The Review -Gary Clark Jr.The Story of Sonny Boy Slim’
Gary Clark Jr. and his latest album ‘The Story of Sonny Boy Slim’ starts with a beat that wouldn’t sound out of place on a hip hop record. To the uninitiated, Clark is one of the finest young guitar players playing today. What immediately strikes me on the album is how good his vocals are. I find you can hear everything from Curtis Mayfield (‘Cold Blooded’) laid back smoothness to The Black Keys (‘Grinder’) to John Legend (‘Wings’).
It’s an upbeat album, which showcases Clark’s talent as a guitar player but allows him to shine as a singer and song craftsman. Clark sounds like he had a ton of fun making this record and it comes across when you listen. Songs like ‘Can’t Sleep’ about partying and women, clips along at a fantastic toe tapping with great lyric storytelling. Even with the fun and upbeat pace there are still some political themes here as well. In an article on Billboard.com, Clark talks about those political feelings, “It was just something that was relevant – sitting around in the studio, and touring, and [people were like] “Hey, did you hear the news?” about Ferguson, or Baltimore, or any of these things – it really made me take a step back and think.”
There are also great blues moments on this record, like the song ‘Stay’. Sonny Boy Slim takes sounds from various genres and combines them into a strong rock and roll album. On ‘Byob’ Clark sings ‘Damn I feel good’… after listening to this album, you’ll be saying the same.