Country music artist Clayton Anderson bringing taste of outdoors to Gem City Music Festival

QUINCY — Country singer/songwriter Clayton Anderson feels the outdoors and country music go hand in hand.

Growing up in Bedford, Ind., about 30 miles south of the Indiana University campus in Bloomington, his family spent many an hour in the wild. 

“We’d always go down to Salt Creek or the White River and fish around my neck of the woods,” Anderson said. “And we got a national forest over there so lots of hunting, lots and lots of great deer. I didn’t never really liked deer hunting .. too cold out there. 

“I’m not very good at being quiet. So a great rabbit hunter and a bird hunter, pretty decent squirrel hunter. But I hate being cold and I hate being quiet.”

Anderson will be the headliner August 20 at On the Rail as a part of the Gem City Music Festival.

And his love for the outdoors is deeply rooted in family.

“He took me fishing and hunting,” Anderson said of his grandfather. “My dad, we got bird dogs and became big bird hunters, and that was so much fun and I love it. I will always have a connection to the outdoors no matter what.”

That relationship with his grandfather led to the creation of the song “Show Me Your Fish” that took off earlier this year.

“I wish my grandpa was still here,” Anderson said. “I wrote the song ‘Show Me Your Fish’ for him. But man, if he could have seen all the guys we watched growing up on the fishing shows on Saturday and Sundays, having them in the music video, he would have gotten a big kick out of that.”

Clips of Bill Dance and Jimmy Houston are part of Anderson’s music video, and the idea for the song came from social media posts.

“All these girls were making fun of dudes on Tik Tok for showing their fish, holding a fish up and taking a picture of them and their fish on their dating profile,” Anderson said. “Like why girls don’t respect that he’s a hunter and gatherer? You catch it. You show it. It’s a proud moment to brag a little bit. They always say write what you know. And it took us about 45 minutes to write that song. Real quick and easy.”

Anderson also integrated his love of the outdoors into COVID-friendly shows. He brought his music to his fans by creating Lake Tours, where fans could pull up in their boats, socially distanced, and enjoy live entertainment.

“Going around playing (the Lake Tour) the first year was pretty much in Indiana, but these last two years we’ve been everywhere,” Anderson said. “We played over in the Ozarks to all the way over to Ohio. We played all over the Midwest. So, it’s been really, really cool. We thought that was most safe, have a little communion with fans and have fun out on the water. We wanted to get together because we didn’t want to stay away from people. It’s been an absolute blast.”

All those hours fishing for crappie and drift fishing for perch have stayed with Anderson. 

“Outdoors go hand in hand with (country music),” he said. “So it’s awesome to get to meet local people and see local places, and that’s one of the big things I get a kick out of touring, doing local things, eating at local places, and getting to those secret spots where you’re playing at to go either hunt or fish.”

Click here for ticket information for Gem City Music Festival.