GARY CLARK,JR.

44 BLUES REVUE
GARY CLARK, JR.
Blak And Blu
Warner Brothers
Guitarist Gary Clark, Jr. is the most exciting
thing to happen to the contemporary blues
scene since fellow Texas gunslinger Stevie Ray
Vaughan first strolled out on a stage back in
the early 1980s. A major talent bubbling under
the mainstream, Clark released three independent
albums for the Hotwire label and
appeared in filmmaker John Sayles’ 2007 movie Honeydripper before
he was “discovered” by Eric Clapton.
The elder statesman invited Clark to perform at the 2010 Crossroads
Guitar Festival, a fortunate turn of events that subsequently
led to a major label deal and the critically-acclaimed The Bright
Lights EP, which spent the better part of the last year hanging
around the upper-reaches of the Billboard blues chart. Widespread
critical acclaim, including a particularly purple rave review in the
pages of Rolling Stone magazine, introduced mainstream music
fans to the six-string talent. For Clark’s legion of newfound fans –
who have waited better than a year for his full-length debut album to
see the light of day – it’s unlikely that they’ll be disappointed by the
guitarist’s magnificent Blak And Blu.
HANS THEESSINK
& TERRY EVANS
Delta Time
Blue Groove
Few things are as pure as human voices
augmented with acoustic instrumentation.
Hans Theessink, one of Europe’s most
respected keepers of the blues, and Terry
Evans continue to celebrate the divine
approach of their partnership. Delta Time is
perfect follow-up to their first pairing,
Visions, released in 2008. The record is a
mixture of Theessink originals (six) with
time honored blues fare. Musically,
Theessink plays guitars, banjo, mandolin,
and harmonica while Evans adds his own
guitar and guest Ry Cooder joins the duo
on three songs.
The title track opens the record with a
Theessink strumming a soft John Lee
Hooker boogie as Evans, Arnold Culler,
In the past year alone, Gary Clark, Jr. has
played at the White House, the Apollo Theater,
the Kennedy Center honoring Buddy Guy, and
many music festivals. Blues lovers can now
hear what the buzz is all about.
and Willie Greene, Jr. answer in three part
harmony about leavin’ the city and headin’
to “delta time.” Theessink and Evans’ vocal
blend follows on the Delmore Brothers’
“Blues Stay Away From Me.” Their clear
and straightforward interpretation, with
Cooder’s added slide guitar, is a reminder
of the organic nature of early music like
this. Another blues classic, Tampa Red’s “It
Hurts Me Too,” offers an acoustic reading
that focuses on the emotional power of
vocal duo. Musically, the guitar and mandolin
pairing recalls the days of rural string
bands like Sleepy John Estes and Yank
Rachell. They also step lightly with Evans
taking the lead vocals on the ‘65 pop hit,
“The Birds And The Bees.”
For almost nine minutes, Evans’ testifies
his life experiences of living in a world
ruled by Jim Crow segregation on “Down In
Mississippi.” Evans has recorded this
before, but here it takes on new meaning
with his spoken introduction and
As good as The Bright Lights EP may have
been, nothing could have prepared listeners for a
song like “Ain’t Messin’ ‘Round,” which seamlessly
blends old-school R&B with a Memphis soul groove
and a rock ‘n’ roll heartbeat to one-up the Black
Keys at their own game. Clark enjoys his Jimi Hendrix
moment with the bold blues-rock dirge “When
My Train Pulls In,” the song mixing a Delta blues
spirit with an undeniable SRV vibe. Clark is no twotrick
pony, however, venturing onto avant-garde turf
with the chilling title track, which displays a jazzy
edge in its sampling of Gil Scott-Heron, the song
firmly rooted in the blues as it also picks from Albert King’s classic “As
The Years Go Passing By.”
Clark’s mash-up of Hendrix’s “Third Stone From The Sun” with
Little Johnny Taylor’s “If You Love Me Like You Say” (best known
from Albert Collins’ Frostbite LP) provides plenty of cheap thrills.
The swirling psychedelic blues-rock instrumentation quite suddenly
evolves into a soulful, slightly funky reading of Taylor’s underrated
tune. Overall, music lovers are going to rejoice over Clark’s debut
even as blues purists are gonna hate, but the truth is that Blak And Blu
marks the emergence of a major talent who is bringing his love of
blues and soul to mainstream audiences. Regardless of whether or not
we’ve heard it all before, we’ve never heard it quite like Gary Clark, Jr.
– Rev. Keith A. Gordon
Theessink’s dark assertive guitar. On
Theessink’s “Shelter From The Storm,”
Cooder’s effortless slide and the sacred
male chorus back Theessink’s brooding
vocals. Evans shows off his soul side on
“Pouring Water On A Drowning Man.”
Behind Evans’ tender voice, Theessink’s
delicate finger picking creates the friendly,
back porch vibe. Jimmy Reed’s “Honest I
Do” is delivered as Brownie and Sonny
might have performed it in a ‘60s college