Songwriters - Music Connection

eing so freaked out about it, I got a little bit
more comfortable.
MC: And you started playing...
Clark: I decided on guitar the next year. My friend
played in that talent show, too; she had a band
and they played a rock & roll tune. I thought it
was cool. They had live instruments––guitar,
bass, drums––like a loud trio. She had a black
Stratocaster and a Fender Twin, and I said, “This
chick is awesome! I want to play guitar, too.”
It just so happened she lived down the street
from me, so we’d hang out and listen to rock &
roll and blues and stuff. Then we started going to
blues jams when we were 14, 15. That was her
idea. I don’t know if I would’ve gotten into the
whole blues scene if she wasn’t like, “Hey, want to
go play in this blues jam on Sunday?”
MC: Being in Austin had to have an impact as
well.
Clark: Oh, yeah, sure. When I �rst started playing
guitar and running around in Austin, around Sixth
Street––that’s the main hot spot for live music in
town––I was soaking up all kinds of things. I was
a teenager, so it was a very in�uential period. But
my mom said something to me; she told me that
“even when you’re with all those people running
around crazy downtown, keep a place for Jesus.
Keep playing in church. Keep playing gospel
music, too.” I listened to her––most of the time.
(laughs) That was great advice.
MC: Do you have a natural inclination toward
any one of the styles you play in? Like you
said, the blues is your root. Is it challenging to
go in the other directions?
Clark: Actually, that stuff, for me, is a lot easier.
That’s the kind of stuff I was in�uenced by. I was
into Curtis May�eld stuff, Otis Redding, Motown
and Stax type of albums and then Prince, Ready
for the World, stuff like what was what I was
playing when I was a kid. So those melodies, those
sounds, were in everything I was listening to.
I started diving into the blues when I got to be
about 12, and I was already writing––well, not really
writing at that age. I didn’t know what it was called;
making noise, maybe. But the R&B and soul stuff
kinda came �rst, so I don’t really think of it as one
thing being easier or harder to approach than the
other. It’s all part of my musical in�uence, a natural
progression. I soaked everything up naturally.
MC: The “Third Stone From The Sun” / ”If You
Love Me Like You Say” pairing is quite epic.
What’s the story behind that track?
Clark: That just kind of came from jamming. I used
to play this gig every Monday down in Austin. We
would play from 10 to 2 in the morning, so there
was lots of space to �ll. We’d play some sort of
straightahead set for a while, then go on break or
whatever and come back and go, “Now what are
we gonna do?” “I dunno––get up there and mess
around,” and we’d just kind of experiment and jam
out, start off doing something in E, and we didn’t
plan anything.
I’m pretty good at being a horrible bandleader
by not telling the band what I’m about to do. So
that (song) was one of those times I just kind
of went off; they followed me, and it turned into
this 20-minute thing. I kept doing it with a few
different bands over the years, and I guess it just
developed into what you hear and what we threw
down on the record.
MC: How did you wind up working primarily
with Mike Elizondo?
Clark: His name had been around. I’d seen him
play with Doyle Bramhall. I heard the stuff he
did with [Dr.] Dre on the Chronic 2001 album. I
remember his bass being some of the coolest
lines I’d ever heard; it was funky, lowdown, had
a good pocket, a good groove. I was talking with
my manager Scooter [Weintraub] and said, “What
do you think about Mike Elizondo as a producer? I
love what he does. I would love to be in a room and
38 November 2012 www.musicconnection.com
AUSTIN GUITAR HALL OF FAME
Five essential forebears who tread
the same path as Gary Clark Jr.:
• Freddie King — The recent Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame inductee was born in Gilmer and
stayed true to his home state even amidst
worldwide travels that made him one of the
most influential guitar heroes of all time.
• Billy Gibbons — The Houston-born ZZ Top
frontman and 2012 Texas State Musician
honoree has been an Austin regular
since his days in the Moving
Sidewalks.
• Stevie Ray Vaughan — The late
virtuoso was already a Texas titan
when the one-two punch of a
major label deal and playing
on David Bowie’s Let’s Dance
made him a worldwide start in
1983.
• Jimmie Vaughan — Stevie Ray’s
big brother established his name
with the Fabulous Thunderdbirds
and has released a series of
solid albums since going
solo in 1994.
• Doyle Bramhall II —
The southpaw guitarist
followed his drummer
father’s footsteps into
the music business,
with three albums of
his own plus
tenures with Arc
Angels, and with
Roger Waters’
and Eric Clapton’s
bands.
experiment with him for a bit.” So I walked into the
studio and we started talking immediately about
sounds and different artists we liked and that we
had in common. I was like, “Yeah, let’s do this.”
MC: What was it he brought to the party?
Clark: He brought a lot of things out of me. He
had some great ideas from drum sounds and
guitar sounds, arrangements, things like that,
which is something I hadn’t put a whole lot of time
into before. I’d just kind of been going in and one
song might be eight minutes or whatever; he’d
spark a �ame, like “Let’s do this here and see
how this goes”––really cool ideas without being
overbearing or like, “This is the way it should be”
kind of thing, which is cool. He allowed me to open
up rather than be disinterested which is how I’ve
been before. It was easier to let go with him. It was
fun, a really laidback, chill environment to make
music in. It was perfect.
MC: Blak And Blu is just out, of course, but
are you thinking at all about what you want
to do next?
PHOTO BY JODY DOMINGUE STUDIOS
Clark: I’m not sure at this point. I de�nitely do
have some ideas for what I want to do. I’d like to
do a little more reaching out to folks and getting
together with other people and putting our heads
together. This album is pretty much all my stuff,
so I’d like to collaborate with some folks after
that.
MC: You’ve done some interesting collaborations
already. What was it like working with
Alicia Keys?
Clark: I recorded on a couple of tracks for her
album [Girl On Fire]. Basically I just got called
to go in there and play some rhythm guitar stuff,
then she wanted me to come in and play some
lead stuff and open it up. She’d play a track and
say, “Let’s do you.” It was really cool. I’ve been a
fan of the stuff she does for a long time and she
really let me do what I do. Hopefully I can have
some more experiences like that.
Contact Rick Gershon,
rick.gershon@wbr.com