---
title: "Everything Under The Sun with Carey Clayton (Modern Olympia, Jay Som, Morgan Jay)"

description: "Carey Clayton's first album as Modern Olympia is Justification Machine. He talks through lyrics he doesn't fully understand yet, about thirty Morgan Jay shows built on crowd work, joining Great Good Fine Ok, and songs written in English, then translated, two of which went to number one in China."

date: 2026-10-06

kind: guest
status: complete

guestSlugs:
  - carey-clayton

listenUrl: "https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lovemusicmore/episodes/Everything-Under-The-Sun-with-Carey-Clayton-Modern-Olympia--Jay-Som--Morgan-Jay-e3pr382"
spotifyUrl: "https://open.spotify.com/episode/2I0Rj96FW41qdyl2aEyycN"
appleUrl: "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/everything-under-the-sun-with-carey-clayton-modern/id1567355195?i=1000793393862&uo=4"

topicsDiscussed:
  - "Songwriting"
  - "Music production"
  - "Mixing"
  - "Touring"
  - "Collaboration"
  - "The music business"
  - "Scoring for picture"
  - "Genre"
  - "Modern Olympia"
  - "Morgan Jay"
  - "Great Good Fine Ok"

hostNote: |
  Carey Clayton’s first album under the name Modern Olympia is called **Justification Machine**. The songs keep coming back to the mental hoops people jump through to tell themselves something is okay. On lyrics, he trusts the lines he doesn’t fully understand yet. The clever ones feel contrived.

  Touring, session work, and TV and film production music are how he learns what makes a genre tick, including music he would not have chosen, and carries that back into his own songs. A solo session turns into an echo chamber, so he still wants other people’s takes. The quick test for “done,” nothing left that’s wrong, is the one he doesn’t like. He’d rather know the song is good, and when an idea shows up he tries to write, record, and produce it in an afternoon.

  We spend the middle of the hour on the live work. Morgan Jay’s show stays fresh after about thirty dates in under a year because so much of it is crowd work: they vamp and leave space for the audience’s punch line. Great Good Fine Ok is the longer story. He knew a member from Miami, met drummer Danny and singer John again in New York, and [Russ Flynn](https://lukefwalton.com/love-music-more/episodes/russ-flynn/) called him in about ten years ago, after Flynn had been subbing with X Ambassadors. The China songs are a different path. An Instagram message led to producing an artist who was in Los Angeles, then to something like eighty songs over a few years, written in English with John and pitched by an A&R contact after translation. He does not go to China to write them. Great Good Fine Ok did tour China, and he says that trip had nothing to do with these songs. Two of the songs became number one for a while, which he treats as a goofy fun fact. The gigs, he says, came from people he likes making music with, not from auditions.

  Asked why he loves music, he talks about rooms he would not otherwise have entered: a record in Nigeria, a choreography project in Istanbul, and the quieter work of sitting with a sound until it says something about him.

selectedMoments:
  - label: "Justification Machine"
    startSec: 122
    note: "First album under the name Modern Olympia, about the hoops people jump through to tell themselves something is okay."
  - label: "Lyrics he doesn't fully know yet"
    startSec: 210
    note: "The clever lines feel contrived. The ones he doesn't understand yet are the exciting ones."
  - label: "What makes a genre tick"
    startSec: 258
    note: "A decade of other artists, plus TV and film production music, is how he learns a style and brings it home."
  - label: "Capture it the same day"
    startSec: 402
    note: "Done means the song is good, not that every problem is gone. He tries to write, record, and produce an idea in an afternoon."
  - label: "Thirty Morgan Jay shows"
    startSec: 1019
    note: "Still fresh after about thirty dates because the set is crowd work."
  - label: "Joining Great Good Fine Ok"
    startSec: 1262
    note: "Miami, then New York, then a call from Russ Flynn about ten years ago."
  - label: "The China songs started on Instagram"
    startSec: 1896
    note: "A message that sounded like a scam became years of songs written in English and translated. He does not fly there to write."
  - label: "Find your people"
    startSec: 2225
    note: "The gigs came through musicians he actually likes, not a pile of auditions."
  - label: "A record in Nigeria"
    startSec: 2364
    note: "Why he loves music: rooms he would not have entered, including Nigeria and a choreography project in Istanbul."

excerptQuotes:
  - text: "The title of the album is called Justification Machine."
    startSec: 129
    reviewed: true
  - text: "In this album it was like I kept seeing this theme of the kind of mental hoops we all jump through to like tell ourselves that something's okay."
    startSec: 155
    reviewed: true
  - text: "Some of my more favorite things I've written, you don't really know what it totally means at the time, but you know there's something like juicy there and it's like speaking to something more subconsciously."
    startSec: 190
    reviewed: true
  - text: "Sometimes it's like I can pretty much write, record, and produce out a song in an afternoon."
    startSec: 425
    reviewed: true
  - text: "We'll try to like leave some space for like the audience punch line to hit."
    startSec: 1069
    reviewed: true
  - text: "We don't go to China to write with Chinese artists."
    startSec: 1970
    reviewed: true
  - text: "The fact that two of those songs became number one songs for a while, this feels like one of those goofy fun facts."
    startSec: 2010
    reviewed: true
  - text: "I love music because it's connected me to people from such vastly different backgrounds and cultures that doing anything else, there's like no way that would have happened."
    startSec: 2339
    reviewed: true

faq:
  - question: "What is Carey Clayton's album Justification Machine?"
    answer: "It is the first album under the name Modern Olympia. He describes it as an eclectic set that kept returning to the stories people tell themselves so that something feels okay. The lyrics he trusts are the ones he doesn't fully understand yet."
  - question: "How did Carey Clayton end up with number-one songs in China?"
    answer: "An Instagram message led to producing an artist who was in Los Angeles, then to years of songs written in English with John from Great Good Fine Ok. An A&R contact pitches them after they are translated. Carey does not go to China to write them. Two of the songs reached number one for a while. A separate Great Good Fine Ok tour of China was unrelated."
  - question: "What does Carey Clayton do in Morgan Jay's show?"
    answer: "He plays in the band, about thirty shows in under a year. The music vamps under crowd work and leaves space for the audience's punch line."
  - question: "When does Carey Clayton know a song is finished?"
    answer: "The short test, nothing left that's wrong, is the one he doesn't like. He'd rather know the song is good. When he can get into the studio with an idea, he tries to write, record, and produce it in an afternoon."

transcriptPublished: true

draft: false
---