The Red Clay Strays: A Mobile, Alabama roots/country-rock band (formed December 2016) known for songs like Drowning and I'm Still Fine, plus their manager Drew. They built a following the hard way, including driving for Uber during COVID before breaking out with a number-one hit in 2024.
What this episode covers
The Red Clay Strays sit down with Joe Rogan to trace their improbable rise from clearing out Gulf Coast bars to a number-one hit, crediting faith, selflessness, and a 'the pack will correct' band ethos for staying together. They discuss making music for a sad, struggling fan base and a fan whose suicide attempt was interrupted by their song. The conversation then sprawls into Joe's signature tangents: penis-enlargement and limb-lengthening surgeries, the Charlie Kirk killing and social-media-fueled cruelty, government surveillance and digital IDs, UFOs and the Book of Enoch, ancient civilizations like Gobekli Tepe, the Shroud of Turin, and moon-landing skepticism. It closes on health and habit-building, IVF, population collapse, and a hoped-for White House gig.
The guest's own work
Drowning
The Red Clay Strays
“our song Drowning, Drew wrote that during COVID when we were driving for Uber trying to keep the bills paid.”— guest
I'm Still Fine
The Red Clay Strays
“she our song I'm Still Fine came on and it kind of, you know, snapped her out of it a little bit and she started crying”— guest
Also referenced (named, not recommended)
UFOs of God
Chris Bledsoe
“he wrote a book called UFOs of God. And uh I started listening to it and I'm just terrible about reading books and stuff.”— guest
The Book of Enoch
Unknown
“I've been in the into the book of Enoch over the last couple of... the book of Enoch is the one that predicts that this is what talks about the watchers in the sky”— guest
Unabomber (Netflix documentary)
Netflix
“The Unabomber, I watched the Netflix documentary on him and one of the things that happened to him when he was young”— Joe Rogan
Game of Thrones
HBO
“is it a giant like the mountain from The Game of Thrones? You know like Just a big old warrior.”— Joe Rogan
South Park
Trey Parker and Matt Stone
“That is a South Park episode. Is it? Is it a South Park episode? No, we live in a South Park episode.”— Joe Rogan
Big reveals from this episode
- The band shares that a fan who had taken pills to end her life was snapped out of it by their song 'I'm Still Fine' and called for help.
- They reveal they were driving Uber in Mobile for $100/day during COVID just five years before this number-one-hit moment.
- They pushed their song 'People Hating' to be the first single (out October 3rd) specifically in response to the Charlie Kirk killing.
- The band describes a 'the pack will correct' system where five members hold each other accountable to avoid an Elvis-style downfall.
- Joe and the band discuss a real-world head transplant attempt where the patient died after being kept alive briefly.
- A band member reveals he and his wife are pursuing IVF and were asked if they wanted to 'pick a ginger.'
- The band says their agent has heard there may be a concert aspect to a White House event they want to put their name in for.
Worth remembering
- The Red Clay Strays formed in December 2016; the guys started touring back in 2018.
- One member is only 29 years old despite the band's long grind.
- A band member did Shotokan karate as a kid and won't return to it because fans already compare him to Elvis.
- One bandmate (Drew) lost 40-plus pounds in about 10 months, dropping 30 just from 16-hour intermittent fasting.
- Joe cites that exercise is roughly 1.25 times more effective than SSRIs/antidepressants.
- Gobekli Tepe in Turkey was found by a shepherd and is only about 5% excavated.
- A Homo sapiens skull in China was reportedly dated to about a million years old, far older than the accepted emergence timeline.
- Joe claims there is reportedly one NGO for roughly every 500-600 people in India.
- They note the Pentagon pizza-order spike is a real informal indicator of late-night crisis work.