Pensacola News Journal Article

New, funny interview/article with/by the Pensacola News Journal. Clay plays the Pensacola Civic Center later this week.

It's easy to get into a Southern drawl-fest with Clay Aiken
Rebecca Ross
@PensacolaNewsJournal.com

I hesitate to write this column because the mere mention of a certain singer's name is enough to flood my inbox with e-mail -- and as I'm sure to get some detail wrong, like his fabric softener preference or the way he takes his latte, not all of that e-mail will be, shall we say ... of a positive nature.

Aw, heck. I'm all about living dangerously, so here goes.

I interviewed Clay Aiken last weekend.

Let me say this: He seemed like a very nice young man.

I got the chance to talk to Aiken for a few minutes by crackly cell phone about his Joyful Noise tour, which is making a stop Sunday at the Pensacola Civic Center.

I had about 10 interesting questions to ask Aiken. But when it came time for the interview, I was told I would have a whopping 10 minutes to talk to him.

OK, so I had ... five questions to ask him. Five searching, thought-provoking questions sure to evoke equally thoughtful responses.

Instead, Clay (we're on a first name basis now) and I spent the first three or so of our precious minutes discussing our Southern accents.

There's some old joke about getting two Irishmen together and hearing their accents get thicker as the evening goes along. Well, the same can be true for two chatty Southerners. It was as if Aiken's charming drawl triggered my genetic Alabama accent.

"Where are you from, Rebecca?" Aiken asked. "I know you're in the Panhandle, but WHERE are you FROM, girl?"

And out of my mouth, one of my cousins said, "Ah'm from raht here!"

Well, we twanged away in a mutual drawl-fest until his publicist broke in to remind me that time was a'wasting.

So, here are some of the Clay'pinions Aiken shared:

On his tour: "This Christmas tour is a lot more work. This year, I opted to change it from an orchestral show with just me singing, to theatrical vignettes with actors. At first, I sat down and wrote an outline from song to song for the vignettes and was going to have someone else finish it, but I'm too cheap and too much of a control freak, so I wrote it all. And it turned out pretty good!"

On singing live: "I don't get tired of singing Christmas songs on the tour because they are different than any other songs. When I sing a song about someone being scorned in love, a certain percentage of the audience can connect. But everyone knows what the Christmas season is about and can get into the spirit. There are certain songs I sing that people always want to clap along to, but what the audience doesn't realize is that there's a delay in the sound, so, I hear their clapping a beat behind the actual music! That used to really throw me off."

On charity: "Giving to charity is a great gift alternative. I wish that my fans, instead of spending money to bring me a little gift at a show, would take that $10 or $15 and donate it to charity instead. That would be wonderful."

So, there you have it.

The nice young man with the easy laugh and infectious accent is performing 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $39 and $49 at all Ticketmaster outlets.

Details: 434-7444, www.clayaiken.com.