When Gary Clark Jr. and Eric Clapton bumped into each other at a show, the elder statesman of guitar offered a few words that left the young bluesman certain he had just been criticized.
Clark is undoubtedly one of the finest blues electric guitar players to come along in years. When he arrived on the scene in 2012 with his major-label debut, Blak and Blu, wielding an Epiphone Casino, there was no doubt electric blues had found a new champion in the young Austin blues guitarist.
And while players have had nothing but respect for Clark ever since, he had his doubts about Clapton’s intentions after Slowhand made a remark that could be taken two ways.
Clark wrote about the encounter on an Instagram post that includes a video of him playing Storyville’s “Good Day for the Blues” on what appears to be his Cobraburst Gibson ES-355 fitted with a Bigsby, as seen in one of the accompanying images.
“A man approached me while I was getting settled to play a show,” Clark wrote. “He had a big smile on his face while he said to me ‘Man, you’re like the king of reverb!’
“In hindsight, I’m pretty sure that statement was not meant to be a compliment but was meant to be more of a subtle suggestion. That man was Eric Clapton.
“Here is a clip of me noodling Good Day for the Blues by Storyville. Great song. Great band.
“So yeah no need bow or curtsy or whatever. If you catch me in a stairwell of great vertical extent just clap thrice. Have a good day.”
Clark received some reassuring words from no less than Joe Satriani.
“What E.C. meant,” Satch wrote, “was, ‘You're amazing. You lift people up, make them think, make them smile, so, don't ever stop being yourself.’ I'm pretty sure that's what he meant.”
There’s no indication of when his chance meeting with Clapton took place. It’s possible that it occurred at the 2010 Crossroads event, when he joined Doyle Bramhall II and Sheryl Crow onstage for their performance with Clapton and debuted some original songs. The two have also shared stages in 2017, at Madison Square Garden, and at the 2023 Crossroads festival.
Certainly, Clark has pushed the boundaries of the blues, just as Clapton did in his mid-to-late-1960s prime. His albums — such as his latest, 2024's JPEG Raw — have seen him indulge in more elaborate productions that reveal shades of psychedelia as well as funk and classical influences
Speaking with Guitar Player in 2024, the guitarist discussed his desire to break out from genre-specific labels, noting that at the beginning, “I was presented as a blues guitarist. But I never said that.”
He has also been frequently tagged as “the new Hendrix,” likely as much for being the rare Black guitarist who plays blues-rock as for his fiery style of playing.
“I remember my first tour of Australia and seeing my posters plastered everywhere,” he told us. “It was cool but also devastating, because it was like ‘Gary Clark Jr. — the new Hendrix.’ I was like, ‘Fuck, man. You’re not even giving me a chance to be anything but a blues guy or a rock-star guitar player.’
But then Clark has always cut his own path. In that same interview, he told us how he was laughed at in his early days for his unusual gear choices.
“When I was coming up in Austin, you wanted to be part of the cool club. There was this one club that was very strict about what they would allow.
“I got made fun of because I walked in proud with an Ibanez Blazer and a solid-state Crate amp. I was showing up to blues clubs with that, and they were like, ‘What the hell are you doing?’
It’s safe to say Clark no one is laughing now. Clark not only enjoys accolades from fans and peers but also has his own signature Epiphone Blak and Blu Casino.
Last month, in a gear twist, he played a Stratocaster while performing a set of Stevie Ray Vaughan classics with blue guitarist Eve Monsees at Austin City Limits’ 50th Anniversary television special. The significant of the moment was not lost on him — he’d watched Vaughan perform on the show years before, when he was still a kid dreaming of success.
