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"  From the May 2013 issue For the Uninitiated: When Eric Clapton tells you that you&amp;#039;re the blues guitar player who makes him want to play again, you&amp;#039;re probably on to something. After cutting his teeth as a teenage prodigy around Austin&amp;#039;s blues scene, Clark has emerged as rock &amp;#039;n&amp;#039; roll&amp;#039;s preeminent guitar hero, an honor largely earned with blistering, moneymaker-shaking sets in front of huge festival crowds at Bonnaroo, Coachella, and the New Orleans Jazz &amp;amp;amp; Heritage Festival. His debut album, last year&amp;#039;s Blak and Blu, is an impressive all-over-the-map fusion of R&amp;amp;amp;B, hip-hop, neo-soul, and, yes, blues. Lots of blues. On Playing for Giant Festival Crowds: &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s humbling when people choose your stage. It&amp;#039;s hot, it&amp;#039;s funky, but there they are, hanging and listening, caring about what you&amp;#039;re doing. To think a weird idea I noodled on at the house has gone to something forty thousand people might hear at a festival is an indescribable feeling. As cool as I might try to be, I think, Oh, my God, this is real.&amp;quot; The Preshow Ritual: &amp;quot;Most of the time, we gather backstage and put on O. V. Wright&amp;#039;s &amp;#039;Ace of Spades.&amp;#039; It&amp;#039;s a badass southern soul tune. We dance around to it like idiots. Everybody gets loose. And sometimes it&amp;#039;s the Otis Redding album In Person at the Whisky a Go Go. Then we go.&amp;quot; Above: Two-button linen suit ($3,195) by Giorgio Armani; cotton shirt ($145) by Boss Orange; leather shoes ($460) by Fratelli Rossetti. Below: Linen-and-resin jacket ($998), cotton jeans ($298), and suede boots ($598) by John Varvatos; cotton T-shirt ($55) by Boss Orange; wool hat ($78) by Gents.    "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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