Philip Claypool

Philip Claypool was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee.[1] His mother, a church organist, influenced him to take interest in gospel music.[1] By the time he was in high school, Claypool had begun writing songs as well, and by age 21, he had made his first professional performance.[2]

By 1995, Claypool had signed to Curb Records as a recording artist.[3] Working with producer Jerry Crutchfield, he released his debut album A Circus Leaving Town that same year. This album produced four chart singles on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts (now Hot Country Songs). Among these were the title track (which was later recorded by Travis Tritt on his 2004 album My Honky Tonk History) and Claypool's highest-charting hit, a cover of British band Bad Company's 1975 single "Feel Like Makin' Love".[4]

Claypool's debut album received a three-star rating from Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic, who called it "a diverse collection [b]uilding on a solid contemporary base", with "intriguing" production that "sav[ed] even the weakest tracks".[5] Dan Kuchar of Country Standard Time noted Claypool's "leather and velvet" voice but said that, except for the Bad Company cover and one other song, the material was largely "tired, cliché-laden… [and] devoid of any hooks".[4] Claypool himself described the album as being "left of center". In a 1996 interview with Modern Screen's Country Music magazine, he called it "more mature" but "a little distanced from what is happening radio-wise".[2]

Claypool also recorded a song for the soundtrack to the 1998 film Major League: Back to the Minors His self-produced second album, Perfect World, was released in 1999,[3] although it contained no chart singles and mostly comprised material from his first album. In late 2012, Claypool recorded his first album in over a decade. Scheduled to be released in 2013, it was produced by Michael Lloyd. The first single from the album, "I'm Gonna Lie", was released on March 18, 2013.

Claypool is now the resident musician at Southend Brewery and Smokehouse in Charleston, South Carolina, home of the Big Pig and celebrity chef Orlando Barrera.[6]