GARY CLARK,JR.

expression you can have and the more colorful you can be with your
expression.”
Born in 1960 in Arkansas, McCray listened to all music. “The
three Kings, B.B., Freddie, and Albert, were like meat and potatoes to
me, but everything from Junior Walker to Wilson Picket, Aretha,
Gladys Knight, Guitar Slim, and Slim Harpo.” It was through his sister,
Clara, that the 12-year old McCray first came to the guitar. McCray
said that when she found out he was serious and had respect for her
guitar, she encouraged him to get it out and play for her. She even
started him out with her Gibson SG.
“I went straight to the electric. When I moved in with her, I started to
tinker with the guitars she’d left around. She wanted me to play the other
guitars, but I wanted to play her guitar because the action was better.
When she found out that I was serious and had respect for her guitar,
she didn’t mind me play. She even encouraged me to get it out and play
for her. She was my main mentor. I wanted to be like my big sister.”
“Musically, B.B. was the first to
inspire me and touch me in a way that
no other music did. He’s a great musician
who sits there and makes you
feel what he’s feeling. He’s almost
spiritual in the way he plays,” says
McCray. “When I was in 10th grade, I
messed around with a blues segment.
I sang and played some B.B. and they
called me B.B. King until the day I left
school. It was a joke to them, but it
was embarrassing to me.”
Though McCray cites many
modern musical influences, it is the
boundless respect he has for Ray
Charles that most touches his heart.
“When I was a kid in the 1960s in
Arkansas, I went through school integration.
Ray Charles was one of the
first people who made it cool to be
black. You were happy to be associated
with Ray because he had so
much soul in his voice and his instrument.
His tone thing was electrifying
in my opinion.
“Because the soul and rhythm of his music, whether big band or
jazz combo, was so funky, he taught us all how to express soul,
gospel and blues. He was the man,” says McCray.
After the family moved from Arkansas to Saginaw, MI., McCray
really began to learn his chops. He would sit in on the weekend jams
at his sister’s house, absorbing the styles and techniques of other guitarists.
When he was 13, his mother sacrificed enough to buy him a
Gibson 335. With his brothers Carl on bass and Steve on drums, there
was little peace and quiet in the McCray home after that.
By the time he was 16, McCray and his brothers had a band
called the McCray Brothers. Once out of high school, the brothers
worked at the General Motors plant in Saginaw by day and punched
the music time clock at night. “I was on the second shift the whole
time I worked there honing power steering housings,” says McCray.
“My brother would start the gigs off at 10, do the first set, and I would
come in and join the band for the latter part of the night.
“We played together for the next 12 years. That was how I met
the people at Point Blank Records and got our first release. In 1987,
20 BLUES REVUE
we cut a demo and were promised studio time, but that never
happened.” McCray’s first record, Ambition, was released in 1991.
That was also when McCray became the singer/frontman. “I
never wanted to be the frontman. McCray Brothers were a funk band
playing 1970’s funk music. As a change of pace, I’d play two or three
blues numbers, then back to the dance thing.
“These guys who came to see us about our first recording told
me that I needed to be the frontman. I didn’t sing that much then, but
I’ve become more comfortable with singing. But as a baritone, I have
a limited range. I wish I had a better voice to express myself vocally.
But I try to make my voice and the guitar a complimentary package.”
Calling his guitar his true second voice, McCray connects with
audiences around the world directly through the emotional guitar
tones he finds. “My guitar has a range that my voice doesn’t. I’m a
baritone, but my guitar can go up high where I can’t sing. Because I
can reach ranges on the guitar outside of my vocal range, I try and
use my guitar as an extension of my voice. I don’t go for mechanics,
I want my guitar to sing.”
His second album, Delta Hurricane, was released on Virgin
Pointblank in 1993. It’s a hard-edged recording that encompasses
McCray’s contemporary approach: stinging notes, blaring uptown
brass and a liquid-smooth baritone. McCray’s intensity comes through
loud and clear on the sweeping story he sings on the title cut and his
soulful treatment of the classic “Soul Shine.” Still, it’s hard to get a real
fix on the man’s style from his recordings.
McCray’s late 1990’s releases included 1998’s Believe It on HOB
Records and Meet Me At The Lake on the Atomic Theory label, which
took a more relaxed approach to the blues and R&B landscapes he
explores. In 2000, he released Believe It, followed by a live recording
in 2006, and his self-titled record in 2007.
With artists recording an album every two years and touring nonstop
in support, McCray is an unusual exception. He’s gone five years
without a record, but continues to tour as an in-demand blues act.
One night he’s perform in a packed blues club for hours, the next day,
PHOTOGRAPHY © MARILYN STRINGER