Gary Clark Jr. Stakes His Claim

“This Land,” the title track from Gary Clark Jr.’s third studio full-length, opens with a Parliament/Funkadelic-style otherworldly keyboard that sounds as if the mothership is landing — landing “right in the middle of Trump country.”  Over a reggae groove and containing elements of Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings’ take on Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land,” Clark releases a lifetime of anger and frustration as he swells with the pride of owning “fifty acres and a Model A” while facing the skepticism of neighbors who don’t believe “his kind” belongs there.  Their stares bring to mind the taunts he heard as a child growing up in Texas. “Go back where you come from,” he was told. “We don’t want your kind / we think you’s a dog, boy.” Times have changed, and Clark makes it clear he’s not backing down now that he’s a landowner in this locale.  “Fuck you, I’m America’s son / this is where I come from / this land is mine.”

His first studio album since The Story of Sunny Boy Slim in 2015, This Land is a sprawling masterwork, the sound of Clark cementing his role as a 21st century ambassador of roots music. Atop a blues foundation and a small group of sympathetic players that include Sheila E. on percussion, Clark creates a seamless mix of hard rock, soul, punk, hip-hop, reggae, and R&B. (There’s a strong Curtis Mayfield vibe throughout as well.)  These elements not only coexist on This Land but blend together, sounding natural and inevitable, never forced or contrived.

“What About Us” continues the theme started by the title cut. Here, over a groove that owes more than a passing nod to Prince, Clark once again calls out Mr. Williams — the nosy neighbor on the previous track — and warns the elder of the neighborhood and his kind that the “young blood’s takin’ over” and not to get too comfortable, “just plan on movin’ over.”  Clark’s Mr. Williams is the 21st century version of Dylan’s Mr. Jones:  Something’s indeed happening, and Mr. Williams doesn’t know what it is, but he’s about to find out. Bigly.

This Land doesn’t just pound the chest and point fingers. No, its brilliance lies in its understanding that while we may get angry at the news, who’s in the White House, or who may be calling the cops on us for no reason, we all still have to live our lives. We still work and love, experience pain and happiness, and take care of our families. That’s what truly matters. On both the classic soul of “When I’m Gone” and the quiet storm R&B of “The Guitar Man,” for instance, Clark celebrates not that he’s successful, but that success affords him the opportunity to provide for his loved ones the life they deserve. “Baby, it’s candlelight by choice now,” he sings on “The Guitar Man,” “look how far we’ve made it.” Family is again celebrated on the powerful, touching “Pearl Cadillac,” where Clark through flawless falsetto praises his mother’s sacrifices over an arrangement that would’ve sounded right at home on the Purple One’s Sign o’ the Times.

Though not a concept album in the strictest sense, This Land boasts strong continuity throughout its 72 minutes. To wit, in addition to the aforementioned Mr. Williams, “The Governor,” Clark’s shout-out to his Smith & Wesson, appears in the title cut and has a song of its own — a straight-up country blues — much later on the album. The Chuck Berry-meets-Adam Ant-at-Antone’s ode to insomnia “Gotta Get into Something” is followed by the reality of the morning after on the sluggish jam, “Got to Get Up.” There are songs of love and devotion, then there are ballads of lust — “I Got My Eyes on You (Locked & Loaded),” “Feelin’ Like a Million” — and ramblin’ fever (“Low Down Rolling Stone”).

This Land is a watershed moment for Gary Clark Jr. It’s as much about what it’s like to be black in America in the era of Trump as it is revealing of the commonality we all share and the need to be a decent human being and a good neighbor.