Texas gunslinger Gary Clark Jr. performed a version of Robert Petway's "Catfish Blues" during a live session for SiriusXM that was just put on YouTube in a nearly 8 minute video. "Catfish Blues" has become a blues standard, popularized by Muddy Waters and Jimi Hendrix. In the true blues-folk tradition, Clark interprets the song his own way, singing verses that aren't familiar from other artists' popular recordings of the song.
In a playful mood, Clark bookends the performance here with the signature Black Sabbath "Iron Man" lick, and teases the outro section of "Iron Man" during his guitar lead at around the 6:45 mark of the video. The song has been a touchstone for hard rock guitar players for a long time, and it's easy to draw a line from the guitar style of Tony Iommi to Gary Clark Jr. in the way that they both use a ton of overdrive through their amplifier that allows the sounds to develop with complexity from the attack to the sustain of any particular note or chord. Both guys embrace a dark metallic guitar sound with lots of harmonic distortion. Neither is the fastest guitar player around, but they're both very powerful.
For Gary Clark Jr.'s latest music, news, and tour dates, check out his Zumic artist page.
Source: SiriusXM YouTube Channel
