Eric Gales

Eric Gales, a Memphis-born blues-rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter, demonstrated his signature overdriven tone on the 1991 debut Eric Gales Band, where hard rock and R&B-infused blues licks underscored a distinctly modern guitar style shaped by Jimi Hendrix, Robin Trower, Prince, and Vernon Reid. Two further solo releases preceded the 1995 family project Left Hand Brand, credited to the Gales Brothers. Returning to solo work, he delivered 2001’s That’s What I Am under the guidance of producer Geza X, whose résumé includes Black Flag and Dead Kennedys. Shrapnel’s Mike Varney helmed the Hendrix-evoking Crystal Vision in 2006. Gales took the producer’s chair himself for the widely praised 2013 power-trio supergroup album Pinnick-Gales-Pridgen. His introspective 2017 effort Middle of the Road reached number four on the Blues Albums chart, while the 2019 follow-up The Bookends became his first number-one entry on that tally. Joe Bonamassa and Josh Smith produced 2022’s I Want My Crown.

Born and raised in Memphis, Gales absorbed the instrument at age four from older brothers Eugene and Manuel, copying their inverted left-handed technique inherited from grandfather Dempsey Garrett, Sr., who had jammed with Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. Right-handed himself, he won his first blues contest at eleven and, four years later, signed with Elektra to record the 1991 debut alongside Eugene on bass. Picture of a Thousand Faces appeared in 1993. Manuel, formerly known as Little Jimmy King, rejoined his siblings for Left Hand Brand. Industry consolidation in the late nineties interrupted his major-label path, leading to session work and touring until MCA issued the 2001 album That’s What I Am. Despite frequent press comparisons to Hendrix, Gales continued on Blues Bureau Records with the power-trio sets Crystal Vision in 2006 and Psychedelic Underground in 2007, both echoing the Hendrix aesthetic even in artwork. The Story of My Life followed in 2008 and Layin’ Down the Blues in 2009, with the guitarist dialing back that influence in pursuit of a personal voice. Relentless arrived in 2010 and Transformation in 2011, both consisting largely of original material.

In 2013 Gales issued the hard-rock collaboration Pinnick-Gales-Pridgen, featuring King’s X’s Doug Pinnick and the Mars Volta’s Thomas Pridgen, then the all-instrumental Ghost Notes just two months afterward. Cleopatra released Good for Sumthin’ in 2014, a vintage-styled blues-rock outing produced by Raphael Saadiq with guest contributions from Eric Johnson and Zakk Wylde. The live package A Night on the Sunset Strip appeared in summer 2016. Deeply personal, 2017’s Middle of the Road on Provogue/Mascot chronicled three decades of addiction and recovery, spotlighting guests Gary Clark, Jr., Lance Lopez, and Christone “Kingfish” Ingram; it marked Gales’ first appearance on the Blues Albums chart at number four. The Matt Wallace-produced Bookends followed in February 2019, balancing songwriting focus with equal attention to vocals and guitar.

The funky, horn-driven single “I Want My Crown,” featuring Joe Bonamassa on rhythm guitar, surfaced in October 2021 and quickly amassed over 350,000 video views while climbing streaming rankings. Its parent album, Crown, emerged in January 2022, co-produced by Bonamassa and Josh Smith, and for the first time across Gales’ three-decade career fully integrated his abilities as singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Additional contributors included JD Simo, bassist Michael Rhodes, drummers Greg Morrow and Lemar Carter, and backing vocalists led by gospel singer Kim Fleming. The record landed inside the Top Ten on the Blues Albums chart.