Lee Clayton

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title: "Lee Clayton" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1942-births", "2023-deaths", "american-country-guitarists", "american-country-rock-singers", "american-male-guitarists", "american-country-singer-songwriters", "american-male-singer-songwriters", "people-from-russellville,-alabama", "guitarists-from-alabama", "20th-century-american-guitarists", "country-musicians-from-alabama", "20th-century-american-male-musicians", "outlaw-country-singers", "progressive-country-musicians", "provogue-records-artists", "singer-songwriters-from-alabama"] description: "American songwriter and musician (1942–2023)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Clayton" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American songwriter and musician (1942–2023) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist"]

Field	Value
name	Lee Clayton
landscape
background	solo_singer
birth_name	Billy Shotts
birth_date
birth_place	Russellville, Alabama, U.S.
origin	Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
death_date
death_place	White House, Tennessee, U.S.
genre
occupation	Singer, songwriter
years_active	1973–2018
website
::

| name = Lee Clayton | image = | image_size = | landscape = | alt = | caption = | background = solo_singer | birth_name = Billy Shotts | native_name = | native_name_lang = | alias = | birth_date = | birth_place = Russellville, Alabama, U.S. | origin = Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = White House, Tennessee, U.S. | genre = | occupation = Singer, songwriter | instrument = | years_active = 1973–2018 | website =

Lee Clayton (born Billy Hugh Shotts; October 29, 1942June 12, 2023) was an American songwriter and musician. He notably wrote Waylon Jennings' 1972 outlaw country song "Ladies Love Outlaws".

Biography

Clayton grew up in Oak Ridge, Tennessee and began to play harmonica and guitar at the age of seven. At nine years old, he received his first steel guitar.

After serving in the Air Force he moved to Nashville in 1968 and began his career as a songwriter. In 1972 he wrote "Ladies Love Outlaws" for Waylon Jennings. In 1973 he released his first album simply titled Lee Clayton, with which, as Clayton would later say, he was very dissatisfied. In the following years he continued his songwriting. He wrote songs like "Lone Wolf" for Jerry Jeff Walker and "If You Could Touch Her at All" also for Waylon Jennings. In 1978 his second album, Border Affair, was released. It was critically acclaimed but became a flop at the charts.

His most successful album was 1979's Naked Child. The songs' style was reminiscent of Bob Dylan and the single, "I Ride Alone", became very notable. In 1979, he went on a big world tour, which became a huge success. In 1981 he released his fourth studio album, The Dream Goes On, which had a harder sound than his previous work. After that he published two autobiographical books and, in 1990, he released a live album entitled Another Night, which was recorded on September 9, 1988, at the Cruise Cafe, Oslo, Norway. Also in 1990, The Highwaymen, an outlaw country supergroup comprising Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson, had a minor hit with a song of his, "Silver Stallion", which had previously appeared on Border Affair (1978). In 1994, he released the album Spirit of the Twilight. Cat Power also covered "Silver Stallion" on the 2008 cover album Jukebox. In 2008 a new acoustic song "We The People" was 'released' on YouTube.

Discography

• 1973: Lee Clayton, MCA
• 1978: Border Affair, Capitol
• 1979: Naked Child, Capitol
• 1981: The Dream Goes On, Capitol
• 1990: Tequila is Addictive (4 track CD maxi single), Provogue
• 1990: Another Night (live), Provogue
• 1994: Spirit of the Twilight, Provogue
• 2014: Live at Rockpalast (1980), Repertoire

Compilations/reissues

• 1995: Border Affair/Naked Child 2^ & 3^ LP on CD Edsel Records UK
• 1996: Lee Clayton 1^ LP on CD Edsel Records UK
• 1996: Border Affair/Naked Child 2^ & 3^ LP on CD Edsel (edel)
• 2002: The Essential 1978–1981 Repertoire
• 2003: Border Affair/Naked Child 2^ & 3^ LP on CD
• 2005: The Essential 1978–1981 Smd Reper (Sony BMG)
• 2006: Lee Clayton 1^ LP on CD Evangeline (Soulfood Music)
• 2008: Border Affair-The Capitol Years 2^,3^ & 4^ LP on 2CD (Acadia/Evangeline)

Chart songs as a songwriter

• #25 on Billboard: "Silver Stallion" played by The Highwaymen (Nelson/Jennings/Cash/Kristofferson) [1990]

Notes

In the sleeve note of his album Another Night (1990) there's mention of U2's Bono saying that the only country singer that has influenced him was a pretty well unknown fellow named Lee Clayton.

References

References

1. Edwards, Gavin. (August 30, 2019). "10 Country Albums Rolling Stone Loved in the 1970s You Never Heard".
2. Holden, Stephen. (July 12, 1981). "POP: JERRY JEFF WALKER". The New York Times.
3. (1997). "[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music". [[Virgin Books]].
4. "Lee Clayton Biography, Songs, & Albums".
5. Christian Graf, Uwe Wohlschläger: Rock Musik Lexikon (German) – Taurus Press

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