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Fans of The Show Ponies will be familiar with Clayton Chaney, who has embraced now being a solo performer on his brand new release, “Too Far,” which just came out February 27th. The SoCal-based singer-songwriter has put together a genuine, heartfelt, personal, and compelling collection of songs on this album, and the musical grit and twang found throughout is the perfect complement to Chaney’s lyrics and vocals. A testament to his strong songwriting, it is hard to choose a favorite among the album’s nine fantastic tracks. We sat down with him recently to talk about the album overall, his favorite song on the record, and more.
Hi, Clayton. Welcome to VENTS! How has 2026 been treating you so far?
2026 has treated me alright so far. But it’s a strange time to be alive, for sure. Seems like that strange feeling amplifies with each new year. Just trying to stay positive and release a record as the world gets stranger and stranger.
You’ve blown us away with your stellar new album out in February called “Too Far.” What can you tell us about this collection of songs? What inspired you to write these songs and record this album?
Thanks! These songs were collected over several years. I didn’t necessarily write each one with an album in mind, but I ended up choosing songs that more or less fit together thematically. A lot of these songs come from a space of recognizing patterns in my life and trying to end the bad patterns and be restored by the good patterns. You’ll hear those themes pretty loud and clear on “Susanna,” “Same Things,” and “Everything That Goes Away.” The idea of living in the present is pretty prevalent in “Can’t Turn It Back” and “Too Far.” I keep saying that most of the songs are just life lessons you learn as you get older. Most of them were simply written out of personal reflection, then someone randomly offered to pay for me to record an album, and I took them up on the offer.
How was the songwriting process for these songs?
The process is different for each song. “Don’t Know What I’d Do” and “Too Far” essentially came to me very quickly in moments of clarity after experiencing periods of darkness. The rest of them didn’t come as easily. I wrote the melody and progression for “Everything That Goes Away” in 2016 and took it through a few lyrical versions before finally recording it. The verses in “Roots Grow Deep” came pretty easily after messing around with a chromatic progression in open tuning on guitar. But there were months of changing the chorus until I landed on something that I liked. With “When The Light Comes In,” I gave myself the challenge of writing something in the style of Yusef/Cat Stevens, Hiss Golden Messenger, and Larry Norman. I think I always have a few lyrical ideas kicking around in my head, and when I sit down with a guitar and hammer out a melody or progression, I’ll kinda see what sticks to the chords and expand on it once I feel like I’ve landed on something good.
What was it like working on these tracks in the studio? What was your favorite part about recording this album? What was the most challenging aspect of the recording process?
What I like most about being in the studio is being around other people I love as friends, who are also incredible at what they do. I do enough prep work with the band and producers before recording that I feel like I mostly just watch other people work their magic in the studio. I just kick back in the control room until it’s time for me to go to the tracking room. My favorite part of being in the studio is probably falling asleep on the control room couch and waking up to an almost-finished track. The most challenging aspect of recording is getting out of my own head, especially when tracking guitar. The finger picking on “Susanna” was not easy for me to keep in time, even though I wrote it. I had to go home and practice with a metronome for a while before tracking that one.
How did you come up with the album title? What made you choose it for these songs and the listening experience they provide when taken as a whole?
“Too Far” ended up as the album title partly because it was the last song I wrote for the album. I’m also the most proud of the song, because it is pretty much just me playing guitar and singing. No backing band. No heavy reliance on production. It’s just me being vulnerable and exposed: something I should be comfortable with as a solo artist. Recording the song “Too Far” finally convinced me that I am capable of holding things down by myself and that kind of vulnerability and openness is often what people connect with most. The song “Too Far” is about staying present in the moment, not dwelling on past mistakes, or just expecting that a future turn of events will solve all of life’s problems. It takes some threads out of other songs on the album and ties them together in a sad, yet hopeful, way.
Do you have a favorite song on the album, or, if not a favorite, because that can be hard to choose, is there one song that you feel the album revolves around or is the cornerstone of the release? What sets that song apart?
I feel like this answer is always changing. I have different favorites for different reasons. I would say my favorite right now is “Can’t Turn It Back.” I think it has some of my best lyrics in it and is probably one of the more singable ones on the album. The song takes on the common songwriting challenge of making my specific experiences applicable to the listener’s experiences.
What else do you have on tap for 2026?
In life in general, I’m just planning on spending as much time with my 2-year-old son as possible while he still thinks I’m cool. As far as music is concerned, I’m hoping to get a string of house shows together this spring and summer. I feel like small, intimate venues are where my songs play the best.
Website: http://claytonchaney.com/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/claychaney/
