Doyle Bramhall II music is a train that runs right on time

The job of any Texas blues-rock guitarist is to rise above all other such Texas guitarists that came before him or her and, good lordy, that deck is stacked. The Lone Star State has given us Lightning Hopkins, Freddie King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, his brother Jimmie, Billy Gibbons, Bugs Henderson, Buddy Whittington, Gary Clark Jr., W.C. Clark, Lowell Fulson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Eric Johnson, T Bone Walker, Johnny Guitar Watson, and Johnny Winter — just to name a few. In retrospect, perhaps the smartest thing that Doyle Bramhall II could have done was to become rock and roll’s secret weapon, working (as he has) with Eric Clapton, Sheryl Crow, and Roger Waters.

Bramhall is a fine blues guitarist/composer in his own right. But I have to admit, I didn’t much enjoy his gig early on. First off, he looked too much like a rock-star-wannabe, which Jimmie Vaughan admitted to a reporter was the main reason he hired Bramhall II for the Fabulous Thunderbirds. Even at 18, the younger guitar slinger had that weird man-jewelry-and-tight-shirts look. And I thought his performances were too ultra-cool or laid back, like he was protecting a place deep within his own consciousness, or worse, faking it. It wasn’t until someone handed me a copy of Crossroads 2013 that I realized I’d completely erred.

Bramhall II has since aged into a master craftsman and performer with a big, sure-footed sound and an approach to vocals that you can call his own. Yeah, he still looks like he goes clothes shopping with Lenny Kravitz, but his songwriting puts everything in precisely the right order. As fans, we’ve been listening to blues and rock for so many generations now that those chord progressions are etched into our collective genes. We know when it’s right, and Doyle Bramhall II music is a train that runs right on time every time.