It’s not exactly a surprise that Austin blues hero Gary Clark Jr. covering The Beatles’ “Come Together” is a pairing that would work. But hearing a gruff and ornery Clark tearing into the pop-rock classic and making it his own, it’s hard to believe that the cover works so well.
An animation-heavy mind-bending video for the clip premiered recently, and Clark also performed the song live on “The Late Late Show With James Corden,” adding a distinct noisy blues solo to the final bridge of the song to put his own stamp on it.
Produced by Junkie XL – a mainstay producer and DJ in the music business probably best known for remixing Elvis Presley’s “A Little Less Conversation” more than a decade ago – the cover is the standout cut from the soundtrack for the forthcoming Justice League movie that will be released Nov. 17. The song and its title are apropos because the film will see several of the D.C. comics superheroes coming together to save mankind from the villain Steppenwolf.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Clark said Junkie XL sought him out specifically for the song, and described the session the two had together as freewheeling and spontaneous while they tried out different sounds and stylings for a song that most music fans already know from memory.
Asked about his own writing, Clark said he’s recently been collaborating with Austin rappers Zeale and Phranchyze, but said there’s no timetable for his followup to 2015’s “The Story Of Sonny Boy Slim.”
One last bit of news out of Clark-sville: word got out earlier this month that he and wife Nicole Trunfio are expecting their second child – a daughter – in January. Their son Zion Rain was born in early 2015.
Featured photo via Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons licensed.
