Shooter Profile

T.J. Klay

Article by Tom Thompson

        There is a parallel world to NSCA tournament shooting and fun shoots...it’s called celebrity shoots which are fund raisers for various charities like Boy Scouts, Cystic Fibrosis, Wish Upon a Star, etc.  The celebrity circuit has its own favorites and its own set of regulars. TJ Klay, a Nashville recording artist who is also an avid sporting clays shooter, is one of the stars of this circuit. He has been inducted into the Louise Mandrell Shooter Hall of Fame for his shooting exploits in celebrity events.

        His introduction to sporting clays came when his arm was twisted to enter a celebrity shoot. He won a shotgun as a door prize, and that was all it took to lure him deeper into the game. He’s an accomplished A Class shooter in the real world, and he is one of our sport’s interesting personalities.

        For the last several years, TJ has journeyed to San Antonio for the NSCA sporting clays nationals to distribute copies of his special CD recordings to all the shooters. TJ writes songs about life, love, loss, God, country and shooting including a beautiful Texas swing number about sporting clays called San Antonio in September.  This ditty, featured on a couple of the recent CDs, is about the NSCA nationals. TJ is likely the only shooter in the NSCA with a patch on his vest showing that he’s sponsored by Hohner Harmonica.

        Sporting clays shooters are a close knit group who enjoy camaraderie, an esprit de corps, a fraternal sense of shared experience. When “one of us” does well, we all take note. TJ is one of us, and his music is special. His new CD Heart of Klay gets a special place…not on my shelf, but in my CD player. Next to listening to TJ play in person, his recorded music is a close substitute. Grand Kankakee Hunt club has realized what a great addition TJ is to their events, and had him playing music there at three of their big shoots in 2007. His recording of the old Eagles hit Desperado takes me right back to that club at Grand Kankakee. Wow! He hits that one out of the park.

        Today he performs solo and with a trio at venues and shooting events across the country and currently is a member of the Pro-Staff for HI VIZ sight systems, a Browning Shotgun Ambassador and the 2006 Texas State Sporting Clays Open A Class Champion. With his publishing company, Sporting Klay’s Music, he has released four solo CDs, written and produced The Grand American CD for the ATA’s Grand American Trapshooting Championship, the San Antonio in September CD for the NSCA’s Sporting Clays Nationals and the Shoot for the Moon CD for USA Shooting. The song was featured in their video promotion for the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece.  That’s also TJ’s harmonica that drives the theme song and background music for Jeff Foxworthy’s Big Night Out show.

        It was a joy getting together with my good friend TJ Klay to explore some questions that give us a better view of who TJ is and how Sporting Clays plays a role in his life.

Q: How did a Nashville singer/songwriter get into sporting clays? 

TJ: “Back about 12 years ago I was in the country group Western Flyer and we used to do the TNN-TV show “Music City Tonight with Crook & Chase” quite often.  One Friday night when we were scheduled to perform, Louise Mandrell was on the show with her friend Robert Conrad, (James West of TV series Wild Wild West) promoting her second annual Louise Mandrell Celebrity Shoot.  She invited us to come out and shoot in it. We had our own Western Flyer Team and seeing that none of us had ever shot before we came in last of the whole event!  But…as a door prize I won a Browning Over/Under Special Sporting Clays shotgun (and felt really obligated to put it to good use).  I participated in the last five of her events, the last one being in 2000 where I was High Overall Celebrity Shooter and got my name engraved on the Top Gun Trophy along-side Dave Butts (Washington Redskins) and Mike Snider (country comedian and Grand Ole Opry member) and the other former winners of that event.  Once you have won that event you can never win it again…even if you shoot a better score.  If I remember correctly Bill McGuire was top gun over the whole event and we all know he can “hit a gnat’s ass at a braggable distance!”

Q. Did you grow up hunting and shooting?

TJ: “No. I grew up in Northwest Iowa, debatably one of the pheasant hunting capitals of the world, but I only hunted 2 or 3 times and shot clay targets over a cornfield in my cadet counselor’s back yard and never shot again until 2005, the same year I won my gun at Louise’s shoot.” 

Q: Tell us about TJ Klay…is TJ your given name? Where did you grow up? Where do you live now? Do you have a family? Where are you employed?

TJ: “No, I was adopted at the age of 3 months, and my adoptive parents named me Thomas Jon after each of their parents.  When I was about 38, with the help of a private investigator, I was able to locate my biological mother who had originally named me Terry Joe.  Being a shooter, people often ask me if I changed my last name to Klay as a stage name, and the answer is “no” (but it is a great last name for a shooter.)

I grew up in North West Iowa in a little town called Hull (an hour north of Sioux City and 90 miles west of Lake Okoboji where my friend Bob Allen lived until his untimely death.)
I have been in the Nashville area for 27 years, the last 13 in Madison, Tennessee which is almost exactly halfway between the Opry Land Hotel and the Tennessee Clay Target Complex.

I have been married for 13 years and have no children.

I am a self employed harmonica player/singer/songwriter, and have been doing this full time since I have been out of high school.”

Q: Do you get many opportunities to shoot while pursuing your music career?

TJ: “Not only yes, but many opportunities to combine the two as well.  I worked for Jon Kruger three times last year entertaining at the Kruger Cup, Classic and the Indiana State Shoot.  The Monday following the shoot I stuck around for a day and gave Jon lessons…although I don’t give him all my secrets!!”

Q: You’ve shot with the Mandrell sisters, of country music fame. Are they good shooters, or is it just something they do to raise funds for charities?

TJ: “They all have a passion for the clay target sports and shoot extremely well, especially considering their time restraints.  Their parents raised them with a healthy respect for shooting and gun safety!”

Q: Who is the toughest competition at those charity events?

TJ: “Not only the celebrity shooters like myself or my good buddy Dusty Rogers (Roy Rogers Jr.) who is a great trap shooter, and not too shabby on the sporting clays either. But, some of the toughest competition might be registered shooters that want to come and support the event.”

Do many of those folks shoot competitively, or is it just a fun thing for them?

TJ: “As far as the folks that are invited as celebrity guests/shooters, I am one of the few that I know of currently that is a registered NSCA shooter at these events.  Most of them shoot just for the enjoyment of it and to help support the event.”

Q: You wrote a nice song about one of my childhood heroes, Roy Rogers. I saw Roy shoot trap in the sixties at Vandalia, and I met Dale in my union hall in Lima, Ohio, where she was performing. How did you come to know Roy?

TJ: “I was shooting trap with Dusty Rogers at the Hollywood Celebrity Shoot around ‘97 or ‘98 and he invited me to come see the museum, (which was at that time in Victorville, California although it has since been moved to Branson), meet his dad and play the harmonica for him.  After Dusty introduced me to his Dad I got out my harp and…well, what do you play when you are standing face to face with the King of the Cowboys?  How about Happy Trails?  When he recognized what I was playing he came and put his arm around me and started singing along.  I about wet my pants, and nearly forgot how Happy Trails went.  Pictures of this can be seen on myspace.com/tjklay.   My co-writer and I wrote Heroes Like You almost a year after Roy passed away.”

Q: Tell us about giving Roy his last birthday present.

TJ: “While I was visiting with Roy I found out that the next week was going to be his 86th birthday, so I called up the Hohner Harmonica Company, (I have been endorsing their product now for 22 years) and they sent me a harp for him, which I got engraved “To Roy Rogers Happy Birthday and Happy Trails to you - TJ Klay and Hohner Harmonica Inc”.  By the time Hohner got the harmonica to me and I had time to get it engraved and get it to Roy, it was about 10 to 12 weeks past his birthday.  Unfortunately he never reached his 87th birthday and because it arrived so late it ended up being his last birthday present.  That harmonica is now in the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans museum along with a harmonica that Roy Sr. had gotten from his dad.”

Q: Your website had a picture of you hunting with Bob Allen. How did you come to know Bob Allen the outdoor outfitter?

TJ: “I met Bob seven or eight years ago at the SHOT Show at the Boyt Harness/Bob Allen Sportswear Booth.  Even after he retired and Boyt bought out Bob Allen Sportswear, they would bring him in to sign autographs at their booth.   After that, every time I would go home to Northwest Iowa for Christmas I would make a trip out to see him.  The last time I saw him, I was up at the lake for a family reunion with my wife, which was 10 minutes from where Bob lived.  We had the opportunity to shoot that day and have dinner that evening.   I often stayed the night with him and Sari if I was traveling alone.  He always liked my Roy Rogers song Heroes Like You.”

Q: You registered a couple thousand targets last year. You’ve moved up to A class with a couple punches. What do you consider your greatest win so far in the clays game?

TJ: “At the celebrity shoot fundraisers I have walked away with many top honors, (Celebrity Calcutta winner and first place with high combined trap and sporting clays score) but in the real world of shooting I would have to say winning the Texas State Open A Class in 2006 was my biggest thrill.  I was going to be in Texas and had a church concert cancel one week before.  This really irritated my manager Regina, but I said “Don’t worry about it let’s just go up to San Angelo for the Texas State Shoot”.  This would be my first tournament in A Class and I thought “wow these Texas boys know how to wield a shotgun”.  Two days later when the smoke cleared I took it by one bird…Wheew….”

Q: What’s the best shooting advice anybody ever gave you?

TJ: “Long before I started shooting a good friend once told me “Thinkin’ will make you more stinkin’ than drinkin’!”   Somebody else told me once to enjoy the journey.  As human beings we tend to not be satisfied with where we are at…..we always want to be better.   My advice would be to relish every step of the way as you journey upward because once you make it to Master Class you are in there with the best of the best and you may never win again!”

Q: Any changes you’d like to see in sporting clays?

TJ: “More media and visibility.  It is great to see all of the 4H Shooting Programs, SCTP, and the schools with shooting programs because the youth are the future of the sport.”

Q: Is there a particular target that gives you the most problem?

TJ: “Lately, cornering outgoers.”

Q: What club do you consider to be your home club…besides there, which clubs do you enjoy shooting?

TJ: “My home club is the Tennessee Clay Target Complex.  I live halfway between there and the Opry Land Hotel and can be there in about 10 to 15 minutes.  When my travels allow I always try to get to Elm Fork, 74 Ranch, Canoe Creek Ranch, Grand Kankakee Hunt Club, Desert Lake, Coyote Springs, High Desert Shooting, Ben Avery and Ozark Shooters.”

Q: Some shooters have superstitions or carry lucky charms with them. Do you have any of that in your game?

TJ: “Yeah….a low profile HiViz cap and a Buckmark somewhere in sight!”

Q: What sort of special preparation do you make for a tournament?

TJ: “With the line of work that I am in there are times when I get to shoot a lot and times when I hardly get to shoot at all.  For me it’s all about consistency.  When I am in town I try and shoot 3 or 4 times a week and my music world does not always allow me that luxury.  If there is a target that I need work on I do not wait until I get to the shoot to work out the bug.  Fortunately, I entertain at different shooting/hunting events and have friends in the shooting industry like Jon Kruger, Bill McGuire, Jack Robertson, Ed Prechel and Scotty Robertson, who take an interest in what I do.  This has given me the opportunity to glean from the cream of the crop!”

Q: Do you have a certain pre-shot or pre-mount routine?

TJ: “I have to remember that this is not what I do for a living and my biggest competitor is me.  God has blessed me with being able to combine two passions, music and shooting.  Whether I am on stage or in the stand, my prayer is “Lord help me execute with excellence all of the things I have worked very hard at”. For example, swinging smoothly, staying in the gun, and “seeing” the bird…really being ready for action rather than just walking in and calling ‘pull’.”

Thank you, TJ Klay for taking time to discuss these questions with us.

TJ returns to Grand Kankakee for three shoots this season plus he will appear at the Louisville Area Sporting Klays Classic.

Readers can visit TJ’s website and his MySpace page for more details.
Website

MySpace