Austin: Gary Clark Jr. at Antone’s Nightclub

Antone’s opened in Austin in 1975 with the explicit mission of bringing the blues back to Texas. Clifford Antone, a music obsessive from Port Arthur, wanted a place where the old masters could play and where younger musicians could learn from them in real time. He succeeded beyond anyone’s expectations. In the years that followed, Antone’s became the laboratory where Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughan redefined what Texas blues could sound like and built the foundation that would make Austin one of the most important music cities in America.

Gary Clark Jr. grew up in Austin. He taught himself guitar from library books, played small gigs through his teens, and eventually found his way to Clifford Antone. Antone gave him a stage. He gave him access to musicians — Jimmie Vaughan among them — who had spent decades mastering the craft. Clark began performing regularly at the club and absorbing everything the Antone’s tradition had to offer.

Gary Clark Jr. Day

The Austin music community recognized what it was seeing early. On May 3, 2001, Mayor Kirk Watson proclaimed Gary Clark Jr. Day. Clark was seventeen years old. He had not yet released a record. He had not yet won a Grammy, opened for the Rolling Stones, or performed at the White House. But Antone’s had already shown Austin what it had in him.

Clark has since won four Grammy Awards, collaborated with artists from Eric Clapton to Childish Gambino, and been named one of the essential guitarists of his generation by Rolling Stone. The circuit that runs from Clifford Antone’s talent-spotting to those Grammy stages passed directly through the Antone’s stage.

Antone’s still operates in Austin, carrying forward the tradition Clifford built. It remains one of the most important blues clubs in the country — and the room where Gary Clark Jr.’s story really began.