No one tires of hearing someone rip a guitar to pieces. Hell, no one tires of doing it. But sitting on a balcony overlooking lower Manhattan on a humid August day, bluesy rock-'n'-roller and soon-to-be-legend Gary Clark Jr. explains that he wants his newest album, "The Story Of Sonny Boy Slim ," (out Sept. 11), to be more than just a guitar-shredding feast. He wants you to know hes also a singer-songwriter soul funk dude.

Clarks always had pipes, he told The Huffington Post while donning his signature hat, Ray-Ban sunglasses and all-black ensemble. Though he has Stevie Ray Vaughan-like moments that pack the power to leave listeners drooling, Clark felt it was time to change things up. Time to turn the guitar up and make some noise -- vocally, that is.

I was just waiting for the time to bust that out, Clark said. And I really wanted this album to be more musical, more expressive -- not just wait for the guitar solo, you know?"