The Red Clay Strays tipping their cap to the great Hank Williams Jr. If you ask me, the Red Clay Strays – consisting of Drew Nix (electric guitar, vocals, harmonica), Zach Rishel (electric guitar), Andrew Bishop (bass), John Hall (drums), Sevans Henderson (keys), and frontman Brandon Coleman – are great ambassadors of country music. They are one of the genre’s brightest modern day acts… even though they insist they aren’t even making country music. Yeah, that’s true. Right after they took home the award for “Best Vocal Group” at the Country Music Awards, they spoke with the media and said that they don’t even feel as though they’ve really made any country music yet. That’s somewhat of a flex to say that after winning an award at the CMAs, am I right? But the way Coleman explained it all, he and the band don’t want to do country music a disservice by playing other forms of music and just calling it country: “We’re very thankful for it. We were a lot of different genres when we started playing together. John was more hard rock, Andrew was more funk and blues, Zach was more rock, Sevans was more jazz, and I was more country. I was the hick of the group. So country music has a very special place in my heart, and that’s the reason I always say we don’t really play country music, because when we get ready to make an actual country record, it’ll be country music. Because I think country music deserves to be recognized as a genre, so if you’re just playing rock n’ roll music, but calling it country music, I think that’s doing country a disservice. So that’s why I always say that. But we are all country boys and we’re Southern gentlemen, so we’re very happy to be accepted by the community – and we’ll eventually make some actual country music, too.” That’s both confusing and exciting. I think the country music they’ve put forth already is exceptional, and if they don’t even consider it to be country… we’re all in for a real treat when the band from Alabama locks in and starts making some “actual country.” The Red Clay Strays may have even teased that era of their band with their latest social media post. At some point during their tour in 2025, they covered Hank Williams Jr’s “Country State of Mind.” The 1986 song shot all the way up to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart upon its release, and it’ll forever be a popular karaoke song (what Hank Williams Jr song isn’t though?). And the Red Clay Strays decided to work it into their setlist one night, recorded it, and posted a snippet of it on their social media earlier today. It’s a very respectable rendition of the classic Hank Jr., and I guess you could say it gives fan a sneak peak into what they could sound like when they go full-fledged country. The band said in the post’s caption that they may or may not post the whole thing up on YouTube, and I’ve got a feeling that a) enough of their fans will hear this and then b) clamor for them to do just that in the comments section: “Might throw the whole thing up on YouTube later, who knows. Here’s a cover we did of an old Hank Williams Jr. song.” Yeah, I’ll go ahead and speak for everyone and say that you all should post the full version on YouTube. Better yet… a studio version of the song – perhaps on an album full of other classic country covers – would be greatly appreciated. Just something for you all to consider, if any band member of the Red Clay Strays is reading this.The post Red Clay Strays Put Their Soulful Spin On A Hank Williams Jr. Classic — Should They Drop The Full Version? first appeared on Whiskey Riff.