Photo courtesy of Hannah Fink Bedford native and touring country musician Clayton Anderson will be performing at the Crump Theatre on April 11.
Some may say all roads lead back home. For touring country musician Clayton Anderson, that’s especially true.
Though his musical career has taken him across the country and the world, for the time being, the Bedford native is back home in Indiana and will be making a stop at the Crump Theatre for a high energy concert.
The show starts at 7 p.m. April 11. Tickets cost $23.18 for general admission and $39.19 for early access general admission tickets. Early access ticket holders can enter the theater ahead of the crowd. The link to purchase tickets can be found at thecrump.org.
Growing up in Bedford and an alumnus of Bedford North Lawrence High School, music was always a part of Anderson’s household. He decided to pick up the guitar while attending Indiana University, where he said one thing led to another and the next thing he knew, he was playing shows, running around the country and making records in Nashville.
“Music’s really, it’s more than just music, it’s brought me everything that I have in my life,” Anderson said. “It’s brought me my wife, I met my wife through music, I met a lot of my best friends through music, I’ve met so many people through music and it all stems from there and I’m very appreciative for it.”
Throughout his musical career, Anderson has released a series of albums, a line up of singles and has performed alongside the Zac Brown Band at the Indy 500, according to his website. He has also opened for artists such as Eric Church, Blake Shelton and Thomas Rhett, and his 2023 track “Gotta Get Up” can be heard on ESPN as it was picked up by the network for their college baseball season.
Anderson also opened a country bar in Indianapolis last September. Though he technically resides in Nashville, he has spent a lot of time in Indiana lately because of the country bar keeping him busy, and he said it’s really nice to be back in the state again.
“I never wanted to leave to begin with,” Anderson said.
His musical style takes heavy influence from fellow Hoosier musician John Mellencamp, who he grew up listening to, but he also takes influence from ‘90s country artists he listened to growing up such as Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson. Anderson takes the “write what you know” approach to his music, and his experiences growing up in southern Indiana are where he takes inspiration.
“I’m a homer for Indiana, especially southern Indiana and I just think there’s a charm about it, there’s a goodness about it,” Anderson said. “I think people live the right way of taking care of one another the way we should and I’m very proud to be from here so all those things that I’ve witnessed growing up, obviously you got to write what you know and those are small town relationships and family ties and that type of thing.”
His upcoming show at the Crump Theatre will feature him performing alongside guitarist Aaryn Martin, drummer Niko Albanese and bassist Cole Mcglothlin. Audience members can look forward hearing songs Anderson wrote in addition to songs that have inspired him.
Anderson said he looks forward to entertaining the crowd at the Crump, a place he has driven past several times and always thought it would be cool to play at.
“Columbus is a great town, I have a lot of respect for Columbus, I think Columbus is one of the jewel towns in all the world,” Anderson said. “I appreciate its love for art and part of art is music and I think saving and keeping these… theaters alive is wonderful for the arts of music and entertainment, comedy, anything like that. So I’m very excited to be a part of that.”
