Speaker 1: This is, is off track totally.
A totally on record conversation. Uh, right.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Off Track with Hinch
and Rossi on a Tuesday.
And it's a celebratory Tuesday.
So we brought in a celebratory guest who
I'm hoping hasn't stopped celebrating the incredible
national championship for the Iers,
Mr. Clayton Anderson, Mr.
Indiana himself. Welcome to the
show, Speaker 2: .
Oh, thanks for having me, guys.
I tell you what, uh, I'm barely hanging on by a
thread Speaker 1: .
Yeah, that's what we wanna hear.
Speaker 2: It's been, uh, we were in, um, Phoenix
for a big dirt track race out here on Saturday.
And then two hours sleep, got to Miami, played a huge event
for IU that was just unbelievable.
Like a career highlight moment.
Um, it's right up there
with playing farm aid in the Indy 500.
And, um, and then we went to the football game
and I screamed my head off.
And, uh, then we played an after party
and I got about an hour and a half sleep.
Um, and we're back in Phoenix again
to end on a dirt track race party.
I just gotta get through the night.
Speaker 1: Oh my God. So Speaker 2: One, one more show.
Speaker 1: Does, does a singer, like, do you need your voice?
Is that a important ?
Speaker 2: Yeah, tonight. Tonight.
Uh, I wish that I could be, uh, doing comedy, but, uh, sure.
It's, yeah. It's, it's gonna be a struggle tonight.
I'm not gonna lie. It's gonna be okay.
Speaker 1: Okay. Well, well, clay, let's,
let's give the people a little backstory here.
Um, explain a little bit about, you know,
the music career in general,
but then also what the tie in is with iu,
why you are Mr. Iu.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I, I, you know,
I'm a hillbilly from Bedford, Indiana.
Born and raised in Indiana, Hoosier. Uh, I went to iu.
I fell in love with music.
I started playing, you know, it was easy way
to get girls' attention playing on the couch,
or the parties after, after, uh,
after going out to the bars or something.
So, um, one thing led to another.
I opened a, I won this contest,
got opened up for Kenny Chesney.
Um, I'm the biggest IU homer ever.
I wrote a song called Indiana
and ESPN blasted it all over the Peach Bowl.
They played it again last night, um, only one time,
you know, but, you know, uh,
it is, but they still played it.
Yeah, they still played it.
So it's just, it's been really cool.
It's been really cool to see
people kind of come around the song.
'cause I've had the song out since 2000 and 2001 or two.
So it's been, it's been a huge blessing.
I mean, IU right now is like raising all tides, like,
or their tide is raising all ships.
It's unbelievable. I'm happy to be caught in a wake
and, uh, I mean,
you guys saw us like down on Peach Bowl is unbelievable.
Just imagine that five times bigger
last night celebrating what?
I still can't believe we even won. It's unbelievable.
It's so fun in the airport today.
Everyone congratulating you.
I'm hugging and kissing strangers. It's
Speaker 1: Unbelievable.
I mean, to be fair, you do that most days,
but it's like different,
you know, there was a reason for it.
They were initiating it now rather than you
just walking out to 'em, which is good. Yeah,
Speaker 2: Exactly. ,
Speaker 3: Walk us through, uh, 'cause
'cause the friend group that I found myself a part of
in Indianapolis, uh, yourself included a lot of IU alum.
Explain to the people
because there, there's, there's so many storylines around
what this past two and a half, three years have been like.
Right. Indiana's always been a basketball school.
It's been arguably the worst football
program in the country.
All of these things. And why does it
mean so much?
Explain it to James and I
really, people who didn't go to college.
Why does it mean so much now that the football program,
'cause you always had basketball, right?
You always had that going for you.
It's a great school in, in other departments.
Why is the football team so important?
Speaker 2: You know, I think, I didn't even know football was so fun.
I mean, we were always a great tailgating school .
We, uh, we tailgate like crazy.
We dreamed of making a bowl game every year.
We just wanted to win six games.
And that would usually come down
to playing Purdue at the end of the season.
Um, but we were undefeated at tailgating.
We really know how to throw a party .
Um, but it, uh, it's kind of like,
you know, I mean, we've had a drought.
We were also unrealistic basketball fans
because we haven't really been good at basketball for,
uh, quite a while.
I mean, a long time. Uh, so to, to see.
I think, I think everyone was just, the IU fan base was
so starved to have a win, to have something to rally behind.
Um, and everyone's just come together.
You got this coach who, who is, is like us. You know?
I feel like we feel like he's one of us.
Uh, blue collar bootstraps kind of guy goes out there
and gets the job done.
Um, and to me, I would describe it like in the racing world,
it's like you take the, you take the team
that's running the back of the pack forever
and it doesn't have that, doesn't have the funding,
doesn't have the nicest gym to work out.
Does has the crappiest crew chief, or has a crappiest crew.
But by golly they decide they, they go out
and make this random crazy hire to get a engineer to,
to put the car together.
And you all of a sudden are America's team
because everyone's rooting for this dang underdog.
You know? And it's, and and some those goes. I
Speaker 1: Feel like you just talked the, I feel like you just said
the plot of Days of Thunder, but
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
Only we're not as handsome as Tom Cruise,
but, uh, , um, yeah, it's just,
it's just an unbelievable feeling for us Hoosiers,
because we just we're so passionate about iu.
Um, it's not just about the sport,
it's about the college town.
It was about the experience.
I think Bloomington's one of the coolest college I've been
to every, almost every big college town in the country.
And it's just, it's just cool.
And IUP there's something about Indiana people
and I hope that you guys feel this, um, that that, uh,
that there's, it's, there's a charm to it,
but we also take care of one another.
And it's just, it's just when we have these good things
going, it's just, just wanna hug everybody
and kiss everybody and say, God,
Daniel worked at National Campus.
Speaker 1: So what I, what I find so fascinating right?
Is, is in Indiana you've got this IU Purdue rivalry, right?
And in, in said friend group, we've, there's like one
or two pur doers right in the sea of iu.
And there's always those fun kind of days
where you guys are playing each other
in whatever sport it is.
And, and the tension's up.
But I mean, everybody in Indiana, I, I mean, I can think
of one guy that kind of stuck, you know, stuck his guns
and didn't cheer for iu,
but the rest of 'em, they're like, no, look,
it is an Indiana school and we're gonna go for it.
Obviously there was a lot of people that,
let's call it Spade Spade,
were bandwagons when they started doing well
and have jumped on board.
Right? , like everyone here hands up.
Do you think though, with, with the success that they've had
and, and like watching this happen, right?
Like, it, it was really fun to, to be in the middle of,
and like watch how everybody got into it.
Do you think that this has kind of helped solidify
Indiana or like Hoosier football fans, IU football fans,
because now they have been good,
hopefully the program will continue to be good.
Or do you think if next year's not a great season that
that popularity tapers off?
'cause I'm from Toronto, we haven't won a cup in
hockey since 67.
Every lease game is still sold out. We are not bandwagons.
We know what it's like to go
through a drought, but we stick by the team.
Do you think that this is a cool enough story
that it's made lifelong fans outta people? Um,
Speaker 2: Yeah.
I mean, I, I definitely think there's
been lifelong fans made.
Um, I, I don't know.
I was really pulling for you guys this year, by the way.
I don't really Thank you. I don't, I don't know.
I don't know if, uh, I, I have a hard, like,
people wanna see a winner.
Like when I was at school, they would come to me
and ask me like, Hey, how can we get more of the students
to come to the football games?
I'm like, put a winner on the field.
Win games, , you'll get, you'll get people to come.
I, I do think that people are so bought into
what Signi is doing.
Uh, they're so bought into all of our, um, I,
I, I don't think, I don't think we're gonna drop off even
if we don't have the season.
I mean, obviously the first time
is always gonna be the greatest.
Um, but I don't think we're going anywhere.
And I don't think our fan base is gonna fall.
I mean, if, you know, if you lose, I,
they might, I don't, I don't,
I don't think we're gonna go anywhere.
I mean, we would have to tank so bad and go like, oh and two
or, or, or, you know, oh, not,
not win any games for people not to show up.
I do think that could happen.
I mean, people have a short memory span.
Coaches get fired left and right.
I mean, you see it with the Colts.
If we're not doing great, sometimes attendance falls.
Um, but think, well,
Speaker 3: The difference is the Colts doesn't make any adjustments.
But that's a comment for, for another day
Speaker 4: As a Colts fan and a USC alum,
if you guys need some advice on how
to disappoint really quickly, , uh, those are two programs
that could teach you something. Mm. You
Speaker 2: Should really lean into the life
Speaker 4: Lessons Speaker 2: There.
Speaker 3: We can just go to you for, for life disappointment advice.
I mean, so Clayton Anderson is,
is not the spokesperson for IU football.
Uh, I want to get into a little bit about you, um, and,
and what is on the horizon.
You mentioned how this song Indiana came out 20 years ago,
I guess 20 plus years ago, , um, since then you've had,
you've had some, some bangers like Tennessee, I mean,
it's another state, but this Yeah. ,
Tennessee, take me Down. Incredible song.
You talked about how you opened for Kenny Chesney,
like your career trajectory has, has kind of been like,
there's been these, these massive momentum shifts
and then not the quite right group or opportunity
or label or whatever, right?
And then it's another peak
and it's kind of this stair stepping journey.
So, so where are you at in that now?
And, and, you know, what do you think is is on the horizon?
Speaker 2: You know, I'm a I'm a totally
independent artist right now.
I mostly have been my entire life.
I got caught in a record deal scenario, but I'm out of that.
Um, I, you know, I've, I've kind of been trying
to put together a plan of how do we do this?
I think with the internet, you know, we can,
you can reach millions.
It's gonna take, I'm gonna have to try to rally everyone up.
I mean, I've been so supported by mainly Indiana people,
you know, that, that have known me.
Um, once I go outside of that, the further away I go, the,
the less people know about me.
But yeah, it's, it's just been a constant battle and, and,
and you're always hitting, when I get to that peak,
then it's like, oh, I hit a ceiling
and then I can't get above that.
So I'm always trying to push through, trying to, just trying
to get somebody to listen to my songs.
I mean, like, it's cool when
that cool when somebody wants you to play a cover song,
but I'd, I'd really rather you listen to my original songs,
that that actually means something to me.
And it's, it's frustrating. I'm not gonna lie.
It's frustrating as crap.
I know I can entertain with anybody else.
It's just I haven't got, I I didn't get that slot
or opportunity in the machine of Nashville to have that.
You know? I mean, Scott Boto was backstage at the
500 show we played.
I played way better than his artist did.
And I'm like sitting there trying to challenge him
to a go-kart race to try to get a record deal.
You know? I'm like, what can I do to, to win? Huge
Speaker 3: Job, man. Speaker 2: .
Yeah, I had it. I, I went at it.
He wasn't amused, but I, I tried.
Um, so right now, right now, at the age that I'm at, um,
I'm no young pup anymore, so I'm trying
to push all my chips in.
The crazy thing that I have right now is, it's so dumb.
I haven't changed. I'm still the same person I was
2, 5, 6 years ago.
But we have a successful bar downtown Clayton's
Country bar that's rocking.
So people are really super interested and pumped in that.
Um, ESPN playing Indiana all
of a sudden got everybody even more fired up for it.
It's like, man, I've, I've been begging you to use the song.
Like, so I gotta push all my chips in,
call all in all my favors of anybody knowing the industry.
Um, there's a guy in Nashville that, uh, uh,
that I, he used to be president of IndyCar.
I would love to have him help manage me.
It's about phone calls in this business,
it's about relationships.
It's about, I mean, I would love to go on tour
with John Mellencamp and his world tour that's coming up,
but I need somebody to work his manager to, you know,
get John to agree to it.
There's so many different levels to it, you know?
And, and, and that's what we make the most fans
by going out and playing a show.
I've always tried to stay tight with IndyCar,
with dirt track racing, with all that stuff,
because it's such a great fan base.
And I think music goes hand in hand with racing, especially
some country music stuff, um, on certain demographics.
But it's always about trying to find a new fan
and somebody to listen to you and watch you.
And, and we, we do better live than anything else.
Speaker 1: It, it's funny, man. I mean, just listening to that sort
of story and the trajectory
and the, the roller coaster of it all, like, there's
so many parallels to being a driver as well, right?
We're in, in both of our businesses, we're independents
that are trying to find that opportunity, find that,
you know, that time when you get discovered
or like you really blow up.
And, um, I, I'm, I'm curious if, you know, with,
with Indiana being used by ESPN now, I mean
that's exposed you to a, a national audience,
a very passionate national audience.
I mean, have you started to see like, immediately some
after effects of that and,
and have, you know, do we think that this is kind
of now the unofficial anthem of the school
and it's gonna play on every Hosiers game next year? I
Speaker 2: Sure hope so.
I mean, the Shazams have been out.
I mean, the Shazams was trending, uh, in, I I think that's
Speaker 1: Awesome.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So that was really cool, um, to see that,
that means it's, that means somebody liked it enough
to either rewind the dang TV and Shazam it or something.
So that was amazing. Or Streams have really
went up on the song.
So that's been incredible. So it, it is definitely working.
Here's the hard part. How do we, um, talking about
how do we keep Indiana football?
Are the fan base gonna stay with it or whatever.
So now it's up to me to try to figure out, you know,
keep pushing the song, keep pushing other songs.
We we're gonna do other things
and I'm gonna start releasing new music,
but how do we, how do we just keep growing it, get on,
get on board with our thing.
It's not, it's not about just music anymore.
You know, it's about lifestyle
and even you guys, you know, it's like,
like it's not just about the racing anymore.
People wanna see all these different facets
of you on social media.
Like, I love, I love Rossi's, gosh dang accidental.
I, I think it was accidental.
The, the, um, oh gosh, the best chicken and dumplings.
What's the Cracker Barrel? Cracker
Speaker 3: Barrel. Cracker Barrel, yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I love it.
I mean, that was so awesome and so genuine and, and yeah,
and, and organic.
So I, I gotta find a way just to keep telling our story
and, you know, being a part of getting to go
to get big shoot, getting to go
and be a part of IndyCar races, getting
to be out here in Phoenix, although I'm dragging butt right
now, but like, getting to be at this dirt track race.
And if we can win over a few hundred fans tonight, man,
it's worth, worth being out here
on an hour and a half sleep.
Speaker 3: So a, as an artist, is, is the songwriting part of it
enjoyable, or is that kind of like a, a burden that you have
to like, get through in order to,
to continually have new music and, and play fresh stuff?
Or is it something that you truly enjoy
sitting down and going through that process?
Speaker 2: I, I think it's pretty fun.
Um, you know, it's, you, you take silly things that either,
either you're, uh, a witty guy,
like our friend Depu throws out all the time.
Or you take you, you just take things that your friends say
or, or, or you hear some random person say or,
or something that made you feel like all this,
this football game's giving me so much emotion, you know,
it's like, and, and like, you, you, you, it's really cool.
It's also very frustrating sometimes when
it's not going right.
You know, it's like you're, you, you know,
you're sitting in a car that's really good,
but there's just like one thing that's just off that's,
that's keeping you, holding you back.
So it can also be very frustrating.
But also I think it's one of the coolest things ever.
Like, you can craft something that means something to me,
and it might mean something different to Tim,
or might mean something different to Hinch,
but it, it really bold, it brings us together, all of this
for the same thing though.
And I think that's the coolest part about the artist
songwriting and, and something I've
kind of done here recently.
A lot of people ask me to do charity stuff,
and instead of giving 'em some crappy t-shirt anymore,
it's like I came up with this thing called the Gift of song
where, and because it's, it's priceless.
Not everyone can do it, you know, songwriting, it's hard.
It is very, songwriting is hard.
And so we're taking,
we're giving these things up at auction,
and then whoever wins gets to come to Nashville, I get
to pay a songwriter friend
because songwriters ain't making any money.
Um, so it's cool to pay a songwriter friend,
this person that gets to come down.
We write on Music Row, they get to see what it's like
to be a songwriter for the day,
and they create an awesome song with us,
which has been really cool.
And, and, and seeing their face when we're done.
It's like, that's, that's when,
you know, songwriting is awesome.
Speaker 1: Queen is there, this is, this is kinda a weird question,
but in any sort of arts, right?
Whether you're a musician, whether you're an actor,
whether you're a painter, whatever, like that's,
that arts are a tough business to, to make a living in.
It's a, it's a tough gig.
And there are, you know, the peaks, you know, there's the,
the, the heroes of yours that are doing X, Y, Z.
And it, it'd be so cool to be at that level,
but at the same time, you know,
you are a career musician like you
are, that that's your job.
You're not waiting tables at Clayton's Country Bar,
you're not slinging beers, right?
Like you have managed sometimes Yeah.
To make a Well, yeah, but that's just for fun, , right?
That's just because, you know, the, the,
the bartenders were busy, so he just goes back there
and gets his own, uh, which we benefit from sometimes.
So thank you. Um,
but no, I mean, there's gotta be a sense of pro.
I know there's, look, humans are so, uh, annoying
and we're never satisfied,
and we always kind of like want the next thing
and want the bigger thing and whatever,
but do you ever get that,
that feeling sometimes laying in bed where you're like, man,
I, I kind of did it and I'm doing it.
Like, I moved to India in 2009.
You are like the first artist I heard of from Indianapolis,
and you've been, you've been in everything
that I've seen in Indianapolis
for the last, you know, 20 years.
Uh, almost. You've got this staying power
and is it, you know, are you selling out arenas in,
in Rio de Janeiro?
Not yet. But like, you've had an incredible career.
You managed to be a musician,
be a performer for that amount of time.
There's gotta be some kind of, some kind of pride in that.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I, I appreciate that. Thank you.
Um, yeah, it, it is, it's, uh, you know, I, I don't have
to work a factory job.
I, I've, I get to, I get to do this my entire, you know,
this is my full-time job.
It's, it's frustrating, but, you know, and,
and there's, I was always so nervous about it
and like, you know, there's no guarantee for tomorrow.
I, I'm a gig player, like at the,
the entrepreneurial rollercoaster.
But, but that happens for everyone, you know? Mm-hmm .
And getting the big friends, you guys, I get to see this,
that side of the sport
and the stressfulness of our friends trying
to make sure they got a ride they gotta seat the next year.
Um, and, and it's,
and it's not always on talent, you know,
just like the music thing.
It's, it's not always on that, on that side of it.
Uh, I, I get, I get bummed sometimes
because I don't have that,
but, um, here lately with some life changes
and different things, I've really just become more
comfortable being me and enjoying what I have
and being a lot more thankful for it.
And it's funny because,
and that's just been recently, probably last fall, um,
because 2025 started out the worst year ever.
And it turned into one of my best years I've ever had.
And I think by focusing on what I don't have,
by not focusing on that, but focusing on what I do have
and being thankful for it, it's allowed me to grow and,
and have, have a lot different opportunities.
Speaker 3: Listen, man, love that. I, I think, I think there's
so much relatability to that.
I think you're absolutely right that it's not specific
to the industry that you chose.
Um, it's, it's humanity, right?
It's, it's what we're all, you all are driven by
one of one of two things, right?
It's either the fear of, of failure
or it's the success that you're, you're currently enjoying.
But it's, it's nothing in between.
Um, I don't wanna take up, I don't, none
of us wanna take up too much of your time considering you
have a voice you need to save.
Speaker 1: We want you to get a nap in before you
show Speaker 3: , um, because you got, you got fans to win over.
But I would be remiss if I didn't ask.
I mean, I know the answer, but our viewers Dunno the answer.
Um, Clayton Anderson's top three country songs.
Songs, this goes songs.
But I assume they're gonna be country of all time.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Of all time.
Oh man, I tell you
what they change daily, you know, but, um,
Speaker 4: I'm assuming a lot of Abba Well, you're talking about,
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh.
I mean, I, I don't know how many times I sang Fernando last
night, uh, down in Fort Lauderdale, the stars.
The stars, I don't even know the words,
but by golly I was letting a rip, you know?
Um, that's definitely on, that's,
that's making my Spotify top, uh,
rap thing next year for sure.
Right? , I'm a John, I'm, I'm, I love John Mellencamp.
I think Pink Houses has always
been one of my favorite songs.
Should have been a Cowboy
by Toby Keith is up there in my top three songs.
And if I was going to play
one more song right now, if I had the guitar, I would say
I was always enamored with Johnny Cash and,
and Folsom Prison Blues, you know,
that, that would be, there you go.
I could go on and on. I mean, shoot. Ask me tomorrow.
They might be a little different.
Speaker 3: Well, what's funny is Tim
doesn't know any of those songs. , I know
Speaker 4: All those songs.
Oh, yeah. I'm from Indiana .
There's a mural of John Mellencamp, uh, in Seymour, Indiana
where my grandparents are.
Speaker 1: That's nickname growing up was Beco.
I mean, he's a, he's a Mellencamp guy.
Speaker 4: Seymour Indiana, famous for two things,
Gianni Cougar Mellencamp,
and the Last City
to still have a victory over Japan Day parade.
They stopped in 2020 because of COVID. Hmm. No
Speaker 2: Kidding.
Wow. Wow. Oh
Speaker 1: Man.
That's a bit of knowledge I did not know
and almost kind of wish I didn't have.
Yeah. But, um, there you go.
You learned something today, folks.
Um, Clayton, look man, congratulations on a great season.
Congratulations on a great year, personally, uh,
some exciting stuff in your personal life too.
But I was wondering if, like,
maybe just one quick little verse of Indiana to send us off.
I know you're tired, I know your voice is gone,
but like the people need to hear it, man. Yeah,
Speaker 2: Indiana, come on.
What you know about softball? I don't know. Oh man.
I am gonna have to get this voice warmed up. Oh my God.
Nobody's gonna listen to me sounding like that.
Oh man, Indiana. No.
Hey, thank you guys for having me on
and thanks for being my buddies
and I appreciate it very much
and looking forward to, uh,
the IndyCar season firing up. Hell
Speaker 3: Yeah, man.
Enjoy Phoenix, get home safe,
and, uh, we'll see you very soon.
We'll probably see you on Saturday, actually,
Speaker 2: So, yeah.
Bye, God. We got a, we got a parade in Bloomington.
We, I gotta go now.
Speaker 1: We all gotta go. I wish I'll be,
I'll be down in Florida waving and thanking you guys,
but, uh, thanks again for coming on everybody.
Check out Clayton Anderson's music. It's fire, it's awesome.
It's now basically a theme song for IU
and for the state of Indiana.
Thanks again for coming on, buddy. Appreciate you.
Speaker 2: Alright. See you guys. Speaker 1: This has been off
track with Hinch and Rossi.
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