Gary Clark Jr. & Stevie Wonder Join Forces On Compelling ‘What About The Children’ For ‘Kimmel’

Ace guitarist Gary Clark Jr. teamed with one of his heroes, Stevie Wonder, to duet on “What About The Children” for Thursday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live. Clark Jr. also performed “Habits” on the ABC late-night television show.

Both “Habits” and the Clark Jr./Wonder co-written “What About The Children” appear on JPEG RAW, a new album the Austin-based guitarist released on March 22. Gary Clark Jr. previously collaborated with Stevie Wonder on the latter’s 2020 single, “Where Is Our Love Song.”

Stevie Wonder sent Gary Clark Jr. a demo of “What About The Children” while COVID was raging. “He called me and said, ‘I got a song for you. We gotta do a song. And I said, ‘Whatever the hell you want to do, man.’ So, he sends me this demo, and it’s just audio from his phone, and he’s playing this little harmonium,” Clark Jr. explained to Forbes.

“He goes, ‘What about the children…’ and he mumbles through most of this thing. He’s like, ‘What do you think?’ And I go, ‘Well, it’s great.’ He goes, ‘Well, think you could write something? Get some words to it,'” Clark Jr. added. “I said, I’ll get right back to you. He starts calling me and it’s really amazing that, he’s facetiming, and I’m looking at Stevie Wonder on facetime and he’s talking to me about writing a song while he’s flying down the 405. I’m just like, ‘What the hell is my life right now?’ I say to him, I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll get with the band.’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, I really want you to have a song for your album.'”

They assembled at Wonder’s L.A. studio to record the song. “He sits there and sings. He puts this part on it. The guy sings. He works for hours, doing this thing over again trying to get it right on,” the guitarist noted. “He plays harmonica on this thing, the coolest bluesy sounding harmonica. To top it all off, I had my three sisters come in and sing backup on this track. We used to dance around in the living room, singing to Stevie Wonder when we were kids. We have this moment where we’re singing with Stevie Wonder and it’s like, my dad’s crying when he hears it. It was amazing.”

“What About The Children” has a vintage sound that throws back to such Stevie Wonder albums as Talking Book and Innervisions. Wonder utilizes a Clavinet tone straight out of his classic “Superstition.” Watch the “What About The Children” and “Habits” performances from Jimmy Kimmel Live below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsL6mQcbUtY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJwvyRtQiIo

Gary Clark Jr. launches an extensive tour behind JPEG RAW on Wednesday, May 8 in Fort Worth, Texas. Check out the dates and ticketing info below.