Gary Clark Jr

Bb King and Eric Clapton jam at Crossroads Guitar Festival

Eric Clapton, BB King and John Mayer were among some of genius performers at Clapton's fourth Crossroads Guitar Festival last weekend.

It was a blues infused weekend at Eric Clapton's fourth tri-annual Crossroads Guitar Festival on April 12th - 13th 2013 at Madison Square Garden, New York with guests ranging from the legends, to the more modern performers of the genre. 68-year-old Clapton, who remains to be the only three-time inductee in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, was seen enjoying a jam session with the King of blues BB King, 87, while John Mayer teamed with country star Keith Urban to show that there was little to sneer at with modern blues-pop. 'The Blues Brothers' star Dan Aykroyd, also made an appearance in a pair of Ray-Bans and a suit reminiscent of the 1980 movie, as well as Texan guitarist Gary Clark Jr. with his band and 76-year-old former Muddy Waters member Buddy Guy.

Continue reading: Eric Clapton Introduces Star Line-Up To His Fourth Crossroads Guitar Festival (Photos)

A Week In Reviews... It's hard to believe that's it's been well over a year since M83 released their single 'Midnight City' and signalled their long-awaited move up to alternative music's big leagues. Going gold in America on sales, and featuring heavily on hit UK TV shot Made In Chelsea, the song precluded album Hurry Up We're Dreaming reaching the US album charts top 20. Our reviewer found that, with 2012 now drawing to a close, the French group's party was very much still in full swing. "'Midnight City', as expected, gets the biggest cheer of the night before an epic version of 'Couleurs' brings the set to a close, and if your mind wasn't already blown, this unbelievable wall of noise was the final knockout blow" he wrote in gushing praise.

Away from the live arena and back to the studio, former Mercury nominees The Unthanks doled out another uncompromising slab of their ethereal folk. Songs From The Shipyards is the group's third release within a year, and was initially a soundtrack to a film documenting their local North East England's shipbuilding industry history. Andrew Lockwood took this one on, and found a band in the form of their life seven albums into their career: "The album, as you might expect, is full of character and love" he wrote. "The songs are performed with great care and attention and each note stirs the emotions as it recounts a slice of Shipbuilding history. Regardless of whether you have seen the accompanying film this set of songs works wonderfully well and once again shows what a prodigious and prolific talent The Unthanks are."

A Week In Interviews... We managed to grab a chat with stalwart Canadian pop-punkers Billy Talent, a group still fizzing with energy with their 20th anniversary of existence just round the corner in 2013. David Straw chatted to the band formerly known as Pezz (they changed their name after legal issues in 1999) and chatted of tours, new albums and the US general election, finding the group in bullish mood on the eve of a show in Nottingham.

Continue reading: A Week In Music Featuring: M83, The Rolling Stones, Fun., Justin Bieber And Much More

Gary Clark Jr - a musician often described as the savior of blues music - has released his first major label record on Warner Brothers. Influenced by the likes of Buddy Guy and B.B King, Clark Jr's sound is, unsurprisingly, rooted in American blues, though his new record - incidentally titled 'Blak and Blue'- ventures into uncharted territory.

He forays into retro-soul, R&B and shades of hip-hop, all of which has impressed the critics. Jon Pareles of Rolling Stone magazine also hears garage rock and psychedelia though insists, "The album's core is still the blues. Clark dips into the historical timeline, sampling a juke joint's worth of 20th-century styles: from the rural slide-guitar picking of "Next Door Neighbor Blues" to the desolate tidings and incendiary lead guitar of "When My Train Pulls In." The New York Times' Nate Chinen suggests, "Still, the album's core strength lies in its approximation of what Mr. Clark can do onstage," which is play blues-guitarist really, really well. In fact, Clark is considered to be one of the finest blues musicians around.

The long-standing rocker is winning high praise for figuring out how a veteran bluesman can possibly thrive in 2012.