Modern Fusion Blues Man

Gary Clark Jr is a Blues guitarist and singer born and raised in Austin, Texas. Learningfrom people like Jimmie Vaughn, (Stevie Ray’s brother) Gary takes elements of Blues, Rock,Soul, R&B, and Hip Hop, he incorporates different ingredients of each music genre to create his own recipe. From sharing the stage with legends B.B King, Eric Clapton, & Tom Petty, to being named one of the best young artists in Rock by Rolling Stones in 2011, Gary helped to develop a new definition of “TheBlues”. His unique style won him the Grammy for Best R&B Recording in 2015. Due to his talent, he wasannounced as the Favorite Male Artist of the Year at the 2014 and 2015 Blues Music Awards. Gary Clark’sversion of “Come Together” was justifiably an entertaining part of the Justice League movie and sopopular that it was released as his first charted single. In 2020 he won the Grammy for Best RockPerformance with the song “This Land” a song that took aim at racism after a neighbor askedquestions pertaining to why he owned a ranch he had then recently bought. The unforgettable movingvideo portrays undeserving discrimination based on the color of skin, bringing light to a racist battle that has existed for an endless number of years. In the video, overalls and white shirts are used as afashion statement to represent the history of the 1800s and rights that are being contemporarily denied.               Refusing to allow racism to impact his career, Gary Clark Jr’s music led him to the success of 6Grammy Awards nominations. Not too bad for a man that has only released 3 albums! Being one of theMost critically acclaimed guitar heroes of the modern age Gary gained most of his notoriety as a liveperformer: he even played at the White House for President Obama. He has played at many different Blues festivals including Coachella, and Lollapalooza where he has shown off his trendy “old school”fashion from leather jackets to white boots to killer shades. During his time in the spotlight, one of hisnoticeable signature statements has been his numerous stylish hats. Whether it’s a trilby, boater, orFedora, all his hats complete his unique style in music and personality. By: Austin Fuller