Gary Clark JR | theblocrock

THIS LAND

Last Friday, on 22nd February one of the best blues artists of his generation released his 3rd major-label studio album. Everybody was waiting for “This Land” and it’s now it is finally here. Let’s have a look at it and listen to it again and again.

First of all, who is Gary Clark Jr? Some people still don’t know him despite the fact that he is well known by many top artists. Even Prince commented: “He is the future”.

He was born in 1984 in Austin, Texas. He started playing the guitar at the age of twelve. At the age of 26, he was declared “Best young gun” and “Best of rock” by the magazine Rolling Stone.

He is best known for his fusion of blues, hard blues and R&B music. His studio albums are known for being outstanding, but Clark is even more famous for his live performances, like this amazing performance of “When My Train Pulls In” --> click here.

A true showman who can improvise and play the guitar for minutes and minutes. He is often compared to Jimi Hendrix on stage. He played with the biggest artists on this planet and the list is long: B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Santana, Buddy Guy and this is not exhaustive.

His music is blues obviously, but he is also a big fan of old rap artists like Tupac or the Wu Tang. He tries to put all of that in his music.

For two years in a row, in 2013 and 2014, he won a Blues music Award in the Contemporary Blues Male Artist of the Year category. He could have easily been considered as a guitar hero if he was performing in the 60’s or the 70’s.

This Land is a 17-songs strong album. The first song is named after the album and explores his experience with racism. After he was told by neighbours to “go back to Africa”, he wanted to give a powerful answer. “This land is mine” he sang. The whole album is about his frustration, his anger. All his life he experienced racism, and now he wants to sing about it, to show a picture of modern America that might surprise a lot of people. But for some of them, they unfortunately will find it all too familiar.

In the song “Pearl Cadillac” he is telling us a story that happened to him a long time ago. “I got a Pearl Cadillac. I loved that car. But cops would pull me over, and I’d get squad cars on me for no reason. I’d be five miles per hour over the speed limit and they’d pull their guns on me. So, I put that into that song”.

The whole album is about dark feelings. The anger he feels against racism or even regret like on the song “Don’t Wait til Tomorrow”, or more, an introspective, deep and dark on “I Walk Alone” and “Low Down Rolling Stone”. And even if the blues music (which is appropriate here with all the themes like division and frustration) is omnipresent, all the songs aren’t bluesy. It’s rock, hard rock, even reggae or funk. The only really bluesy song of this album is “The Governor”. With an acoustic guitar and a bottle neck, old-school, like we all like. His voice sometimes reminds us of Curtis Mayfield.

There are a lot of influences and variety in this new album, even if the paint is black Gary Clark Jr will continue to pass the emotions to everybody, from the heavy blues of “This Land” to the R&B ballad of “Don’t Wait til Tomorrow”. Clark is full of surprises.