Bluesman breaks out of the box
Many among the thousands who attended the second day of the Bridge School Benefit three weeks ago at Shoreline Amphitheatre seemed unfamiliar with opening act Gary Clark Jr. Perhaps they had not noticed the extensive TV, radio and magazine coverage Clark, the most heavily hyped blues artist in more than a decade, has been getting in recent months. Even concert host Neil Young was confused, introducing the tall Texas singer and guitar slinger as “Gary Stewart Jr.” before quickly correcting himself.
Clark and his three musicians opened the show with three tunes from his first full-length major-label album, “Blak & Blu” on Warner Bros., the release of which was two days away. Unlike the high-voltage, Jimi Hendrix-imbued versions on the disc, the songs were rendered acoustically, as is the annual benefit’s tradition. Hours later, Clark joined Young, Axl Rose, Sarah McLachlan, the Flaming Lips, k.d. lang, Lucinda Williams, Steve Martin and others on the bill in a finale treatment of Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World.”
The general public may not have caught up with Clark yet, but many in the royalty of rock, R&B and hip-hop have been clamoring to collaborate with him. Among those who have expressed interest are rapper Jay-Z and wife Beyoncé, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Paul McCartney. Clark has already recorded with Sheryl Crow and, on a CD due out later this month, Alicia Keys.
At age 28, the Austin-born-and-based musician is no newcomer to the music business. He cut his first CD at 17, with help from his mother. She and his dad permitted him to play blues at Antone’s and other Austin clubs when he was 14 — opening shows for and jamming with such legends as James Cotton, Hubert Sumlin and Pinetop Perkins — but with the stipulation that he also play at their Baptist church on Sunday mornings.
“Boy, if you can play for them sinners and those drinkers down there on Sixth Street, you can play for Jesus,” Clark recalls his mother telling him.
“I was not happy about the fact that I had to do it,” Clark adds, speaking in the restaurant of a Sunnyvale hotel before leaving for the show in Mountain View. “I loved playing the music, but I had to get up early. I remember getting home at 3 in the morning and getting up at 7 for the service.”
Clark had a brief brush with stardom in 2007 when he played a prominent role in “Honeydripper,” a film by John Sayles that starred Danny Glover, but little else resulted from it, other than a quick tour with other musicians from the movie. His big break came in June 2010 at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival in Chicago, where he appeared on a bill with B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Jeff Beck, Robert Cray, Keb’ Mo’, Johnny Lang, Vince Gill and others. Clark’s friend Jimmie Vaughan — older brother of the late Stevie Ray Vaughan, one of Clark’s primary guitar influences — had recommended him for the gig, which led to contracts with Warner Bros. Records and manager Scooter Weintraub, who also manages Crow and has produced a number of television specials for Clapton.
Other than a threesong EP released last year by Warner Bros., Clark’s earlier recordings — most of which are no longer available — were essentially blues affairs, although some of the songs hint at his interest in punk rock and soul music. “Blak & Blu,”
“(On this album) I wanted to experiment with all sorts of sounds, to just sonically explore from heavy fuzz feedback to delays and reverb and what people call psychedelic stuff.”
Gary Clark Jr.
however, contains only three 12-bar blues among its 13 tracks. He delves into rock, doo-wop and hip-hop on the remainder.
“My whole thing for this album is I wanted to experiment with all sorts of sounds, to just sonically explore from heavy fuzz feedback to delays and reverb and what people call psychedelic stuff,” says Clark, who composed all but two of the songs on the disc. “I wanted to go as far out there as I could, and then I wanted to just bring it back down to the basics, you know, like the foundation, the roots.
“My foundation is really, really a solid blues foundation. It took me five or six years to branch out and try something new. All I had wanted to do was be a blues guy like Albert Collins or T-Bone Walker, but I didn’t want to mimic those guys, trying to re-create something that’s already been done. It’s untouchable.”
Clark produced the CD in collaboration with Mike Elizondo and Rob Cavallo. Elizondo’s extensive credits include work with a diversity of artists, from Dr. Dre and Eminem to Fiona Apple and Lisa Marie Presley. Cavallo is the chairman of Warner Bros. Records and Green Day’s longtime producer.
“It was strange for me,” Clark says about working with the two high-profile producers. “I was scared about letting things go and sharing an idea and having it turn into something else. That was my initial thought, but once I got in and started to get comfortable, they pulled things out of me that I might not have done on my own.”
Clark, who stands 6 feet 4 inches, has been on the road almost constantly for the past 11 months, doing interviews and photo shoots between festivals and concerts, including an all-star blues show in February at the White House, where he got to meet the president.
“He seemed like a cool guy,” he says of President Obama. “He came down in a sweater, jeans and comfortable-looking shoes.”
“I’m having fun, but it’s definitely a lifestyle change,” Clark says of the hectic pace of his career. “It’s kind of a struggle for me. I could spend hours and days at my house by myself just playing and recording. Austin, Texas, is a slower place. You can drive to the country and hang by the lake, kick your shoes off and relax, watch the sun go down. I miss doing stuff like that.”