Gary Clark Jr.

With his acclaimed debut Blak and Blu, Gary Clark, Jr. emerged at the dawn of the 2010s as the great hope for modern electric blues. He spent the rest of the decade fulfilling that promise, both by continuing the blues-rock tradition and expanding it to encompass contemporary funk, rock, and hip-hop. Initially, Clark played his cards relatively close to the vest, emphasizing the blues heritage of his hometown in Austin, Texas (and earning the endorsement of local legend Jimmie Vaughan). But Clark quickly took risks other contemporary blues guitarists didn’t, collaborating with R&B singer Alicia Keys and modern rockers Foo Fighters, while branching out to political protest on the charged 2019 album This Land.