Clark Manson, our Swag Spotlight this week wanted to be a rockstar guitarist for KISS when he was in middle school, funny enough, learning the guitar and eventually how to write music has now landed him in the country music genre.  The Covington, Ohio native grew up in a very small town graduating in a class of about 50 kids. His parents took him to see George Strait when he was 5 years old and he tells us from that moment on he just knew that’s what he wanted to do.  Branching out from listening to country music, he was influenced by John Mellencamp and KISS but eventually found his way back to the genre. “As I grew up and got older, you realize what the lyric is all about, it is more wholesome and related to me a lot more in my day to day life,” Manson tells us.

He started out just playing gigs around town, eventually when he was college playing a gig every single night. “I did about 200 shows in one year and I did that for like 3 years, I eventually realized there was no way I could go on playing cover songs forever so I wanted to do my own stuff so I started writing a lot more and did some recording.”

He tells us about a 3-day concert up in Ohio called Country Concert which takes place in July that he went to with friends every year. He tells us how great it was to one year be there partying his friends and then just a few years later to be actually playing on those same stages.

After making the move to Nashville and writing every single day with a publishing deal, Manson and his new bride decided to move back to their home state of Ohio and he now records almost all of his music right in his own home. He is a new dad, his son Jax is 9 months old and he tells us about how his latest single “Goodyear’s” was inspired by becoming a father.

The title “Goodyears” hit him like a ton of bricks after a conversation with a mechanic at his local gas station. “I told him I needed some new tires, so he asked me what kind I wanted and I asked what tires were on it now, he said “Well those were some Goodyears” I just started thinking, a good play on words, I came home, went on my back porch and just wrote the song in 20 minutes,” he recalls.

The story is classic country, and although it might have originated as a song about a truck being handed down from a father to a son, the memories made in that truck are what sticks out to the owner and eventually the three generations of the family who drive it.

“Goodyear’s” is the first of the next eight songs that Manson plans to release over the next year, finishing up vocals on the new songs now. He will be playing the Madison County Fair with Michael Ray and Drake White on July 7th in London, Ohio.  For future announcements and tour dates head to https://www.clarkmanson.com/

To keep up with Clark Manson follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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