Album review: Gary Clark Jr, Blak and Blu (Warner Bros)

Anointed even by Obama as "the future", young Texan blues guitarist Gary Clark Jr is widely viewed as heir apparent to such legends as Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan, a belief only partly confirmed by this debut album.

There's no doubt that when he launches into a solo, Clark possesses a similar kind of barely restrained potency, in the shape of his phrasing and confident access to sonic extremity; but large parts of Blak and Blu are spent crooning falsetto soul numbers or cranking out chunky rockers in the vein of the Stones and Bob Seger . And I'm not entirely convinced that Hendrix's "Third Stone from the Sun" is improved by being yoked to Little Johnny Taylor's "If You Love Me Like You Say".

Download: Ain't Messin 'Round; When My Train Pulls In; Travis County