Lee Clayton

Lee Clayton earned his chief recognition as the writer of the outlaw country standard "Ladies Love Outlaws," yet he never matched the visibility attained by the performers who interpreted his material. Even with a restricted vocal instrument, he shaped a body of introspective and emotionally direct work issued under his own name.

Raised in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Clayton first handled a steel guitar at age nine. Within a year and a half his proficiency allowed him to appear on local radio. After completing service in the Air Force, he settled in Nashville in 1969 seeking a career in music.

His earliest substantial breakthrough came when Waylon Jennings fashioned "Ladies Love Outlaws" into a hit anthem in 1972. The next year MCA issued his self-titled debut album, which drew favorable notices but produced little commercial impact. Clayton then left Nashville for Joshua Springs, California, while continuing to supply songs to other artists, among them Jerry Jeff Walker's "Lone Wolf" and Willie Nelson's "If You Could Touch Her at All."

Songwriting achievements prompted a return to Nashville, where he signed with Capitol in 1977. Two well-received albums followed—Border Affair in 1978 and Naked Child in 1979—before he launched his first world tour. Immediately after the appearance of The Dream Goes On in 1981, Clayton withdrew from recording to concentrate on writing, producing two autobiographical books and the play Little Boy Blue during the 1980s.

He resurfaced in 1990 with the live album Another Night, taped in Oslo, Norway; that same year the Highwaymen cut his "Silver Stallion." Little has been heard from him since.