y Gary Graff photo by Frank Maddocks 36 November 2012 www.musicconnection.com A Guitar Hero Emerges
Gary Clark Jr. is the musical equivalent of Midwestern weather; if you don’t like something, stick around for a minute and it will surely change. Though he was born and bred and cut his teeth in Austin, TX, and developed a reputation as a blues-steeped guitar gunslinger, the 28-year-old musician and songwriter is the product of a varied batch of influences––including rock, R&B, funk, jazz, country and hip-hop in addition to blues––that all surface on Blak And Blu, his major label debut. A church and high school choir veteran, Clark picked up guitar as an adolescent and was mentored by the late Austin promoter and club owner Clifford Antone. The rising artist became a fixture on the Sixth Street scene and, by 2001 was feted with a Gary Clark Jr. Day in Austin and, by 2010, made enough of an impact to be booked at Eric Clapton’s third Crossroads Guitar Festival as well as the following year’s Bonnaroo <strong>Music</strong> Festival. Clark was also part of this year’s Red, White And Blues show at the White House and Metallica’s Orion Festival, and he’s been tapped by Sheryl Crow and Alicia Keys to guest on their albums. He may be a little bruised from his hard-fought trip into the spotlight, but Blak And Blu sounds like it was well worth the effort. <strong>Music</strong> <strong>Connection</strong>: Blak And Blu has felt like a long time coming, with a lot of “preamble” in the form of EPs and a lot of advance press. You must be chomping at the bit for it to come out. Gary Clark Jr.: Yeah, I’m really ready. I’m very excited. I mean, this is kind of a big deal for me, my �rst (album) with a major label. I suppose there’s a little bit more pressure––and a lot of excitement. I’m ready to go, man. I’m ready. MC: You’ve been called “the next Hendrix” and a lot of other good stuff. How do you cope with those kind of plaudits, and with the expectations they bring? Clark: (laughs) I’m just...I’m aware and I’m soaking it up, but mostly I’m just grateful. I’m blessed. I’m very lucky. And I’m humbled by it. I just know I love playing music. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, and I’m doing it. That puts me on the spot, though, the pressure thing. Like I said, I’m aware of that every day, but I still feel fortunate. MC: Do you feel like a lot of people are looking at you now and saying, in effect, “Prove it!” Clark: Yeah, probably. All I know is that this is what I’ve got. I am what I am, and all I can do is what I’m capable of and basically be me and try to be the best I can be at it and try not to get too overwhelmed. Getting myself all worked up doesn’t make anything easier, you know? I kind of go with it. It is what it is and it will be what it will be, and I hang on the best I can. MC: Blak And Blu covers a lot of stylistic ground, probably more than most people expect from a guitar hero from Austin. Where does that variety and diversity come from? Clark: Y’know, I’ve been associated with the blues thing, being the guitar guy, and that is a major part of what I do. But I was in�uenced by and love all sorts of music, so I write like that and record like that and experiment with all kinds of sounds. And for my �rst major label album, I just want to put it all out there rather than just playing straightahead blues or just stick to one genre and then bring the weird stuff out later. I thought I might as well introduce myself as a weirdo �rst and get it out of the way and see what happens. MC: So what do you think is the weirdest thing on Blak And Blu? Clark: The weirdest?! (laughs) I don’t know how to answer that, man. It’s all me; I’ll take full credit for it. But songs like “You Saved Me,” “Black and Blu,” going from something like that to “Next Door Neighbor Blues,” I’m just really excited to show the range, to put it all out there “I thought I might as well introduce myself as a weirdo first and get it out of the way and see what happens.” musically. They don’t sound like what people might expect, which is cool. It’s like a surprise: here’s something else that I’m doing! But those types of things have been in me a long time. I’ve always wanted to do them, so to just let it go is a big relief for me. I’ve been driving myself crazy with it for so long, I’m happy to put it out there and see what happens. MC: Does the breadth re�ect your upbringing? Did you grow up in a musical household? Clark: I did. My grandmother had a piano at her house and my aunts and uncles were always playing and singing. My parents played around with music and singers and had a wide variety of records––funk, soul, rock & roll, jazz. I had an older sister, four years older than me; I really looked up to her and she’d bring home the hottest albums of the time by R&B groups or rock & roll bands. I kind of soaked up all that, just being in the next room and hearing her blasting it loud and pissing me off. (laughs) So there was that, and then being wtih my friends and listening to all kinds of stuff, like hip-hop, R&B. So I was around [music] a lot, a lot, a lot. I was in choir at school. I wanted to be in the jazz band but they already had a drummer. Anything that made noise I gravitated towards. PHOTO BY FRANK MADDOCKS MC: How did you decide music was “it” for you? Clark: I think I was �ve when I �rst started being really conscious of and aware of what swirled around me. But what clinched it was I was a huge Michael Jackson fan when I was a young, young kid. I still am. My folks surprised me and my sister and my cousins and we went to see him in concert in 1988, on the “Bad” tour. I just remember him coming on stage and the energy and the crowd was just going crazy. I remember thinking that I would love to do that, and it was always on my mind after that. It was a big moment, but I was always kind of shy about expressing how I wanted to be a musician. All the other kids would say they wanted to be a doctor or a lawyer, but I wanted to be on stage. MC: What got you over the hump? Clark: I guess the seventh grade talent show. I was in this group with my buddy, Robbie, and we had this song called “Young Soul”; that was the name of our group, too. We were 11-, 12-year-old kids; it was just me and him. And we sang this thing a cappella at the talent show. I remember I was really nervous, but after it was done I was like, “Wow, that felt great,” just the energy of expressing myself and getting some love back kinda changed it for me. Instead of November 2012 www.musicconnection.com 37
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