Fans of Dawes, Johnny Fritz, and John Moreland may find a new favorite artist with Chaney’s new offering. Too Far will be released on the Nashville-based label, Rock Ridge Music, where he joins a roster that boasts other SoCal-based labelmates, Moonsville Collective and Victoria Bailey. Fans and new listeners will be able to find him supporting the album with a number of tour dates.
The album opens with an upbeat original gospel tune, “When the Light Comes In.” You’ll hear tinges of Yusef/Cat Stevens and Hiss Golden Messenger in the rhythms of open-tuned acoustic guitars, lap steel, and organ, on top of an impressive percussion section. You can hear the Ozark Mountains in Chaney’s voice, bringing country and Southern Gospel into this 1970s-inspired folk-rock tune. The song encourages listeners to love each other and keep on the sunny side of life.
The album’s title track and closer, “Too Far,” is quite the contrast to how the album starts. Chaney strips down to just voice and guitar with distant drones of fiddles in the background. “Too Far” grapples with the idea of dreams not coming true, but, at the same time, it realizes that we don’t do ourselves any good wishing we were someone else doing something else somewhere else. The listener is grounded in the present with lines like, “Do you want to go to heaven, or do you just want to die, ’cause the life that you were promised was falsely advertised? Do you keep on reaching deeper to the bottom of the jar? Am I just a hopeless seeker of a place that feels too far?” Somehow, there’s a ray of hope in this melancholic melody, one that we also get glimpses of in the other tracks.
Chaney describes the themes of the album simply as things you learn when you get older. As a husband and father pushing 40, he’s trying not to make music the entire pinnacle of his life. At its core, the songs are markers of life lessons learned. “Susanna” and “Can’t Turn It Back” are highly nostalgic, but they don’t fall into the trap of saying that the good ol’ days are in the past. “Roots Grow Deep” is a 6/8 country ballad summed up in the line, “We’ll never be where we want to be ’til we want to be where we are.” The record is cautionary about living too far in the past or the future. “Something About Los Angeles” is an ode to the place where Chaney has experienced so much grief and settled into so much contentment. “Same Things” and “Everything That Goes Away” are about making the same mistakes over and over but finding the opportunity for forgiveness and renewal with each misstep.
Too Far was co-produced by William Caleb Parker, Kevin Brown, and Philip Glenn. William Caleb Parker is a great musician and writer in his own right, and he has made a name for himself in LA as a producer and engineer. A lot of his time is spent recording and mixing Scary Pockets and Pomplamoose. “I don’t know if I can record anything without Philip Glenn and Kevin Brown,” Chaney claims. “I played with them so much in The Show Ponies. They know my writing, playing, and singing style and know what I’m trying to say when I don’t have the musical or production term for it.” The album features performances from other staples in the L.A. Americana scene like Stephen Musselman (guitar, pedal steel, lap steel, dobro) and Leeann Skoda (vocal harmonies).
Releasing Too Far is the exciting next chapter in Chaney’s musical journey. With the new record, he’s stoking the musical coals he’s been keeping warm the past few years and starting to build a fire. At the core, Clayton Chaney hopes the flames can cast a little brightness in a dark world and keep growing so he can continue to put out music.
