Gary Clark, Jr. is the kind of musician that makes you wonder Where has this guy been hiding? Fact is, he hasn’t. He’s been honing his blues guitar virtuoso skills right under everyone’s noses in Austin, Texas, the Live Music Capital of the World. And his resume is just as obvious, reading like a step-by-step instruction manual called How To Be Legit: grow up in Austin, meet Clifford Antone, play at Antone’s, meet Jimmy Vaughan, play with Jimmy Vaughan, tour with Pinetop Perkins. The Bright Lights EP by Gary Clark, Jr. is his third indie release.
Sounds Like:
Stevie Ray Vaughan, Stevie Wonder, Ben Harper
The four-song EP opens with the slow ooze of maple molasses on its namesake. “Bright Lights” pours through your pores as Gary riffs on a simple blues rock bounce accompanied by some high hat drums. A sawing guitar soaked in reverb enters the mix, quickly followed by Gary’s smooth vocals. Then the jam flows perfectly into its anthemic chorus: “Bright lights, big city goin’ to my head.” He barely whets our appetite with his solo chops before going back into the verse and chorus, but then he stirs things up with a quick breakdown and a lengthy, tasty reverberiffic guitar solo. He repeats this recipe again with another verse, chorus, breakdown and thick-as-syrup solo that builds to an echoing firehouse alarm over crashing drums. Clearly, “Bright Lights” is the single that’s gonna put this young gun on the map.
Best Lyric:
“Get lost in the city / Trying to find myself / I went up a different person / Came down somebody else” - “Bright Lights”
Next up, “Don’t Owe You A Thang” brings the boogie. The opening riff sets the shake-your-ass pace right from the start, and things don’t slow down a bit from there. Busting, banging, almost-bluegrass percussion pounds its way in, punctuating Gary’s declarations of independence from his baby. “Ain’t got no apologies / Won’t be no fairy tale / Ain’t got no excuses / I’m doing my deal” he proclaims like a man who’s more in love with his guitar than he is with his woman. His wails on his solo with a heavy, squeaky effect that sounds you’d swear could be a harmonica. If this song had been recorded when Black Snake Moan was filmed, they’d likely have used it for the final scene of alcohol, sweat and dancefloor redemption.
Crossroads 2010 Live Performance of “Bright Lights”
Gary shift gears completely on the next two tracks, opting for a mellow, live and solo vibe. He finger picks his electric guitar to open “Things Are Changin’” with a quick but chill mood, before switching to a staccato beat spiked with playful hammer-ons. Gary pines about the uncertainty of his future to a lover who doesn’t want to hear his excuses. “Will you listen to me here and now? / Cuz I’ll lay it down simple and plain / It’d be good to get together, Girl / But it’ll be so hard to maintain,” he croons hoping she’ll understand. Her sweet love kept him hanging on for a while, but now he knows he’s better off without her. It’s a smooth R&B number that Gary sings with an emotional depth reminiscent of Stevie Wonder.
Key Tracks:
Bright Lights, Don’t Owe You a Thang, Things Are Changin’, When My Train Pulls In
“When My Train Pulls In” keeps things live, but adds swagger and riveting tempo changes. Gary jams on a bassy, country-ish riff as he laments the unchanging city around him and his stir-crazy readiness for something different. After finger picking for a spell with slight, effortless variations, he breaks into a strumming solo. Yeah, you read that right - a strumming solo. How’s that for turning tradition on its head? You can hear a “Yeah” and a slow faint whistle over the silent sound of a crowd so dizzy they’re not sure what just happened but they know their tapping feet lost track of the beat long ago. Gary expands on the same root riff in seemingly infinite directions with such ease that, if you haven’t already, you realize this kid can effing play.
Overall Rating:
I know that’s a ballsy rating to give an album that’s not even technically an album. But The Bright Lights EP by Gary Clark, Jr. deserves it. What it lacks in length and cohesiveness, it more than makes up for with skill, style and virtuosity. Hell, some are already calling Gary Clark, Jr. the Savior of Blues. And even though most haven’t yet heard of him, he’s about to break through. The Bright Lights EP proves he’s ready to make an entrance, and I’m willing to bet he busts down every door from blues to rock to R&B until everyone knows his name.
