Working Drummer Podcast – Clayton Craddock

Constructing Your Own Safety Net

This is a re-release of an interview I conducted back in 2019 with the Working Drummer Podcast. If you're curious about my life story and career journey up to this point, this is a must-listen. I had an engaging conversation with Zack Albetta, who also had the pleasure of being a guest on my own show, Broadway Drumming 101 Podcast.

Listen to it HERE:

Working Drummer Podcast - Apple Podcasts

Working Drummer Podcast - Spotify

In this episode, I talk about:

• The development and upward trajectory of Ain’t Too Proud 

• The process of launching a musical from the conception and initial workshopping to the full production

• Learning the vocabulary of choreographers to understand what they want from a drummer

• Emulating Benny Benjamin and other drummers who were part of The Funk Brothers, Motown’s “Wrecking Crew.”

• Taking low money for workshops and readings in hopes that you can get in on the ground floor of something big

• The many shows he’s played for over the years, either on a permanent or sub basis

• The role of the Musicians Union in New York and the musical theatre scene

• My experience at Howard University in Washington DC

• My white collar career after college, and making the leap to full time drumming

• How building your network is constructing your own safety net

Check out my interview with Zack Albetta HERE:

Clayton Craddock hosts the Broadway Drumming 101 Podcast and has held the drum chair in several hit broadway and off-broadway musicals, including Tick, tick…BOOM!, Altar Boyz, Memphis The Musical, Lady Day At Emerson's Bar and Grill and Ain’t Too Proud. He has been a sub drummer on Motown, The Color Purple, Rent, Little Shop of Horrors, Spongebob Squarepants-The Musical, Evita, Cats, Avenue Q, and The Big Apple Circus. The next project he’s working on is The Hippest Trip – The Soul Train Musical.

Clayton has performed on various TV shows, including Good Morning America, The Colbert Report, The View, The Jimmy Fallon Show, The CBS Early Show, the Today Show, and the 2010 and 2019 TONY Awards at Radio City. He’s shared the stage with legends such as The Stylistics, Denise Williams, Chuck Berry, and Ben E. King and was in the Netflix DWYCK episode of Luke Cage with the Delfonics and the HBO version of Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill.

Clayton is a proud endorser of Ahead Drum Cases, Paiste Cymbals, Innovative Percussion drumsticks, and Empire Ears.