Gary Clark Jr.

by

Summerfest

Few musicians have electrified the rock, blues and soul worlds as much as Gary Clark Jr. over the past dozen or so years. Comparisons to Jimi Hendrix and Lenny Kravitz come way too easy; Clark—who grew up listening to Nirvana, Green Day and Stevie Ray Vaughan—defies easy categorization.

Six albums into a career during which he’s won Grammy Awards including Best Traditional R&B Performance for 2012’s Please Come Home, Best Contemporary Blues Album for 2019’s This Land and Best Rock Song for that album’s title track, Clark has never stopped evolving.

His 2012 major-label debut (and third overall album), Blak and Blu, was rooted in the blues, but Clark already was incorporating brass-heavy soul, old-time rock and roll and smooth R&B into his material. By the time This Land came out, Clark was on fire—emerging as a defiant and outspoken performer, tackling racism in America while making the walls of 30 Rockefeller Plaza bleed on Saturday Night Live.

The man’s latest album, 2024’s JPEG RAW, boasts guest appearances by legends Stevie Wonder and George Clinton and incorporates more hip-hop, jazz and traditional African music influences than his previous records. The album also includes samples from Sonny Boy Williamson, Thelonious Monk and The Jackson 5.

“If you go back and listen to my old records, I’ve always been incorporating different styles and genres and ideas on all my records. I’ve always been that way,” Clark told Louder.com last year. “I think people have this vision of like: ‘Well, I thought that guy was gonna be the next Hendrix.’ That wasn’t really what I was setting out to do.” 

Whatever it is that Clark’s doing, it’s well worth paying attention to. His performance has the potential to be one of Summerfest 2025’s signature moments.