“summer 4 ever” was written through the pandemic from an endless road trip. Singer-songwriter and surfer Clara Waidley was chasing the waves in a van, traveling up and down the country’s coastlines. When she stopped to busk at a farmers market in Savannah, E. Broad Records founder Whit Whitley was transfixed.
“I heard her voice like a Savannah songbird amongst the moss-covered oaks at Forsyth Park and followed my ears until I found her standing there, singing from her soul,” said Whitley. “I was moved and thought: the world needs to hear Clara Waidley.”
Waidley signed a non-recoupable artist development and publishing deal with E. Broad Records, and soon after, began recording her album with Producer Annie Leeth. Though Waidley first began writing songs and playing guitar in her childhood bedroom, “summer 4 ever” finally delivers the sound she’s been hearing in her head all these years. Leeth helped to build something dreamy and dark to loom underneath Waidley’s sweet, bell-like voice.
“[Annie and I] were on the same page sonically,” says Waidley. “I sent her a playlist and I was like, ‘dreamy, acoustic, alternative, grunge;’ those words were in my head. That was the vibe.”
Don’t let the sweetness of Waidley’s voice discount the depth of her music: storytelling may just be her greatest strength as a musician. “Not all the songs are directly about me, but I’ve taken my experiences and turned them into stories and then into songs,” says Waidley. “I like making up stories. It’s a little world I can go live in.”
Why would someone on a perpetual road trip want to escape to other worlds? When the constant moving gets exhausting, Waidley’s stories become her home and place to rest.
“I’ve just spent the past 3 years bouncing from California to Nashville to Savannah to Brooklyn,” Waidley recounts. “That chaos of wanting something to happen, and feeling in this in-between stage of life—it’s kind of fun to daydream about other things, other worlds.”
Escape with Clara to a sunny beach or even the life of someone else with “summer 4 ever,” available now on her website, clarawaidley.com. You can join Clara’s road trip and stay updated on future releases and tour dates by signing up for her newsletter!
