Will Owen-Gage has star potential

By Tom Kellar
The Daily Times

Published June 16, 2005

It’s quite possible that history was made at the Hill Country Opry last Saturday, when blues legend W.C. Clark shared the bill and the stage with young Will Owen-Gage in a show that probably will have those lucky enough to have attended talking about it for years to come.

By all accounts, Will was initiated by W.C. into blues greatness — and if anyone has the right to make that distinction, it’s Clark.

I had promised friends that I would accompany them to the Austin Lounge Lizards’ set at the Kerrville Folk Festival that same night, but decided to run over to HCO to see as much of Owen-Gage and Clark as possible before heading out to Quiet Valley Ranch.

My timing was excellent. When I walked into the Opry, Will was deep into his extended set and James Harvey of the Opry was whispering something into the ear of Will’s bass player.

Then something extraordinary happened. Will’s bassist left the stage and W.C. Clark was introduced. I was shocked by what came next. Clark, one of the preeminent blues guitarists on the planet, picked up the bass — PICKED UP THE BASS!!! Anyone familiar with Clark’s career knows that the last time W.C. had played a supporting position, the lead guitarist was named Stevie Ray Vaughan.

It was a John-the-Baptist-introducing-the-Messiah kind of moment. The heavens opened and a dove descended. Clark was making a statement, and it was huge.

A grinning Owen-Gage conferred with the headliner — the man whose poster had been on Will’s bedroom wall since he was 12 — and then launched into the next tune. I was very curious to see how Will would perform under that kind of pressure and am pleased to report that the solos he took with Clark backing him on bass were incredible. The 17-year-old hit a home run and it wasn’t long before W.C.’s grin was as wide as Will’s.

I couldn’t help laughing out loud, seeing the look on the face of Will’s drummer. He looked like a high school driver’s-ed student who had just been handed the keys to a space shuttle. The man played his drums as if he were fighting for his very life. He couldn’t believe what was happening and neither could we.

Clark left the stage after a second song and I left the Opry, sorry that I wouldn’t be there for the rest of the show and for the inevitable Clark/Owen-Gage jam session that would end the evening.

Kerrville Daily Times photographer Jack Parker told me that he had a chance to speak with Clark later in the evening and that the blues titan told him, “You have to understand, I don’t put my guitar down for anybody, not since Stevie Ray.”

The kid is great, the same way that Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Clapton and B.B. King are great. The sky’s the limit for Will and hopefully, we’ll get to see lots more of him locally as he progresses down the road of his career. Enough said.

See ya’ after dark.