Gary Clark Jr.: This Land

In a recent interview with the New York Times, Adia Victoria, a rising Nashville singer/songwriter with a brilliant new album out now, said, “The blues need to move.” Both her album, Silences, and This Land, the third studio effort from Austin-born guitarist Gary Clark Jr., are the sound of the blues on the run. There’s a restlessness to this music that makes it feel exclusive to this moment, yet it’s tradition-honoring. And Gary Clark Jr. is a tried-and-true blues guitarist—a great one, at that. But he’s not a songwriter by trade. He can write lyrics, and in the past he’s written some decent-to-good ones. But his albums—where instrumentally masterful—sometimes lack on the content side. For This Land however, Clark goes out on a long limb both in terms of production and lyrics, and his game attitude pays off in a big way. Whatever Gary Clark Jr. lacks in narrative intuition he makes up for with six strings, once again proving himself to be one of the most impressive guitarists around.
In the Trump era, the urge to make something topical is rampant among artists. That tendency to retaliate and respond is necessary and welcome, but it can result in an influx of incomplete takes. The title track from This Land, however, is a fully-formed clap-back where Clark takes his aim at the current administration and the wacky, painful times in which we live, speaking in blunt terms: “Right in the middle of Trump country, I told you there goes a neighborhood,” he sings over menacing synths and tight electric guitar. “This Land” is the sound of a rightfully angry artist having fun in the studio—it’s unlike anything Clark’s recorded before, both in terms of production and social outcry. The old Gary Clark Jr. who remained mostly tight-lipped on politics is no more. He confronts racism in Trump’s America with gusto and fury. “Fuck you, I’m America’s son / This is where I come from,” he sings before confidently proclaiming, “This land is mine.” This track is not up for interpretation.