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Gary Clark Jr.: Blak And Blu

Warner Bros.

For roughly the last two years on stages large and small, Austin, Texas’ Gary Clark Jr. has made his case for a blues guitar resurgence to rival the likes of Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan and even Jimi Hendrix. But his long-awaited debut embraces much more than just the blues; from the soul revue vibes of the opening “Ain’t Messin’ Around” to the mournful Mississippi Delta slides of “Next Door Neighbor Blues,” Clark brings all his influences to bear. With a killer band behind him (including producer and L.A. hip-hop legend Mike Elizondo on bass), he manages to transport songs like the psych-rock dirge “Numb” and the epic Hendrix/Little Johnny Taylor medley “Third Stone from the Sun/If You Love Me Like You Say” into the stratosphere. Clark has a great singing voice too—a timbral echo of a ‘70s rockers like Paul Rodgers or James Dewar—but more important, his future is wide open, and this opening salvo offers a tantalizing taste of where he’s heading.