Don Clayton, a 1975 Auburn music education graduate, grew up in the small farming community of Newton, Alabama. His coming-of age-years in the late 1960s and 70s were filled with music from classic rock icons like Queen, Pink Floyd, the Allman Brothers Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Eagles. He’s also a classically trained musician. His diverse, musical paths converged at Auburn where the 1970s music culture inspired his passion and vision and the Auburn University Marching Band instilled discipline.

After graduating from Auburn, he gained firsthand experience with the business operations side of the music industry, opening a recording studio in Dothan, Alabama. His work recording jingles soon garnered the attention of a larger studio and after several years working for a recording studio in Atlanta, Clayton moved to the North Carolina mountains. The next 15-20 years were filled with building a family and a business rooted in sales and the hospitality industry.

After decades of business success, he is now free to pursue songwriting and performing, with a number of albums, videos and songwriting credits to his name. His unique combination of business and music industry knowledge — combined with his love of Auburn — made supporting the university’s first commercial recording studio an easy decision. Named after the title of one of his favorite self-authored songs, the Don and Alexandra “Lucky Man” Studio is poised to revolutionize opportunities for music students and put Auburn on the map in the recording industry.