Biography
Clarence Spady weaves jazz, rock, Latin, and soul threads through his refined blues guitar work, singing, and songwriting. After heading the West Third Street Blues Band, he kept refining his approach across decades of live performance, though his solo albums have surfaced roughly every twelve years, starting with the 1996 release Nature of the Beast. The Blues Music Award-nominated Between Us appeared in 2008, and the autobiographical Surrender followed in 2021.
Spady entered the world in New Jersey in 1961 and grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he would perch on his father’s lap watching him play guitar until it was time for bed. He took up the instrument himself at age five, with an early attachment to the blues forming soon afterward. At the same time he sang gospel in church, while New York City radio introduced him to James Brown, the Isley Brothers, and Jimi Hendrix beyond those walls. His first public performance came alongside his father, older brother, aunt, and uncle at the Paterson Elks Club in New Jersey. B.B. King and Albert Collins rank among his principal blues influences, and during his early years Spady played in assorted rock and gospel ensembles, sharpening his skills with the goal of eventually fronting his own blues outfit.
Following his 1979 high-school graduation, Spady spent the bulk of the 1980s traveling with the R&B group A Touch of Class and later the Greg Palmer Band, which supported the Temptations, the Four Tops, and the Spinners on the road. Once he left touring behind in the late 1980s, he took lead-guitar roles in several Scranton-area blues bands and led the Shiloh Baptist Church Choir. By the early 1990s he was prepared to front his own unit, forming the West Third Street Blues Band. Anchored in Scranton, he worked days as a union excavator while devoting evenings to music and composing his own material.
Much of the content on Spady’s self-released 1994 debut, Nature of the Beast, drew from his own encounters with drugs—a struggle that began after high school and ended before the album—and from relationship experiences. Mark Hamza contributed organ and bass, while Shorty Parham and Steve Shiposh handled drums; the record earned widespread acclaim throughout the blues community, gained radio exposure, and enabled Spady to play clubs and festivals along the entire East Coast. Evidence Music finalized a licensing agreement in February 1996 to remaster and reissue Nature of the Beast, and Living Blues magazine named Spady one of its “Top 40 Under 40” blues artists to watch. After international touring, the next album, Just Between Us, surfaced in 2008 on Severn Records. Co-produced by Spady and David Earl, it featured a dozen guest musicians, including the Fabulous Thunderbirds’ Steve Gomes. In 2009 Just Between Us received a Blues Music Award nomination for Soul Blues Album of the Year.
Spady shifted to Nola Blues Records for his third album, a soul-infused set reflecting on his life and career. Released in May 2021 under the title Surrender, the record featured guitarist Adam Schultz, keyboardist Scott Brown, bassist John Ventre, and additional players, among them harpist Tom Martin on two tracks. Shortly afterward the standalone song “If Only We Could” earned a Silver Medal for Outstanding Achievement in the blues category at the Global Music Awards.
Spady entered the world in New Jersey in 1961 and grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he would perch on his father’s lap watching him play guitar until it was time for bed. He took up the instrument himself at age five, with an early attachment to the blues forming soon afterward. At the same time he sang gospel in church, while New York City radio introduced him to James Brown, the Isley Brothers, and Jimi Hendrix beyond those walls. His first public performance came alongside his father, older brother, aunt, and uncle at the Paterson Elks Club in New Jersey. B.B. King and Albert Collins rank among his principal blues influences, and during his early years Spady played in assorted rock and gospel ensembles, sharpening his skills with the goal of eventually fronting his own blues outfit.
Following his 1979 high-school graduation, Spady spent the bulk of the 1980s traveling with the R&B group A Touch of Class and later the Greg Palmer Band, which supported the Temptations, the Four Tops, and the Spinners on the road. Once he left touring behind in the late 1980s, he took lead-guitar roles in several Scranton-area blues bands and led the Shiloh Baptist Church Choir. By the early 1990s he was prepared to front his own unit, forming the West Third Street Blues Band. Anchored in Scranton, he worked days as a union excavator while devoting evenings to music and composing his own material.
Much of the content on Spady’s self-released 1994 debut, Nature of the Beast, drew from his own encounters with drugs—a struggle that began after high school and ended before the album—and from relationship experiences. Mark Hamza contributed organ and bass, while Shorty Parham and Steve Shiposh handled drums; the record earned widespread acclaim throughout the blues community, gained radio exposure, and enabled Spady to play clubs and festivals along the entire East Coast. Evidence Music finalized a licensing agreement in February 1996 to remaster and reissue Nature of the Beast, and Living Blues magazine named Spady one of its “Top 40 Under 40” blues artists to watch. After international touring, the next album, Just Between Us, surfaced in 2008 on Severn Records. Co-produced by Spady and David Earl, it featured a dozen guest musicians, including the Fabulous Thunderbirds’ Steve Gomes. In 2009 Just Between Us received a Blues Music Award nomination for Soul Blues Album of the Year.
Spady shifted to Nola Blues Records for his third album, a soul-infused set reflecting on his life and career. Released in May 2021 under the title Surrender, the record featured guitarist Adam Schultz, keyboardist Scott Brown, bassist John Ventre, and additional players, among them harpist Tom Martin on two tracks. Shortly afterward the standalone song “If Only We Could” earned a Silver Medal for Outstanding Achievement in the blues category at the Global Music Awards.
Albums
Singles
