Cass Clayton Band’s new album Midnight in a Bottle captivates with deep, rich vocals and a kaleidoscope of live instruments that infuse each track with a distinctive flavor. A vibrant tapestry of musical styles, the album is woven together by Clayton’s masterful storytelling. With lyrics at the forefront, Clayton’s 11 songs flirt with diverse genres while remaining bound by a common thread: her unwavering commitment to narrative. Also, Cass was recently voted Favorite Female Vocalist of 2024 (Colorado Blues Society Members’ Choice Awards).

In this interview spotlight, I chat with Cass about the latest music, AI, dream collabs, and more.

Full Q&A along with links and music below.

This AI thing is getting way out of control. I have students using ChatGPT to write death metal songs about country music…and country songs about being sad. You can feed some Ais a text prompt and create a Hollywood-quality short film. How do you feel about this new wave of technological innovation?

What a great question. AI is already integrated into everything on a terrifying level. On the good side, it makes menial tasks faster. But there’s a huge problem with AI, and this is the danger of it: AI can’t feel or have compassion, it can only express the algorithm for feelings and compassion. It can’t know the truth, only an algorithm that looks like what might be true. So we as humans have to maintain our power over anything that requires a heart and soul. I personally would never depend on AI for things better left to my intuition or inner knowledge. On a purely artistic level, writing a song using AI is for the non-artist, someone who’s not into personal development. I personally gain a lot from the torturous process of writing a great song (haha). The fact that it’s difficult to get deep down to your own core message as a songwriter is the whole point of writing something really worth saying. People feel it when you touch that chord that resonates for reasons you can’t really explain logically. But yeah, a lot of people will fall for this AI thing, because it’s easy and they think easy is good. 

What’s your favorite song and/or favorite artist of all time?

Wow, that probably changes pretty regularly depending on my mood. Today I was listening to Anders Osborne kind of by accident in the car, and I was reminded of what a deeply skilled songwriter he is. His song, “Coming Down,” was specifically what came on, but his writing in general is beautiful. I appreciate anyone who can tell a great story in 3 minutes and really make you feel it. And to go back to your previous question, AI will never write a song like “Coming Down.” It’s not algorithm friendly, it’s human friendly.

Congrats on the release of your 4th studio album! What are you hoping to accomplish with this body of work? What’s the back story?

Thank you! MIDNIGHT IN A BOTTLE was hard to write. Some of those songs had a long gestation period of years. If you take the title song as an example, I wanted to express that some things aren’t meant to last. Like a summer fling with someone who’s not really your “forever person.” There’s a certain perfection to that, because you really focus on the moment if you know it’s going to end. My favorite lyric in that song is “What could I say that you don’t already know, these summer things don’t last into the snow, let’s polish off the bottle before the leaves turn gold.” Each song on this album has a completely different flavor. But they’re all pieces of life, memories and messages that have meaning to me. So maybe they’ll have meaning to someone else too. That’s what I hope.

What drives you to create? What keeps you going, especially on the bad days?

This will sound a little weird, but I spend a lot of time making up stories about life. I like living in my imagination quite a bit. So I think of some far out idea that I might want to create but that’s not likely to happen, and then I write it down as if it has already happened. I don’t remember when I started doing this – I think my late teens – but It’s still fun for me. A lot of these dreams come true, especially if it’s a recurring theme and I want it to happen and I take some kind of action. It’s not magic. But I can say it’s a way of directing my energy and staying passionate about creating. On bad days, I don’t force anything. I might sleep or do something simple. I might read a book or do nothing at all. Inspiration doesn’t come to me if I’m exhausted, so if I’m having a bad day I just lay low. I’m usually happy, because I insist on it.

If you could collaborate with anyone – dead or alive, famous or unknown – who would it be and why?

Oh wow! Since I was just listening to him, I’m gonna go with Anders Osborne. He’s got a lot of dimensions. He’d be a fascinating person to write with. 

Where is the best place to stay connected with you?

Thanks for asking! Our website is www.cassclayton@gmail.com, which has links to all of our social media. Basically, all of our music is searchable under Cass Clayton. 

I appreciate Your time. Want to say anything else before we sign off?

Thanks for the great dialogue. It’s always fun to talk about music when someone is asking questions in a little different way. Fun!