top of page

CREATURE COMFORT

RE_4301_500T_022291-R1-E013_edited.jpg

       BIO      

       PRESS       

Jessey Clark had his first formative experience with The Beatles while riding a tractor—a John Deere 6155RH tractor, to be exact. 

 

“I was tedding hay in this nice, air-conditioned John Deere while listening to Revolver for the first time—and I was getting paid for it!” Clark remembers. “I thought that was about as good as it could get.” 

 

Though Clark’s tedding days are far behind him, stories like this—ones about his family farm outside of Tullahoma, Tennessee—abound when speaking to the vocalist and guitarist today. Some are hilarious (like the time his grandfather chased a rogue tractor down a hill); others are heart racing (Clark’s father once had to wrangle an angry Spanish bull into a corral); but all speak to the duality that informs the music of Creature Comfort, the five-piece rock band Clark has fronted since 2012. 

 

Over the course of two releases (2013’s Fox Tales and 2016’s Echoes and Relics EP) and a string of singles, Creature Comfort has made a name for themselves by crafting songs that explore what it means to be caught between two worlds: Clark’s modest, rural upbringing back on the farm, and his current life in Nashville, where he’s a retail pharmacist by day and musician by night. As NATIVE writer Luke Wiget wrote about 2016’s “Common John (Southern Shame)”: “The panoramic, self-produced track gets at the heart of who and where Creature Comfort is—stuck between Tullahoma and the city.” 

 

Nowhere has Clark examined this friction better than on Creature Comfort’s recent full-length, Home Team. Produced by Drew Vandenberg (Faye Webster, of Montreal, Toro y Moi), Home Team not only finds Clark honing in on what it means to come of age, but it also sees him trying to make sense of an increasingly volatile world. Tracks like “I Won’t Last Forever” and “Darkside” weigh the heavy costs of sacrifice in pursuit of a dream; “Single Soul” lashes out against police brutality and laments what Clark describes as the “constant impending doom” peddled by the media; standout track “Big, Buff, and Handsome” takes on masculinity in an appropriately (and ironically) jocular fashion; and “Black Cat” and lead single “Heartstrings” round out Home Team with good ole shout-along breakup anthems. They’re the most sophisticated and cutting Creature Comfort songs to date, and they make for an album that feels more mature and cautiously optimistic than the band’s previous releases. To quote Clark, “The ship’s sinking, but ain’t the horizon nice?” 

 

That sense of reserved hopefulness is buoyed by a new sound. Following the departure of former lead guitarist Nick Rose in 2018, the band enlisted multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Alex Robinson and lead guitarist Charlie Hickerson, and the result is a rawer, more rock-forward energy that propels Creature Comfort into new sonic territory without overshadowing Clark’s trademark end-of-the-day vocals or attention to songcraft. The two new members bring something of a push-and-pull dynamic to Creature Comfort: on one end, Robinson’s vocals, keys, and acoustic strumming perfectly complement Clark’s folkier sensibilities; on the other, Hickerson’s squeals, squawks, and slide guitar add just the right amount of aggression (it’s like a jam between composer David Mansfield, the Pixies’ Joey Santiago, and Isaac Brock from Modest Mouse). Add in Jaco Pastorious-indebted bassist Cole Bearden and springy drummer Taylor Cole, and you’ve got a record that the band has affectionately dubbed “bootgaze.” Think of it as Fleet Foxes for people who grew up bailing hay, or your favorite indie record—if that record were scattered, smothered, and covered, of course. 

SOCIAL MEDIA

CREATURE COMFORT

RE_4301_500T_022291-R1-E013_edited.jpg

       BIO      

Jessey Clark had his first formative experience with The Beatles while riding a tractor—a John Deere 6155RH tractor, to be exact. 

 

“I was tedding hay in this nice, air-conditioned John Deere while listening to Revolver for the first time—and I was getting paid for it!” Clark remembers. “I thought that was about as good as it could get.” 

 

Though Clark’s tedding days are far behind him, stories like this—ones about his family farm outside of Tullahoma, Tennessee—abound when speaking to the vocalist and guitarist today. Some are hilarious (like the time his grandfather chased a rogue tractor down a hill); others are heart racing (Clark’s father once had to wrangle an angry Spanish bull into a corral); but all speak to the duality that informs the music of Creature Comfort, the five-piece rock band Clark has fronted since 2012. 

 

Over the course of two releases (2013’s Fox Tales and 2016’s Echoes and Relics EP) and a string of singles, Creature Comfort has made a name for themselves by crafting songs that explore what it means to be caught between two worlds: Clark’s modest, rural upbringing back on the farm, and his current life in Nashville, where he’s a retail pharmacist by day and musician by night. As NATIVE writer Luke Wiget wrote about 2016’s “Common John (Southern Shame)”: “The panoramic, self-produced track gets at the heart of who and where Creature Comfort is—stuck between Tullahoma and the city.” 

 

Nowhere has Clark examined this friction better than on Creature Comfort’s recent full-length, Home Team. Produced by Drew Vandenberg (Faye Webster, of Montreal, Toro y Moi), Home Team not only finds Clark honing in on what it means to come of age, but it also sees him trying to make sense of an increasingly volatile world. Tracks like “I Won’t Last Forever” and “Darkside” weigh the heavy costs of sacrifice in pursuit of a dream; “Single Soul” lashes out against police brutality and laments what Clark describes as the “constant impending doom” peddled by the media; standout track “Big, Buff, and Handsome” takes on masculinity in an appropriately (and ironically) jocular fashion; and “Black Cat” and lead single “Heartstrings” round out Home Team with good ole shout-along breakup anthems. They’re the most sophisticated and cutting Creature Comfort songs to date, and they make for an album that feels more mature and cautiously optimistic than the band’s previous releases. To quote Clark, “The ship’s sinking, but ain’t the horizon nice?” 

 

That sense of reserved hopefulness is buoyed by a new sound. Following the departure of former lead guitarist Nick Rose in 2018, the band enlisted multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Alex Robinson and lead guitarist Charlie Hickerson, and the result is a rawer, more rock-forward energy that propels Creature Comfort into new sonic territory without overshadowing Clark’s trademark end-of-the-day vocals or attention to songcraft. The two new members bring something of a push-and-pull dynamic to Creature Comfort: on one end, Robinson’s vocals, keys, and acoustic strumming perfectly complement Clark’s folkier sensibilities; on the other, Hickerson’s squeals, squawks, and slide guitar add just the right amount of aggression (it’s like a jam between composer David Mansfield, the Pixies’ Joey Santiago, and Isaac Brock from Modest Mouse). Add in Jaco Pastorious-indebted bassist Cole Bearden and springy drummer Taylor Cole, and you’ve got a record that the band has affectionately dubbed “bootgaze.” Think of it as Fleet Foxes for people who grew up bailing hay, or your favorite indie record—if that record were scattered, smothered, and covered, of course. 

MUSIC

PHOTOS

RE_4301_500T_022291-R1-E019_edited.jpg

VIDEOS

       PRESS       

"Woke Up Drunk" added to NPR Music's New Music Friday playlist

 

Home Team named an album to watch in 2020 by Nashville Scene

 

"Creature Comfort have found a means of carving out their share of the Nashville music scene with their idiosyncratic blend of indie rock and Americana." — PopMatters

 

"A dreamy, funky breed of indie rock."  — The Tennessean

 

"[Big, Buff, and Handsome is] a buoyant Americana jam."  —  Wide Open Country

 

“Immediate and charming, [“Big, Buff, and Handsome”] catches your ear the first time you hear it and gives you pause.” — American Songwriter

 

"Captures deep, dark existential introspection and wonder through bright blurs of sweet, feel-good indie rock.” — Atwood Magazine

 

"In crafting Home Team, Clark has elevated his songwriting to a whole new level and illustrates why he is deserving of recognition as one of today’s rising stars in the world of indie rock."  — V13

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

"Home Team" reaches #87 on NACC Top 200 college radio charts

​

Single "Big, Buff, & Handsome" added to Spotify's Folk Pop and Fresh Finds: Rock playlist

​

Single "Single Soul" added to Spotify's All New Rock playlist 

​

Single "Black Cat" added to Apple Music's New in Rock Playlist

​

Single "Darkside" added to Spotify's Fresh Finds playlist

​

Taco Bell "Feed The Beat" winner Fall 2019

​

Winner of Lightning 100's Music City Mayhem 2019

  • Performance at Live On The Green music festival

  • Opened for Aaron Lee Tasjan and Grace Potter

​

Support for The Joy Formidable

  • March 2019 @ The Basement East

​

Winner of Miller Lite's Road to 'Roo 2017

  • Performed at Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival

PREVIOUS PRESS:

​

Music Mecca - “Local Indie Rock Favorites Creature Comfort Hold Down Sunday Night Live at 3rd & Lindsley” 

​

Nashville Scene - “Critics Pic: Creature Comfort w/ Hollis Brown”

​

Lightning 100 - “Creature Comfort Live Concert For Nashville Sunday Night”

​

Lightning 100 - “Best of 2019 Countdown

​

No Country For New Nashville - Live On The Green Saturday 8/31 Lineup

​

Closed Caption - “Nashville’s Creature Comfort Drops Infectious New Single”

​

Turn Up The Volume - “Indie Nashville Rockers Creature Comfort Enthrall With New Sensitive Single ‘Heartstrings’”

​

Substream Magazine - “Heartstrings” Song Premiere

​

The Tullahoma News - “Local Band Creature Comfort on the Road to ‘Roo”

​

Lightning 100 - “Am I Dreaming?” Song Feature

​

Ear To The Ground - “Creature Comfort: Engaging Rock That Challenges Both Genre And Authority

​

The Tennessean - “Road to ‘Roo Winners Creature Comfort Have ‘Best Day’ With First Festival Performance

​

Impose - ”Creature Comfort Talk First Bonnaroo Appearance As A Band

​

Blank News - “A Look at Day 3 of Bonnaroo

​

NATIVE - “Nowhere to Go But Everywhere

​

Grateful Web - “Creature Comfort To Release Anti-Trump Single”

​

No Country For New Nashville - “Bonnaroo Band of the Day: Creature Comfort”

​

Murfreesboro Pulse - “Murfreesboro Music Veterans Creature Comfort to Take the Stage at Bonnaroo 2017”

​

The Berkeley B-Side - “Dissecting Band History And Sound With Creature Comfort

​

Wolf In A Suit - “New Music Alert: ‘Teeth For Days’ by Creature Comfort

​

We Own This Town - “Teeth For Days” Single Review

​

Do615 - “Teeth For Days” Single Premiere

​

No Country For New Nashville - “Am I Dreaming?” Video

​

Live in Limbo - “Am I Dreaming?” Video Premiere

​

Counterfeit Magazine - “Echoes & Relics” Album Review

​

No Country For New Nashville - “Echoes & Relics” Album Review

​

Girl Underground Music - “New Music: Creature Comfort ‘Echoes & Relics’ EP Review

​

The Revue - “Echoes & Relics” EP Review

​

The Alternative - “Am I Dreaming?” Song Premiere

​

The Deli Nashville - Local Artist of the Month

​

We Own This Town - “All My Friends” Video Review

​

American Songwriter - “Daily Discovery: Creature Comfort ‘All My Friends’

​

We Own This Town - “Fox Tales” Album Review

SOCIAL MEDIA

bottom of page