Gary Clark Jr. Collaborates With Composer Gustavo Santaolalla on ‘Valley of Last Resort’

Gary Clark Jr. collaborates with film composer Gustavo Santaolalla and famed songwriter Paul Williams on the new song “Valley of Last Resort.”

Clark Jr. and Santaolalla share vocals on the track, with Clark Jr.’s electric guitar embraced in a musical duel with the Oscar-winning composer’s trademark ronroco. The pair initially met at Eric Clapton’s 2019 Crossroads Guitar Festival in September 2019 before collaborating in the studio.

The lyrics were written by Williams, a Song of the Year Grammy winner, and are “inspired by the fact that 50 years later we are unfortunately confronted by similar issues as the civil unrest and protests in our country have been on the rise,” Warner Records said in a statement.

“Valley of Last Resort” features in the recent Hunter S. Thompson documentary Freak Power: The Ballot or the Bomb, about the legendary gonzo journalist’s 1970 campaign for Sheriff of Pitkin County, Colorado.

Clark Jr. last released his Grammy-winning This Land in February 2019; the guitarist is currently working on that album’s follow-up.