- Blues/rock guitarist and songwriter, born in 1984, from Austin Texas.
- Clark began to play the guitar at the age of 12, and as a teenager he played small shows around Austin, together with his friend Eve Monsees. During one show, he met the owner of Antone’s, the blues music club where Stevie Ray Vaughan launched his career. Soon, they were playing at the club with other musical icons from the area, playing blues and rock guitar. He quickly became renowed for his live performances. He won the Austin Music award 3 times for Best Blues and Electric Guitarist, and the mayor of Austin proclaimed a day in 2001 as “Gary Clark Jr.” day, when he was 17 years old.
- In 2005, he produced his own record, called Tribute. He signed with an independent label and released 2 studio albums – 110 and Worry No More, and an EP – the self titled Gary Clark Jr. During this period, he also had a role in the 2007 film The Honeydrippers.
- In 2010, Eric Clapton selected Clark to perform at the Crossroads Guitar Festival. This performance led to a recording deal with a major record label. In 2011, his debut EP was released – Bright Lights, and the following year, a full length album, Blak and Blu, was released. Blak and Blu peaked at #6 on the Billboard 200 album chart, and topped the Blues Albums chart. The album was a mix of soul, hip hop, R&B, blues and rockabilly. He won a Grammy award for Best Traditional R&B Performance for the song Please Come Home, and was nominated for Best Rock Song for Ain’t Messin Around.
- Given his popularity when performing live, there have been 2 live albums released by Clark. Gary Clark Jr. Live was released in 2014, and Live North America 2016 was released in 2017.
- In 2015, Clark released his second full length studio album, The Story of Sonny Boy Slim. “Sonny Boy” was the nickname his mother called him as a child, and he was known as “Slim” when he was performing in Austin as a teenager. It contains his signature style of blues, rock and soul music. It topped the Blues Album chart, and reached #8 on the Billboard 200.
- Clark contributed a song to the soundtrack to the film Justice League. The song, a cover of the Beatles Come Together, was released as a single, and it became his first single to chart, reaching #15 on the Mainstream Rock chart. His 2019 album This Land reached #6 on the album chart, and Clark won 3 Grammy awards for the album and song of the same name.
- Gary Clark Jr.’s star continues to rise. He opened concerts for The Rolling Stones, The Foo Fighters, and Eric Clapton. He performed at the Grammy Award presentation in 2017 and 2018. He performed at the Red, White, and Blues event at the White House in 2012 along with B.B. King, Mick Jagger, Jeff Beck and Buddy Guy. His peers in the blues music world praise him as a savior of the genre. If you want to see some of the best blues of today, watch Clark’s performance at Glastonbury in 2016, playing When My Train Pulls In.
Love his groove! I forgot that Eric Clapton invited him to his Crossroads guitar festival! He reminds me a little bit of Robert Cray.