After leaving his shift as nighttime desk clerk at a Super 8 Motel, he stopped at a local radio station to deliver a tape of a song that he had written.

"[5] After graduating from Vidor High School in 1986,[6] Walker began working at a Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company plant.

[7] At 19, he also began touring as a musician, playing various local clubs and eventually finding work as the house singer at a bar in Beaumont called the Neon Armadillo.

[10] Larry Powell of Allmusic gave the album a four-and-a-half star rating, saying that Walker had a "high-energy" voice reminiscent of Conway Twitty.

[10] Gordon Ely of the Richmond Times-Dispatch gave a favorable review, saying that "Walker has broken loose from Nashville's most recent crop of carefully crafted cowboys.

"[16] Alanna Nash of Entertainment Weekly thought that Walker did not show a distinct musical personality, but considered the song selection strong and gave it a B+.

[17] Richard McVey II of Country Standard Time considered it a "throwback" in sound to Walker's debut,[18] while USA Today said that it lacked the "verve" of that album.

[19] Having just completed the tracks for his fourth album in 1996, Walker was playing basketball with a friend, when he began to experience numbness, facial spasms, and double vision.

Walker subsequently began changing his diet and treating the disease with a daily injection of Copaxone, sending his MS into an arrested state.

[20] Also in early 1996, Nu Millennia Media released Self Portrait, which included five of Walker's songs in an interactive CD-ROM format and 30 minutes of video footage.

[9] Larry Stephens of Country Standard Time gave this album a mostly-negative review, calling the songs "cookie-cutter" outside "I Need a Margarita".

[23] Thom Owens of Allmusic also thought that it was formulaic, but said that Walker was "able to make even mediocre material sound good", rating it three stars out of five.

[12] Doug Johnson, who succeeded Stroud as Giant Records' president, produced Walker's 1999 album Live, Laugh, Love.

"[28] Brian Wahlert of Country Standard Time also thought that the album was inconsistent, saying that "She's Always Right", "The Chain of Love", and the Conley cover were its strongest tracks, but that the rest "treads no new ground.

[1] Walker co-produced the album with veteran producers Byron Gallimore and Blake Mevis, and session guitarist Brent Mason.

[31] The album also included a song that Walker wrote in high school, and a cover of Ritchie Valens's "La Bamba.

"[32] Maria Konicki Dinoia of Allmusic rated it three stars, with her review saying that "the sensitivity on this album is so expressive that it makes you want to run right out and hug the one you love.

[33] In an interview with CMT, he said that he donated the song to the city of Houston,[34] and that he sings "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the team's opening game every season.

The song spent twenty-seven weeks on the country charts and peaked at number 9, making for his first top ten entry since "The Chain of Love" three years previous.

"[39] Dan McIntosh gave a mostly-negative review for Country Standard Time, where he wrote that "even his passionate singing cannot rise above this album's predictable lyrics and lame arrangements.

[42] The album's title cut, "Fall," was written by Clay Mills along with former Mercury Records artist Shane Minor and former Exile member Sonny LeMaire.

"[42] Engine 145 reviewer Brady Vercher rated it three stars out of five, praising Walker's vocal performance but saying that the song selection "seemed to be lacking in everything but fluff.

[47] Its first single, "She Won't Be Lonely Long", was given an official release date of December 2009,[48] although it had already entered the country charts in late November.

[52] In 2014, Curb issued a compilation titled The Best of Clay Walker, which included singles from Fall and She Won't Be Lonely Long, along with re-recordings of songs from when he was on Giant.

[15] Of the comparison among the three, Rick Koster wrote in the book Texas Music that Walker's success came more quickly than that of Chesnutt or Byrd.

[15] Kurt Wolff and Orla Duane, authors of Country Music: The Rough Guide, said that he "had loads of youthful energy, a golden Texas twang, and, of course, plenty of boyish good looks.

[65] In addition, he said that after his diagnosis, he realized that "you need to love your family" and said that, because he considered his songs positive in nature, he felt that he could connect to younger listeners.

[71] On August 7, 2020, it was announced that Walker and his wife would be welcoming a fifth child together, a son named Christiaan Michael, born January 2021.

[73] In 2008, he received a Humanitarian Award for his charitable efforts in relations to MS[74] and participated in a charity golf tournament benefiting his organization.