G GARY CLARK JR.
The socially conscious polymath redefining blues for the next generation
ary Clark Jr is a blues player but you might not have said that 30 years ago; the tent would not be big enough to accommodate all his stylistic turns through rock, folk, soul, and – look away, purists – hiphop. But what is blues if not protest music and storytelling in verse, just like hip-hop? Clark’s talent lies in bringing all this together without it making a curate’s egg of it all. A song such as YourLand shows exactly what he is about, referencing Woody Guthrie, drawing a line through American history to confront the racism of today, and doing so with celebratory power. That’s where he is coming from philosophically. Tone-wise, his guitar sounds like electricity that’s geysering out of the earth. Whether he is using the Epiphone Casino or SG, his tone sounds godly, typically running his guitar through a VibroKing, and referencing electric blues trailblazers such as Muddy Waters in refreshing and vital new contexts. Clark understands that blues is a contradiction unto itself, an art that must venerate its past and preserve its traditions, and yet be brave enough to imagine its future. That is the urgent business that Clark is engaged in. A child prodigy whose career was forestalled by substance abuse and a stint in jail, Eric Gales is soundtracking his redemption with a blues-rock style that is pure fire. Acquiring Joe Bonamassa’s production services for his latest album, Crown, he lends his blues compositions a hip-hop braggadocio, underwritten by some of the most unearthly chops you’ll hear. Seriously, the Hendrix and SRV comparisons are not just to put his playing into some kind of stylistic context.
We’ve seen him playing solo, improvising on the guitar for an audience of nerds at guitar shows in an atmosphere that might otherwise be artistically sterile, and yet he commands the room, alerting all in attendance that there are indeed new ways of expression yourself on guitar, in a style that’s hardly new.
Gales is a southpaw and favours his signature gear; his Magneto S-style electric through a solid-state DV “Raw Dawg” EG signature head, with his MXR drive and Cry Baby in front. What he brings to the blues is simply himself, a player with a virtuosic touch and good sense to augment a piece with something off-menu – jazz, classical, whatever – to keep the audience at the edge of their seats.