Gary Clark Jr. – The Story of Sonny Boy Slim
The Scene
Texas guitar maestro Gary Clark Jr has been crowned the future King of the Blues for longer than most people have been listening to him. He’s the prince of a dying kingdom, the messiah of a lost art. But this fella isn’t keen on riding the same old stereotypes, as he showed on his major label debut, 2012’s ‘Blak and Blu’. That record was built on a foundation of blues but he drew just as thirstily from hip hop, rock and roll, soul and funk.
The blues/rock thing is nothing new, it’s been a white-boy cliché since the 60s. But Clark isn’t a white-boy, in fact he’s not even English either. He’s a black dude from Austin, that’s as authentic as things are gonna get (unless Trump gets elected and returns us to the cotton field era). Hence the labels that Clark’s picked up along the way, all the sashes and crowns and medals. All Gary Clark Jr. cares about is expression though. Which, at the heart of it all, is what the blues is all about. Expression piercing oppression. So when people criticised his (genuinely good, if not quite great) breakout album, it was usually with a tone of disappointment. ‘But, but, but… we wanted Albert King!’
Which is hypocritical if you ask me. Muddy Waters started playing electric coz he wanted to be heard better in crowded Chicago bars. What evolved from that was one of the most definitive sounds in a now century-old genre. But when Gary Clark Jr. adds in hip hop beats to his tracks, he’s betraying the genre. More likely he’s betraying public expectations – something that all great artists should do. Blues these days is all about traditionalism at the detriment of keeping it relevant. Clark is one of the few high profile bluesmen of his generation (if you say ‘John Mayer’ to me then I will literally end you) and that’s because he’s actually trying to advance it.
Anyway, he’s back with a new record, ‘The Story of Sonny Boy Slim’ (a (fitting) nickname of his) and it’s full of all the same genre-bending of his last effort. Actually, more of it. It’s a hard album to classify and that’s a massive compliment. It’s also an easy one to enjoy.
The Songs
- The Healing – A hymn to begin. Bow your heads and begin to nod them. Raise your hands to the sky in the shape of fists.
- Grinder – Funky, bass-heavy ghetto pressure with those screechy guitar flourishes all over it like sprinkles. Except for when he unleashes on that axe, then it’s pure fire.
- Star – Don’t doubt yourself, babe. This one’s a sultry vision of one’s own power that still packs plenty of punch.
- Our Love – Ooh, there’s that falsetto again. The organ’s a sexy touch too. Sounds like he’s channelling some later-day B.B. with that git-tone too. So smooth, gotta love it.
- Church – Changing the scene with acoustic guitar, harmonica and backing vocals. Treading some ritual blues ground with the lyrics, folksing it up with the sonics. Lotsa feeling, lotsa toe-tapping.
- Hold On – Check it out, he’s got a piano too. But this is more hip-hop than it is ragtime. More Curtis Mayfield than it is Howlin’ Wolf. “Hold on, we’re gonna make it…”
- Cold Blooded – Some chunky grooves and a lil laid back funk. If you didn’t think Gazza was cold-blooded the way he drags out that one note in the riff then he clears up the issue in words.
- Wings – The combo jabs of the beat soften you up for the woozy-sweet chorus. Lots going on and it’s all good.
- BYOB – Quick burst of inner-city swagger. “Damn I feel like the man.” A sly, grinning interlude.
- Can’t Sleep – A funky change of pace… what a jam! Like, relentlessly upbeat. Prince wishes he wrote this song. Best of the bunch.
- Stay – He’s really digging the one word titles. A bit of soul sprinkled with distortion and the odd-Hendrixian flourish.
- Shake – Jump blues raver with a slide solo to boot. Somewhere in the ether, Big Joe Williams is kicking up a boogie.
- Down To Ride – Almost 8 mins of synthy, late-night, driving tunage. Me and my gal, sorta deal. Lean back and let the road marks zip by.
The Vibe
This isn’t the statement record that the last one was but it’s still a big proclamation. Clark’s responded to the backlash against ‘Blak and Blu’s overdone production by heading back to his hometown and producing his own stuff. No threat of the songs being buried under shine, it helps too that this collection lends itself more to loud bass and overdubbed solos.
They’re definitely not country backburner blues, that’s for sure. By no means has Clark forsaken his roots, it’s more like he’s letting more of them grow. He’s not just a bluesman. He can play anything with a guitar. He likes a bit of distortion, he likes a bit of noise. What we get is a collection of the many influences that a music lover with an open mind is gonna soak up. Clark spins it all into his work. This time he’s got far fewer people whispering in his ear telling him what he oughta do. Seriously, he’s credited on vocals, guitars, bass, drums and keyboards (except where noted). Most songs have fewer than three other musicians on them. This is all Clark.
Which probably gives him more leeway. That’s what usually happens with an album that feels like a personal project. Fair enough, too, if you can make all that joyous noise on your own. Most of these tracks seem to tread the same ground: love and salvation, be it good love or bad, salvation won, lost or desired.
To be honest, the songs aren’t as good on ‘Sonny Boy Slim’ as they were on ‘Blak and Blu’. The first album has years and years of touring, writing and refinement to draw from. The second has, in this case, three years max. It’s often the test of a new name, how well they can replenish the stocks. Clark’s done a fine job, it’s hard to go astray when you can jam as well as he can. That covers plenty of cracks. Like, his lyrics aren’t always flashy, for example. But you hardly care when that guitar of his kicks in.
I’ll say this is a more cohesive batch, though. Probably for that reason: that they were likely all written together. Nothing quite as incendiary as ‘When My Train Pulls In’ or ‘Bright Lights’, however there’s plenty else to add to the canon. Despite what the title suggests, this isn’t a concept album, though it does run smoothly from track to track in a way that ‘Blak and Blu’ didn’t. Put simply: it feels like an album, not just a collection of singles.
Without the same blues props in place, Clark finds his muse listening to Lenny Kravitz, Curtis Mayfield and a bit of 90s R&B. All worthy influences. The fact that he’s loosened up on the Hendrix sounding stuff as well as the blues thing almost sounds defiant. Which is perfect, breaking the shackles before they’re tightened. That adds an edge to the tunes as well.
The Music
This record may begin with a sample of a sparse rendering of an old gospel song but it this is no traditional blues album. That one soon fades into a few GCJr ‘Yeah, Yeah’s, very much a hip hop accessory. Funk, soul and R&B ideas dominate here. Plus there are several tracks with looped beats. None of it seems like too much of a departure, even if it’s beyond expectations. This is Gary Clark Jr. letting his blues take him in whatever direction he feels.
The neo-soul tag is probably a legit one. It’s a sound that has definitely been painted a few shades of blue, you think D’Angelo doesn’t listen to The Thrill is Gone every second day? That Lauryn Hill never bought a Lightnin’ Hopkins album? Or even Kendrick Lamar, you reckon K.Dot doesn’t dig John Lee Hooker? Compare the funky Stax sound of Memphis soul and the upbeat Motown brand to the neo-soul pilgrims, which one owes the greater debt to B.B. King? I guess all three do, to be fair.
I’ve always felt that a B.B. King guitar run could save any song. But he made some terrible tracks in his time and too often it felt like some wiseass producer trying to tell one of the greatest musicians in the history of sound itself that they needed to ‘update his image’. Throughout the 70s, the best B.B. records were the soul crossovers. That was the territory that felt right. His Bobby Bland stuff, the Stevie Wonder covers. Gary Clark Jr. has that rhythm. He has that soul. He has those blues. It cannot be a coincidence that he’s walking that same bath, albeit it with some fresher influences. He’s a man of his time, and that is the man he must be.
He also has a great instinct for chucking an overdubbed guitar on a song that you probably didn’t know needed one. The solos are kept in check for most of this one, there aren’t any long workouts. What we get instead are quite tight songs. But when he gets to playing a few of these live, watch out.
Clark doesn’t rely on just his guitar though. Horns come in and out. There are keys in places. Usually a guitar hero such as himself would feel the need to build every song around his faithful axe but Clark lets plenty of other instruments shine. (Granted, he plays most of them too). The bass on ‘Star’ is fantastic. ‘Church’ burns out with a harmonica solo. And take ‘Down to Ride’, the final track. It’s a lovely synthesised groover and it feels so damn reminiscent of Tame Impala’s new album that you almost expect a co-credit for Kevin Parker. That one was a big change of direction for the Perth band, with Gary it all seems natural (Tame Impala’s record probably edges this one slightly, though). The first track was about the healing power of ‘Music’ not of anything more specific. He’s at home making sounds of whatever kind strike him.
Would a cheeky delta blues cover have gone astray? Not at all, it always worked for the Rolling Stones. But that’s not what GCJr is trying to do here. After all, this is Sonny Boy Slim’s story, not Sonny Boy Williamson’s (though that one does need to be told by someone someday. Dude got murdered with an ice-pick and his last words were: “Lord have mercy!” – it’s the most Blues thing in history).
Revelations
“Lord, I'm a hard-fightin' soldier/And I'm on the battlefield”
The dude at the start of ‘The Healing’ is Christopher Copeland. He’s a local unknown Austin player who Clark met semi-accidentally:
“I don’t really know him. I’d just seen him around he’s just kinda of a guy on the streets. I don’t really know his story. He was down on his luck and asked if I could help him out then just started singing this gospel tune and then I joined in. I grew up in the church. Mum told me that if I could play for those drunks down on 6th street then I could play for church; she made me go do it. So I had the gospel in me. I was just something I recorded after a long conversation. We just sang about our lives as two kinda familiar strangers.”
He gets a little help from engineers Bharath "Cheex" Ramanath and Jacob Sciba in places but for the most part this is self-produced and Clark proves himself a generous and tasteful producer. The blues prince has many strings to his bow. He wrote the whole thing too.
"Seems like new news is the old news from a different angle/Another mother on TV crying 'cause her boy didn't make it"
“I’m not out to steal your money, I don’t wanna take your time”
There aren’t many ills that can’t be solved with a solid dose of the blues. It’s what they’re there for. People will talk about is like an endangered species but so long as there’s human suffering we’ll be playing ‘em.
“Why don't you meet me in the wings 'cause I don't wanna be alone?”
Everything sounds better when you let a great artist do what they want without restraints.
Gary’s sisters Shawn and Savannah sing a bit of backup on the album.
“I’ve got a girl who’s down to ride… with me. Damn she looks good on the passenger’s side… with me.”
Finale
‘The Story of Sonny Boy Slim’ sees Gary Clark Jr not so much reinvent himself as it does establish himself. Establish himself as a proper tunesmith, one with many strings to his bow. He can play the blues with the best of them and he already has. He could have carved out a hole for himself as the new Stevie Ray Vaughan. Or, he can be the first Gary Clark… well, the second one, anyway. But the first with a hit Billboard album.
This isn’t an essential record, it’s a very good one. Still, if ‘Can’t Sleep’ doesn’t make your party mix then I don’t wanna be invited. It’s the one undeniable track but there are many others here to keep you coming back. ‘Church’ simmers with feeling. ‘Down to Ride’ is sexy and supple. Plus the early tracks give you plenty of energy and noise.
At some stage, Gary Clark Jr will release a pure blues album and it will be incredible. In the meantime, he’s laying the platform for a fascinating career. And he’s doing it all at his own pace and now, thankfully, by his own rules.