Amid a digital world focused on perfection, as autotune and electronic instruments run rampant within studios, it can be a difficult endeavor to find authenticity amongst music in this day and age. The era of albums crafted as true listening experiences has gone by the wayside, yet the Red Clay Strays have artfully brought it back in style with their debut LP, Moment of Truth. To fully appreciate this masterpiece, one must drop the needle at the very beginning and listen till the record stops spinning while lending attention to every note crooned and chord played as the songs soak deep into the soul. Recorded in a studio in the hills of Huntsville, Alabama, the album was tracked in an old-school manner, completely in analog as their heroes did in days gone by. As they banded together in one room cutting every song live, the Strays captured the chemistry from their live performances whilst ushering in a new era of sound that aptly describes who they are and where they've been. When asked how the album name was conceived, the Strays summed it up best: "It's the Moment of Truth because it's our first album we're ever releasing. It's the Moment of Truth because it's actually us that got to create this, nobody else. No outside interference." Sonically, the record is a melting pot of a myriad of genres set in the heyday of the southern music the band grew up influenced by and is lyrically driven by honest life experiences as it cycles through the highs and lows of living and loving, comprised of songs with a deep moral fiber to them. With each track displaying the Red Clay Strays' innate penchant for storytelling, Moment of Truth has a song for everyone, for every emotion.
