SOUNDTRACK: GARY CLARK JR.-Tiny Desk Concert #841 (April 16, 2019).
WXPN has been playing “Pearl Cadillac” by Gary Clark Jr. and I quite liked it. I knew of Gary as a blues guitarist. But I didn’t really listen to too much by him–I don’t love blues music, generally. But Gary adds a rocking and Prince-like atmosphere to his blues which elevates his music for me.
But “Pink Cadillac” is unlike the other two songs because he sings in a delicate falsetto (like Prince) whereas the other songs he sings quite gruffly.
The first song, “What About Us” surprised me. First because he sang with such a deep voice (with a wonderful falsetto at the end) but also because I knew that Gary was supposed to be a great guitar player, but it was Eric Zapata who was playing all the slide guitar parts. The whole band builds the song nicely for the chorus. They keys flesh things out nicely.
The middle has a cool funky part with great washes of keys and a funky bass sound from Johnny Bradley.
When the song ends, he says, “It’s a little bit warmer than I thought it would be. But I feel sexy in this jacket so I’m gonna sweat thought it. This is my life, people.”
Gary Clark Jr. had good reason to sweat. The blues-rock singer and guitarist opted to play his first-ever Tiny Desk concert — in front of a huge crowd that warmed the room considerably — while clad in a thick knit cap and heavy jacket.
I had heard that this new album, This Land, was quite political but he left the albums
more politically incendiary material for louder live shows. Clark’s set leaned toward some of This Land‘s softer sentiments — “When I’m Gone” is about missing his family on the road, while “Pearl Cadillac” exudes gratitude for his mother’s sacrifices —
He dedicates “When I’m Gone” to his son.
He’d brought his young son on tour with him and had to contend with a traditional parenting dilemma: How do you bring your kid to the office and still get work done?
He says I’m trying to do the dad thing and brig them out here. I’m tired, people.
“When I’m Gone” sounds like a traditional love song from the fifties with that simple bass line and stabs of guitar. And it is a love song, only to his son, not a woman. Clark’s gruff voice works perfectly. Zapata plays the guitar licks between the first two verses.
He says “Pearl Cadillac” was written for his mother… who I’m gonna ask to babysit for me next time… damn…”
Jon Deas starts on keys with simple snare and hi-hat from Johnny Radelat. Gary gets to show off his guitar chops here. I love the slightly distorted, slightly retro sound of his guitar as he plays all the licks throughout the song. This song has a total Prince vibe and it works perfectly.
He sings the whole song in his gorgeous falsetto
I remember when I left home in that pearl Cadillac
I was searching for some kinda way to pay you back
For your love, your love, your love
He even handles a guitar solo flub with the ease of a parent who is overworked–a little grunt and then start again.
[READ: April 11, 2019] “The Wish”
One of the reasons I didn’t want to consider reading a lot of Esquire-published short stories is because I assumed they’d all be something like this one.
Full of death and misery and whatnot. I mean the story starts “Kamon Gilbert woke up on the morning of the last day of his life at 6:19.”
Now, in fairness, this story isn’t about a manly man shot down in a blaze of glory. Rather, it is a look at racism and violence and how a man’s life can change in an instant (a couple of times). And as such it is a powerful and affecting story. It’s still really dark though.
Kamon Gilbert is a black boy in high school school. He is very smart and very successful. He does well in his classes and has been selected as the lead in many of the school plays.
But none of the other kids like him:
every student there bent on bringing Kamon down—hating him, if they were white, because he was a nigger, hating him, if they were black, because he was exceptional when measured against the rest of them by the teachers and their standardized tests. Kamon Gilbert this and Kamon Gilbert that. Kamon, you’re jack shit, busting your balls over white pussy.
As the story opens he is in bed with his pregnant girlfriend. She is white and he is enjoying the contrast of his skin color to her very pale pregnant belly. He didn’t want her to keep the baby, but she did and he is now excited about being a father. He is very much in love with Jenny although he might not know that she assumes things won’t work out.
Kamon knew he had to get educated for his future to work. At the same time, he was working part time as a mechanic and was doing well there. He wasn’t good enough to do the really hard jobs, but he was learning and the other guys respected him. Maybe he should just continue to work there–in a few years he’d be making some good money.
He had many choices ahead of him.
There’s a lot of details in the middle of the story that don’t seem relevant until you remember the way that Scott has constructed the story–the last hours of a man’s life. So stopping at 3:05 to eat at McDonalds for thirteen minutes is an important detail.
The last third of the story is set up with very deliberate time stamps.
6:25 he and Jenny eat dinner.
9:00 he and Jenny and his cousin Taft watch a basketball game.
11:15 Taft offers Kamon $20 to go to the shop and buy him a pack of smokes.
Kamon feels bad taking advantage of his cousin, but $20 is $20.
The story then shifts to more precise timekeeping as he heads into the street: 11:24:07, 11:24:12, 11:24:15.
And we know how the story ends.
It is a dark and dispiriting story, but one that is very powerful and which shows Kamon’s end with amazing grace.
I Just Read About That... 
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