Texas guitarist Gary Clark, Jr. has been compared to guitar icons like Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan, and his playing is a powerful and inspired mix of blues roots with contemporary soul and hip-hop, and when he’s rolling at his best, he sounds like nothing so much as a natural hybrid of both the past and the future of the blues.
Born and raised in Austin, Texas, Clark first picked up a guitar at the age of 12 and spent his teens playing whatever gig he could get in the Austin area, eventually meeting Clifford Antone, promoter and owner of Antone’s, the city’s premier blues club, who began featuring Clark at his venue. An amazing live performer, Clark soon became one of the brightest players on Austin’s blues and rock scene. He released an independent album, 2005’s Tribute, followed by a pair of self-produced albums in 2008 for Hotwire Unlimited, 110 and Worry No More. An EP, Gary Clark Jr., also appeared from Hotwire in 2010.
But Clark was far from just a one-trick pony guitar gunslinger. He could also sing, write, and arrange. He wrote the original score for the film Full Count and also appeared as an actor in John Sayles’ 2007 film Honeydripper. In 2010, Clark was selected by Eric Clapton to perform at the Crossroads Guitar Festival, and a DVD of the show featuring Clark led to a recording deal with Warner Bros. Clark was soon in the studio working on his major-label debut.
An EP called Bright Lights was released in 2011 in advance of the new album, Blak and Blu, which appeared in the fall of 2012. His next release was the impressive two-disc Live, recorded during an 18-month-long tour behind Blak and Blu, and one that perhaps better represented Clark’s wild, impassioned, and often elegantly graceful live sets. After more touring, including dates opening for the Rolling Stones and the Foo Fighters, Clark released his second major-label studio set, 2015’s The Story of Sonny Boy Slim. Throughout his career, Clark has been a prolific live performer, documented by Gary Clark Jr. Live (2014) and Gary Clark Jr Live/North America (2017).
In 2014, Clark was awarded a Grammy for Best Traditional R&B performance for the song “Please Come Home”. His most recent album, This Land, was released in 2019. In 2020, he won the Grammy Award for “Best Rock Song” and “Best Rock Performance” for the song “This Land” from that album. Clark portrays Arthur Crudup in the 2022 Baz Luhrmann film Elvis.
Clark’s newest album, JPEG RAW drops March 22 2024. The latest single is “What About the Children?” , a song written by Clark and Stevie Wonder. Wonder sings and play harmonica too!
Check out now on Sacramento’s K-ZAP 93.3 FM. All part of 50 years of Rock, Blues and More, 24-7 on our station’s stream aK-ZAP.ORG/LISTEN/