10 Times Rock Musicians Appeared On Other Artists' Albums
9. Gary Clark Jr. – "Awaken, My Love!" (Childish Gambino)
It wasn't hard to tell were Donald Glover (Childish Gambino) drew inspiration for his third album... , even the cover art was a throw back to Funkadelic's 1971 record Maggot Brain.
Sounding like George Clinton's Funkadelic had teamed up with Frank Zappa to record an album in space, the record harkened back to the sounds of the '70s and early '80s. But, it wasn't all an exercise in nostalgia, Gambino injected enough modern sensibilities to keep everything sounding contemporary.
With the unmistakable sound of Gary Clark Jr.'s guitar ripping through the atmosphere towards the end of the album, Gambino knew when to deploy his collaborations. The track was a three and a half minute, mostly instrumental number, with sparsely strum chords, thick with wah wah pedal, and a sprinkling of piano notes. The track was augmented by a choir of backing singers, adding a touch of soul to a predominately funk inspired record.
But the real treat came in the form of the Austin-based guitar player Gary Clark Jr. with a guitar tone that screamed of Funkadelic's Eddie Hazel, but the sound was never the less Clark Jr.
It was a wonderful nugget nestled away in the album and perfectly set the stage for the albums culminating track Stand Tall.