Gary Clark Jr. is no run-of-the-mill indie rocker. The 27-year-old guitar prodigy and Austin native is the next great hope for bringing raw blues to a mainstream audience, starting at SXSW. Clark is a rarity in the blues community -- a musician who respects the great standards while remaining open to other sounds, freely mixing in rock, jazz and pop, crossing genres like a true millennial. What has earned Clark steadfast respect from blues hardliners, though, is his serious fretwork. Although he's self-taught, he was playing the Austin club circuit by his early teens, quickly scoring a recurring slot at the legendary nightspot Antone's. His age served as a selling point rather than a drawback, and by his mid-teens, he was sharing the stage with such greats as Jimmie Vaughan.
Eventually, Clark was tapped by none other than Eric Clapton to play the 2010 Crossroads Guitar Festival, a career-making gig that helped him score a major-label deal with Warner. With pre-production for his debut album underway, Clark chatted with Spinner about his eclectic tastes and ongoing growth as a musician.
Read the rest of the interview at Spinner.comhttp://www.spinner.com/2011/03/07/gary-clark-jr-sxsw-top-100/