Paul Clayton was an American folksinger and folklorist who was prominent in the folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s.
Clayton earned a master's degree in folklore at the University of Virginia in 1957, where he specialized in traditional music, primarily New England sea shanties and ballads as well as Appalachian songs. He became interested in the first of these as a youngster and began playing guitar as a teen. While attending college, he expanded his interests to include the music of Virginia and the surrounding states. Within a short time after leaving college, he began recording. His first releases were for a small specialty record company, but in 1956 he joined Folkways Records, the day's leading folk music label. He recorded six solo albums for Folkways from 1956 to 1958, issued albums for a few specialty labels, moved to another prominent folk label, Elektra Records, for two albums in 1958-59, and collaborated with artists such as Jean Ritchie and Dave Van Ronk on other releases. He made his last recording in 1965.
As much a scholar as a musician, Clayton began collecting songs at a young age in his hometown of New Bedford, Massachusetts.