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may apply. Welcome.

0:20

New World Cafe. hey, I am Calais. Oh. Now.

0:23

Gary Clark Jr. is one of the best guitar

0:25

players on the planet. But. On

0:28

his new album, J Peg Raw, he has

0:30

a lot more to showcase than his ability

0:32

on the six string. Hard. Rock,

0:34

Hip hop are in be jazz

0:36

all on display on Che Peg

0:38

raw. That's. An acronym

0:41

for jealousy, pride and v

0:43

Greed rules alter ego and

0:45

world's. It. Features appearances from

0:47

George Clinton, Qian Harold, and

0:49

Stevie Wonder. Today. Clark Jr.

0:51

joins me to talk about making

0:53

the record, Working with Stevie and

0:55

his knack for collecting instruments he

0:57

may never use including bagpipes. Let's.

1:00

Get into the song that opens

1:02

J Peg Raw Here is Maktoob.

1:04

It's Gary Clark Jr. on World

1:06

Cafe. Do

1:08

with the trauma gentleman. A

1:11

mistake. Or

1:17

sell the man was to

1:19

come. Back

1:22

to stay that way way. Way

1:25

way. Way way.

1:28

Way way. Way

1:31

way. It's

1:37

Gary Clark Jr. with Maktoob. It's off

1:39

his latest album J Pegged Raw featuring

1:41

appearances from George Clinton, Stevie Wonder, and

1:43

Valerie June for time Grammy winner Gary

1:46

Clark Jr. is my guess. Today I

1:48

am Calais. Oh it's the World Cafe!

1:50

Gary Welcome back to the show! Thanks

1:52

for being here. we show

1:55

by for me again yeah absolutely

1:57

let's get into the album the

1:59

title of the new album is

2:01

interesting. JPEG RAW. Now for our

2:03

audience, it's an acronym and

2:05

it stands for Jealousy, Pride,

2:07

Envy, Greed, Rules, Alter Ego,

2:10

and Worlds. Tell

2:12

me what you wanted to get into with

2:14

this album, JPEG RAW. Because that's a lot,

2:17

admittedly. That is a lot. Yeah,

2:20

well, you know, I was in

2:23

the middle of the pandemic and I

2:26

was, you know, my source of

2:28

information, my social connection was through my

2:30

phone, social media. So what

2:32

I was feeding my

2:35

brain was, you know, these images. So I was

2:37

going, oh, this is what we turned into. And

2:39

oh my goodness. And you know, also I was

2:41

in a studio for

2:43

a good chunk of that time, like locked

2:45

in a room by myself, very smoky. And

2:47

I was alone with my thoughts, which maybe

2:50

was not the best thing. I started

2:54

just thinking about album

2:56

concepts. It started kind of forming a

2:59

project. It just kind of came together

3:01

that, you know, the last couple

3:03

of years I've just been a barrage

3:06

of Instagram

3:08

timelines, algorithms, switching.

3:10

And just, it was just a lot. I

3:12

was just in my nerd head, just going,

3:15

yeah, this is about images. And then, you

3:17

know, what's the big

3:19

picture? It could be anything. But, you

3:22

know, like I said, I tend to

3:24

carry on. So I'll just keep

3:26

it short and as short as

3:28

I can. And it's about images, you know, that's

3:30

about it. Well, you know, it's one of those

3:32

times that I know it was only four years

3:34

ago, but in some moments it's

3:37

like yesterday. And then it's like, wow, that

3:39

happened decades ago. But I

3:42

do know that feeling. And, you know,

3:45

I read that you talked about, like,

3:48

you know, breathe when you listen

3:50

to this album, get out into the world, touch

3:52

grass, as the kids would say. You know, there's

3:55

that external push though to always be

3:57

connected to be online. Like during the

3:59

pandemic, How did you unplug? Was

4:01

it the creativity in the studio and just trying

4:03

to get off of stuff? Well,

4:06

I did a lot of the creative process at my

4:08

house. I did a lot of the early recordings

4:13

with the band at my house. And so my

4:16

kind of relief was hanging with them. You

4:18

know, we would step outside and, you know,

4:22

I'm in the hill country in

4:24

Texas, this beautiful sunset, antelope

4:26

jumping around. And so

4:29

we would take a break, step outside and

4:32

be greeted with this calm piece. You

4:35

know, it's just nature, birds chirping, crickets,

4:38

things like that. So that was like a decompression. It's

4:40

like, OK, Earth is earthing.

4:42

Nature is still happening. The sun's still rising.

4:44

You know, the moon pops up like, you

4:47

know, things are still some order here. I

4:49

think we'll be OK. You know, yeah,

4:51

I saw that you got you have you brought

4:53

bagpipes to this session or that you bought bagpipes.

4:58

You know what? If it's in the press release,

5:00

I'm going to ask about Gary Clutch and your

5:02

owning bagpipes. Oh, what's

5:04

the story? I go to

5:06

these thrift stores, these little music shops in

5:09

these small towns, you know, and I just

5:12

collect things like I have clarinets

5:14

and weird flutes. And, you know,

5:17

you know, I bought a bunch of flutes when I

5:19

was in Ireland. Why? I don't

5:21

know. But

5:24

they were there. They were there. And I was like,

5:26

oh, this is cool. This sounds cool. I could maybe

5:28

use this for something. And so

5:31

when I was

5:33

a kid, there was this

5:35

man who would dress up in the traditional

5:37

gear. And early in

5:39

the morning and play bagpipes, everyone

5:42

hated it. There was no point.

5:44

You know, it's like, why is this guy doing this? You

5:47

know, that was our alarm

5:49

clock. And I don't know who

5:52

this guy was. Nobody talked to him. It was just

5:54

really weird. I was like, what is going on? But

5:57

so anyway, I ran into this random music

5:59

spot. Oh, there's bad pipes that reminds

6:01

me of my childhood Sure, maybe I could do

6:03

something with this and they're just collecting dust in

6:05

the closet in my studio What

6:10

you have to be you have to be a very

6:12

special kind of board to go to

6:14

YouTube and Click on

6:16

bagpipe tutorials This

6:22

is World Cafe we're here with Gary Clark jr. The

6:25

new album is called JPEG raw a lot

6:27

of great guests on this album sister singing

6:29

backing vocals you got Valerie June key

6:32

on Harold George Clinton and Stevie

6:36

Wonder I Talk about a

6:38

guy who wasn't afraid to stretch out musically and

6:40

and play producer and every single instrument

6:43

on his record That

6:45

is ridiculously cool that there is a

6:47

Stevie Wonder duet on this record. How

6:50

did that come together? Well,

6:52

Stevie and I started connecting

6:56

Few years ago. I did a I sat in with him on

6:59

a show and recently in

7:01

2020 He

7:05

reached out again to collab

7:08

on a song of his called where's our

7:10

love song So

7:12

we had been friendly and he reached out I was on

7:14

the internet Like I said,

7:16

I was on my phone getting all my information at that time.

7:18

There was a lot of turmoil There was a lot of things

7:21

going on violence cops

7:26

You Know just

7:28

unjust crimes You

7:31

know what it was you were there you saw it. Yeah, and

7:35

So I was on my phone and I made a video

7:38

I was kind of upset frustrated and you know He

7:40

was like hey, man. I see you. He called me up

7:42

like I see you I hear you You

7:46

know, let's make a song about it. That's the way to do

7:48

it. You know, that's the way to Get

7:50

that out. So let's let's write a song together And

7:55

yeah, it basically went from there he sent me a

7:57

demo of him

8:01

playing and singing and

8:03

he's like what do you think? I

8:05

said yeah let's go for it. You know like yeah

8:07

of course. What do you think? What are you gonna

8:09

say? Yeah no

8:11

thanks. It

8:16

was an honor to

8:18

work with him. He's the greatest of all time.

8:21

Well let's listen to the album version then so

8:23

we can get a little more Stevie and

8:26

Gary Clark Jr. together from the

8:28

album JPEG Raw. This is What

8:30

About the Children here on WorldCaf.

8:56

What About the Children

8:59

featuring Stevie Wonder

9:04

from Gary Clark Jr. it's on Gary's

9:10

new album JPEG Raw which is available

9:12

now I am Kaleo with Gary Clark

9:14

Jr. here on the cafe. There's

9:17

one song that I kind of want to ask a little

9:19

bit up because it stands out and I think it's in

9:21

a good way. It's it's it almost kind

9:23

of puts a cap on side one you

9:26

know while there's a lot of production and

9:28

like some really cool sonics going on to

9:31

the end of the earth it's just you

9:33

and a guitar and I don't it's almost like

9:35

a song sketch it's like a minute long and

9:37

but I loved it like right where it shows

9:39

up in the track listing. What's the what's the

9:41

story behind that? Well

9:44

the story behind that is I

9:47

was in Los Angeles doing

9:51

something for another project I think and

9:54

I was just like hey I got this little snippet

9:56

that I think would go great

9:58

before another song on the album. It's

10:01

kind of like the honeymoon

10:03

phase, you know, love

10:05

is like the fairy tale. It's like, you

10:09

know, yeah,

10:12

it's just, you

10:14

know, holding hands and walking through meadows

10:16

and you know, picnic baskets and all

10:18

that. And

10:20

then it cuts to alone

10:23

together, you know, it's just like, it's

10:26

just like the complete opposite. I

10:28

was like, I'll just do this. Jacob

10:30

was like, what are you doing, man? Like where's the

10:32

rest of the song? I

10:34

was like, there is no rest. That's all

10:36

I got. That's it. It's just like an

10:39

interlude. He's like, no, that's the whole song.

10:42

I was like, you're teasing people. I was like,

10:44

well, that's kind of the, I

10:46

don't, it's like, just

10:48

push the button. This is all I

10:50

got. I listen

10:52

to the man. Let's push the button. And listen

10:55

to The End of the Earth here on World

10:57

Cafe. I

10:59

will follow you

11:04

to the end of the earth.

11:08

I will carry

11:11

you through

11:13

the earth. I

11:17

will marry you for whatever

11:20

it's worth. Will

11:24

you be mine? I

11:27

think that's really sweet. I really enjoyed it.

11:29

Sometimes there doesn't need to be more. Sometimes

11:31

that's all you need. Gary

11:33

Clark Jr. from JPEG Raw here on

11:36

World Cafe. We've

11:38

got another live performance to get to. And

11:40

I'm especially excited to talk about this song

11:42

because it's, it is

11:44

an epic. It's like going on an

11:46

Odyssey, nine plus minutes to close

11:48

out the album Habits. And I know it's a

11:50

really important song for you. Can

11:52

you tell me a little bit about why this song means

11:55

as much as it does to you? Well,

11:58

the song kind of fell together. All

12:00

these little parts that,

12:03

you know, these different sections of the song

12:06

were all kind of guitar exercises, kind of

12:08

practices that I was doing during the practices

12:10

that. Yeah, I'm

12:12

sticking with it. So these

12:16

were all these, it was just

12:18

exercises that I was doing and

12:21

they turned into parts. And

12:24

I just had this, you

12:26

know, this melody, I've got habits

12:28

I just can't break. In the

12:30

pandemic, if I'm being quite transparent,

12:32

I was

12:34

drinking a lot. And I

12:37

was like, this doesn't

12:39

end well, you know, just from the

12:41

stories I've heard. And

12:43

that was just kind of a reality

12:45

check. I was like, man, I've been doing this for a long time

12:48

since I was a kid, you know. I've

12:50

been a kid doing this and living this

12:53

lifestyle that's not the best. And

12:55

I was like, all right. The

12:58

lyric was real. It all came together. All of the lyrics

13:00

just kind of fell into place. And

13:02

I got in the booth and I started singing it

13:04

and I couldn't sing it without my

13:08

eyes getting wet. I was just like,

13:11

OK. I was like,

13:13

this is what music is for, I guess. I'm

13:16

so focused

13:18

on what it may mean for other people at times.

13:21

I'm like, how can I make something that will resonate?

13:23

And I was like, this one's for me. This

13:26

one really is for me. Wow.

13:30

So I'm going to give you nine minutes.

13:35

Catharsis comes in all in all shape,

13:37

sizes and time lengths. Yeah,

13:39

I didn't realize that I needed it. I felt so

13:41

much better after I just did it. I

13:44

felt like just waitlisted. It was not really

13:47

trying to be like, oh, hey, this is

13:49

fun. It's like, no, the days after aren't

13:51

fun. The conversations after aren't fun. So

13:54

I got a call and say, hey, sorry, this,

13:56

sorry, that. And

13:59

come on. You're 40 years old. You got

14:02

young kids. Just get over it.

14:05

Grow up. Let's go. Dang.

14:08

Wow. Yeah. Did

14:10

things change for you post pandemic? Um,

14:15

yeah, things changed for me. I

14:19

appreciated my career. I appreciated the people

14:21

that supported me. When

14:23

everything was gone, I realized that

14:26

I was just so focused on going and

14:28

going and going, that I wasn't

14:30

really looking up to and

14:32

looking around to appreciate. And

14:35

I was like, well, I've had a great

14:37

run so far. Let's

14:40

make the most of it. You know, people

14:42

are still here and I'm still excited. I feel better

14:44

than I ever felt. Like, let's

14:46

make, let's really go for it. Hell

14:49

yeah. That's awesome. Let's take a

14:51

listen to Habits. Here's Gary Clark Jr. On World

14:53

Cafe. On World Cafe. That's

15:26

Habits, the song that closes out Gary

15:29

Clark Jr.'s new album, JPGraw. Gary,

15:31

it was an absolute pleasure. Thanks so much for

15:33

coming by, talking to us, and we'll see you

15:36

next time, all right? Well, I appreciate you. Thanks

15:38

for having me. You got it. We're

15:40

back in a moment with More World Cafe. I'm

15:45

Rachel Martin. You probably know how interview podcasts

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with famous people usually go. There's a host,

15:50

a guest, and a light Q&A. But

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on Wildcard, we have ripped up the typical

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I invite actors, artists, and comedians to play

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of cards to talk about some of life's

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biggest questions. Listen to Wild Card, wherever you

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get your podcasts, only from NPR. On

16:09

this week's episode of Wild Card, poet Laureate

16:12

Ada Lemone tells us how to give yourself

16:14

a little grace. The nice thing

16:16

about being in my mid to

16:18

late 40s, yeah, I forgive myself.

16:22

Join me, Rachel Martin, for NPR's new podcast, Wild

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Card, the game where cards

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