Gary Lee Clark Jr. (born February 15, 1984) is an American musician from Austin, Texas. He is known for his fusion of blues, rock and soul music with elements of hip hop. In 2011, Clark signed with Warner Bros Records and released The Bright Lights EP. It was followed by the albums Blak and Blu (2012) and The Story of Sonny Boy Slim (2015). Throughout his career, Clark has been a prolific live performer, which has been documented in two releases: Gary Clark Jr. Live (2014) and Gary Clark Jr Live/North America (2017). He has shared the stage with Eric Clapton, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, B.B. King and The Rolling Stones.
In 2014, Clark was awarded a Grammy for Best Traditional R&B performance for the song "Please Come Home". His latest album, This Land, was released in 2019. In 2020, he won the Grammy Award for "Best Rock Song" and "Best Rock Performance" for the song "This Land" from his album of the same name.
Clark performed at the 50th Monterey Jazz Festival as part of the promotion for John Sayles' 2007 film Honeydripper. Clark performed at the 2010 Crossroads Guitar Festival. He joined Doyle Bramhall II and Sheryl Crow on stage for their performance with Eric Clapton, and also debuted several original songs.
In June 2011, Clark played at the annual Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tennessee, at the Miller Lite On Tap Lounge. On June 10, 2012, Clark again played at Bonnaroo, and his performance was streamed live online via the Bonnaroo MusicFest Channel on YouTube.
In February 2012, Clark performed alongside blues musicians at the Red, White and Blues event at the White House. The event, aired on PBS, included B.B. King, Mick Jagger, Jeff Beck and Buddy Guy, among others. Clark played "Catfish Blues" and "In the Evening (When the Sun Goes Down)", as well as contributing to performances of "Let the Good Times Roll", "Beat Up Old Guitar", "Five Long Years" and "Sweet Home Chicago".
In June 2012, Clark guested with the Dave Matthews Band playing "Can't Stop" and "All Along the Watchtower" at dates in Virginia Beach and Indianapolis and on October 21 and 22, 2012, Clark appeared as the opening act at the Bridge School Benefit Concert, Bridge XXVI. On December 8, 2012, Clark appeared at the Rolling Stones' first US-gig of their 50th anniversary tour at the Barclay's Center in Brooklyn, to perform the Don Nix song "Going Down" with the band. On December 15, 2012, he joined them onstage again to play the same song, along with John Mayer, during the last date of the Stones' mini-tour at the Prudential Center.
On May 13, 2013, Clark opened for Eric Clapton & His Band at the LG Arena, Birmingham, England, and on June 12, 2013, Clark was the guest performer with the Rolling Stones at Boston's TD Garden. Clark joined the Stones in playing the Freddie King tune "Going Down". On June 30, 2013, he appeared on the Avalon stage at the Glastonbury Festival. His performance was declared 'the most electric performance of the festival, knocking the legendary appearance of the Rolling Stones (the previous night) well into second place' and on October 25, 2013, he appeared on long-running British music show Later... with Jools Holland.
On February 9, 2014, Clark performed the Beatles song "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", along with Dave Grohl and Joe Walsh for The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to The Beatles. On February 16, 2014, Clark performed in the NBA All-Star Game Halftime Show with Trombone Shorty, Earth Wind and Fire, Doctor John, and Janelle Monáe. On May 29, 2014, Clark performed at Rock in Rio in Lisbon. Clark performed guitar, as a guest, on an episode of the PBS cable television show Austin City Limits, with the Foo Fighters, that aired on February 7, 2015. He and the Foo Fighters were accompanied by Jimmie Vaughan.
On May 24, 2015, Clark opened for the Rolling Stones at Petco Park in San Diego. On July 4, 2015, played as part of the lineup for the Foo Fighters 20th Anniversary show at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. On June 8, 2016, he performed alongside Jon Batiste and Stay Human as musical guest of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and on June 26, 2016, he performed during West Holts Stage, Glastonbury Festival, and on July 8, 2016, performed on the Preferred One Stage at the Basilica Block Party in Minneapolis.
On January 10, 2019, Clark appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, on which he performed "This Land" and "Feed the Babies". The latter he performed along with Jon Batiste and Stay Human as a bonus track.
Clark made his musical guest debut on February 16, 2019, the thirteenth episode of Season 44 of Saturday Night Live, hosted by actor Don Cheadle, where he performed "Pearl Cadillac" and "This Land".
On February 28, 2019, Clark performed "This Land" on Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.
On July 7, 2019, Clark opened for the Rolling Stones' concert at Gillette Stadium during their 2019 No Filter Tour. Clark provided guest vocals and guitar with the Stones during their performance of "Ride 'Em on Down".
Clark led the band (and Bruce Springsteen) at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts during Jon Stewart's Mark Twain Prize for American Humor ceremony on April 24, 2022.