epiphone casino elitist vs gary clark jr

That openness and stylistic wanderlust, not to mention Clark's consistent songwriting and killer live show, explains his staying power.

Paak, Valerie June, Jon Batiste, classic Stevie Ray Vaughan is up here, Sammy Davis Jr.-a lot of non-guitar players-just to get a sense of musical lead-playing approaches … like a piano or something, the way Jon Batiste plays. “I just get a rhythm going and then hang on for dear life.' This Land also flirts with multiple genres, including reggae, dub, soul, '70s-era funk, hip-hop, and even hardcore, drawing on their sounds and elements of their classic arrangements for inspiration, yet still sounding fresh and original. Cultural issues inspired some songs, and the first two tracks, the title cut and “What About Us,' tap into current concerns about race, generational change, and class.

The arrangements are tight and not necessarily springboards for live, extended jams. While his albums have never been revivalist throwbacks, This Land is purposefully forward-looking. So when I picked it up, I was like, 'Oh yeah, this is my guitar.''Ĭlark's latest release, This Land, which came out in February, also displays differences in his songwriting approach. It was actually the guitar I spent the most time with. “I've got an Ibanez Blazer with me that I got back from my folks,' he says. Clark isn't a collector per se, but since then he's been amassing a significant cache of guitars, which even includes a resurrected old friend. In 2014, Pat Smear (Foo Fighters, the Germs, and touring guitarist with Nirvana) gifted Clark a 1961 Gibson Les Paul SG Standard reissue, and that opened the floodgates. A lot of critics also made lazy comparisons to Jimi Hendrix-except Clark sounds nothing like Hendrix, and that's despite his killer cover of “Third Stone from the Sun' on his 2013 debut album, Blak and Blu.īut a lot has changed since then-in both his choice of guitars and in his voice as a songwriter. That guitar was all anyone wanted to talk about. Flip through your back issues of Premier Guitar. Rolling Stone called him, “the chosen one.' President Obama dubbed him, “the future of music.' The hype was outrageous.įor guitar nerds, the real interest was Clark's embrace of the Epiphone Casino. His playing lit the blues world aflame and gave hope to crusty old-timers yearning for a return to their music's glory days. If anything, those problems conspired to make his showcase even more epic. Technical issues marred his set-not that you could tell. It's been almost a decade since Gary Clark Jr.'s breakout performance at the 2010 Crossroads Guitar Festival.

Epiphone casino elitist vs gary clark jr