Clay Mills, ASCAP award-winning songwriter and producer, grew up surrounded by music in the Blues-rich Mississippi Delta. Over the course of his career, Mills has penned #1 hits for Darius Rucker: “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It;” Diamond Rio: “Beautiful Mess;” and Kimberley Locke: “Fall,” while collecting Grammy nominations for “Beautiful Mess” and Trisha Yearwood’s “Heaven, Heartache, and the Power of Love.”
By age thirteen, Clay was playing clubs in Rock and Country bands. By nineteen, he moved to New York City where he wrote music for national ad campaigns, programmed tracks, created beats for rap and hip hop artists, and sang on major TV commercials, including for Red Lobster and the Armed Forces. In the late 90’s, Clay started co-writing with a New York actor Ken Meeker, an aspiring Country artist. Ken introduced Clay to Nashville producer Mark Bright, who flew to New York to watch him perform for a crowd of 500 people. Impressed, Mark signed Clay to a publishing deal with EMI Music.
Whether you are writing a book, a poem, or a song, creativity needs nurturing and growing. I can’t think of a better setting and program to help you do that than the Stories & Songs Retreat.
Clay Mills
Since moving to Nashville in 1994, Clay has had over 150 artist cuts, five #1 hits, six Top 5 singles, twelve Top 40 singles, and 1500+ sync placements. His love of all types of music shows in the diverse list of artists who sing his songs: Lady A, Little Big Town, Lonestar, Darius Rucker, Easton Corbin, Reba, Bill Gaither, Trisha Yearwood, Baby Face, Diamond Rio, Clay Walker, Kimberly Locke, Jo Dee Mesina, and Joe Nichols. Clay’s most recent string of singles, co-written with Country superstar and groundbreaker Darius Rucker, include the song that introduced Darius to the world of Country music: “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It.” More hit singles, “History in the Making” and “I Got Nothin’,” soon followed. Clay actively writes and produces songs with new (and old) talent in Nashville, Tennessee.
Mills believes strongly in songwriters and their value to the world. He has served on the NSAI board and lobbied Congress on behalf of creators and copyrights. Clay co-founded SongTown, a 30,000 plus community of aspiring and independent songwriters from around the world. He is personally involved in helping members advance their craft and make connections in the music industry. Now, SongTown members are penning their own #1 hit songs, signing publishing deals, and landing sync placements in TV and Film.
In 2021 he authored the best-selling songwriting book Mastering Melody Writing. In 2023, Clay was inducted into the Mississippi Songwriter’s Hall of Fame. When Clay is not writing songs, you might find him riding horses on the Wyoming plains searching for inspiration for his next song. “The great thing about the West is that there are still huge pockets of land that look like they did hundreds of years ago…bristling with wildlife and the elements. It helps me find that healthy balance between life, love, and the music business.”