Saturday Night Live musical guest Gary Clark Jr. – who was introduced by host Don Cheadle sporting a “Protect Trans Kids” t-shirt – delivered an electric performance of “Pearl Cadillac,” the third single from his forthcoming album This Land.
Clark’s first performance of the episode was light on the theatrics and heavy on the striking Prince-like guitar-work as the musician strictly relied solely on his talent.
Clark returned to the Studio 8H stage to perform the title track of his forthcoming album This Land. The politically-charged anthem was fueled by the impassioned vocals of Clark and his jaw-dropping guitar near the end of the track.
Clark recently told Rolling Stone that he thinks “This Land” is “the most important song” he’s ever made. “It’s about being black in America, in the South,” he told RS.
To coincide with his guest spot on SNL this week, Clark released a powerful black-and-white visual for his single “What About Us,” which featured his own lens of rural America: an octogenarian mixed-race couple smoking, two genderfluid individuals and a black father teaching his son how to play guitar.