Joe Rogan Experience #2386 - The Red Clay Strays
Narrator, Narrator, Brandon Coleman (guest), Joe Rogan (host), Drew Nix (guest), Andy Bishop (guest), Band member / associate (likely touring or former member mentioned, e.g., Ethan from Paw Paw's Medicine Cabinet) (guest), Narrator, Narrator
In this episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, featuring Narrator and Narrator, Joe Rogan Experience #2386 - The Red Clay Strays explores red Clay Strays Share Gritty Road Story, Faith, Fame, And Fracture Joe Rogan sits down with The Red Clay Strays to trace their rise from broke Gulf Coast bar band to nationally touring act with a deeply devoted fanbase. They describe learning the music business on the fly, surviving years of relentless touring, and navigating band conflicts by treating each other like brothers and putting faith and service at the center. The conversation ranges from mental health, fans saved from suicide, and political polarization to fame traps, AI, UFOs, and government secrecy. Throughout, the band emphasizes humility, hard work, and a mission-driven approach to music over chasing numbers, trends, or celebrity.
Red Clay Strays Share Gritty Road Story, Faith, Fame, And Fracture
Joe Rogan sits down with The Red Clay Strays to trace their rise from broke Gulf Coast bar band to nationally touring act with a deeply devoted fanbase. They describe learning the music business on the fly, surviving years of relentless touring, and navigating band conflicts by treating each other like brothers and putting faith and service at the center. The conversation ranges from mental health, fans saved from suicide, and political polarization to fame traps, AI, UFOs, and government secrecy. Throughout, the band emphasizes humility, hard work, and a mission-driven approach to music over chasing numbers, trends, or celebrity.
Key Takeaways
Build on belief and learn the business as you go.
Their manager started with zero industry experience, cold-calling venues from a college equipment room and taking notes on Post-its; persistence and belief in the singer’s talent, not formal access or know‑how, built their early career.
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Treat bandmates like brothers and problems like conversations, not explosions.
They admit to anger issues, but say the band only stabilized when they learned to talk about feelings, set boundaries, and have honest ‘come to Jesus’ meetings instead of lashing out on the road.
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Anchor the project in purpose, not fame or metrics.
They consciously avoid chasing streams, comments, or status; instead, they frame the band as a calling from God and focus on serving each other and their audience, which they see as the only way to survive the pressures that break most groups.
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Write honestly from pain; it resonates with people in crisis.
Songs like “I’m Still Fine” and “Drowning,” written during Uber shifts and financial hardship, have led to daily messages from depressed and suicidal fans—including a woman who aborted a suicide attempt—reinforcing their commitment to vulnerable, emotionally heavy material.
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Stay humble and relentlessly self-critical to keep getting better.
Even after sellouts and hit records, they insist they “think we suck,” constantly replaying shows in their heads like Guitar Hero misses; Rogan agrees this mindset beats believing you’ve ‘made it’ and stagnating.
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Refuse to weaponize your platform politically if your mission is unity.
They deliberately avoid partisan endorsements, arguing that using their stage to divide fans over politics would undermine the healing role their music plays for hurting listeners; instead, they wrote “People Hatin’” to push back on dehumanization from all sides.
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Protect your headspace: post and ghost, don’t live in the comments.
After getting hammered with insults about looks and mannerisms, they echo Rogan’s advice to avoid reading comment sections, noting that obsessing over anonymous negativity erodes mental health and distracts from the real work.
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Notable Quotes
““He who is greatest among you, let him be your servant… Once it becomes a selfless thing instead of a selfish thing, I don’t really see how you could break up.””
— Red Clay Strays vocalist (on keeping the band together through faith and service)
““If a band says they don’t get pissed off, they’re lying—or they just don’t like each other for real.””
— Andrew (on the reality of band conflict)
““We didn’t know how to play music that well either. We would show up and just ruin people’s evening and clear out a bar.””
— Red Clay Strays vocalist (on their early cover‑band years)
““If you’re just chasing goals and looking for this one moment where you can say, ‘Okay, we did it,’ it’s never happening.””
— Joe Rogan (on the myth of ‘making it’)
““Touring sucks a lot of the times… What keeps us going is those stories and seeing how our music affects people and helps them in a positive way.””
— Red Clay Strays vocalist (on why they stay on the road)
Questions Answered in This Episode
How would the band’s trajectory have changed if they’d had traditional industry mentorship instead of learning everything from scratch on the Gulf Coast bar circuit?
Joe Rogan sits down with The Red Clay Strays to trace their rise from broke Gulf Coast bar band to nationally touring act with a deeply devoted fanbase. ...
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What trade‑offs do they see between writing darker, emotionally heavy material for hurting fans and chasing more commercially friendly songs for broader radio or festival play?
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How do they practically balance a strong Christian framework with maintaining a welcoming space for fans and bandmates who don’t share their beliefs?
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Given their stance on avoiding political division, where do they personally draw the line between ‘staying out of politics’ and speaking up on core moral issues?
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What specific habits or systems do they use now—on the road and at home—to protect their mental health and band relationships as touring and fame scale up?
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Transcript Preview
(drum roll) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out.
The Joe Rogan Experience.
Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. (rock music) Well, I mean, we haven't done many podcasts but, uh, we were on Theo's last year, and, uh, it -you know, Theo's gets a lot of engagement, a lot of views. Ours didn't do too well. I think Bertcast did all right.
I -you gotta not pay attention.
I know, I don't.
You do not pay attention. Don't pay attention to numbers, don't pay attention to shit. Don't read the comments.
That's where I messed up.
(laughs)
I got called a lesbian so many times.
Yeah, they let Andrew off with the comments? (laughs)
He said mustached lesbian. (laughs)
Mustached lesbian? (laughs)
Where'd that come from?
What, he's like, "He looks like Matthew McConaughey." I don't know.
Well, it's, uh, might be the chain.
Maybe.
That, that looks very lesbian-esque.
(laughs)
My sister-in-law made...
It's not, it's not a bad one. It's not bad. There's nothing wrong with being a lesbian.
It's not that bad. (laughs)
(laughs) No, nothing's wrong with being a lesbian.
(laughs)
I'm just a heterosexual male.
That's all-
With a wonderful mustache.
I went back to the comments last night and, uh-
Oh.
Oh, don't do that.
I did. And somebody was like, uh, "Andrew, come on, man. Don't sit with your legs crossed." That was just the latest one. Was there-
Why, why is it always me getting picked on?
Did you sit with your legs crossed in the typical liberal f- fashion?
I mean-
Like, the Gavin Newsom style?
Yeah, you can't do that.
I was chilling.
Yeah.
I was, I mean-
You got a...
You, you got a little bit of a gap there.
Yeah.
The thing is if you get the real, the, the deep scissor.
(laughs)
The deep scissor-
You gotta, uh-
... is, like, signaling.
The trick is you gotta, you gotta scoop then.
Yeah.
You gotta get your stuff out the way.
(laughs) Yeah, but, I don't know. It doesn't, doesn't seem comfortable.
I've been doing it for a long time.
(laughs)
(laughs)
(laughs)
So, are you g- you guys are, you were telling me you're kind of burnt right now. So, you guys are fully on the road right now.
Oh, yeah. I say that and then, and then the next moment I'm walking around, I'm just like, "Dang, this is fun." But yeah, we're just ... But usually about this time of the year, uh, where we have a couple more months left, it's like, "Man, we're almost done. Get to be home for a while more than two days at a time."
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