When Gary Clark Jr. greets Total Guitar on Zoom, it’s with a warm smile and a slight sense of amazement. After a quick scan of this writer’s music room, what grabs his attention is an unexpected “blast from the past” – the same electric guitar he cut his teeth on, in the exact same finish, on a guitar rack in the background.
The rare model in question is a late-’90s Japanese-made Ibanez Blazer in Vintage Sunburst, which is exactly what the Texan brought along to the blues jams that schooled him at the very beginning of his teenage years. These were no ordinary club nights, however, given how Antone’s – the legendary downtown Austin venue –was also where Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan started their careers, and a place that was frequented by many a guitar great.
