Eric Gales has been the name on guitar connoisseurs’ lips for three decades now. Famed as a 90s blues-rock prodigy, but then seemingly throwing it all away with a 2009 jail stretch for drugs and firearms possession, it’s been heartening to watch the Memphis guitarist rise again with redemptive Grammy-nominated records such as 2022’s Crown.
Today, however, Gales wants to swing the spotlight onto his beloved elder brother. A fiery bluesman billed professionally as Little Jimmy King, who also used Eric’s unfathomable ‘upside-down’ guitar technique, Manuel Gales was a hero to those who knew of him, but he died in 2002 of a heart attack before he became a bona fide superstar.
Eric aims to change that, he explains, with a star-studded new tribute album that powerfully reignites his late sibling’s best songs.
Why did now feel like the right time to record A Tribute To LJK?
Well, it had actually been time way before now. This record is my way of giving honour to my older brother, that’s been gone for over twenty years now. I decided to do some of his songs, through my eyes, with a 2025 approach, to show the world exactly how badass he was, incorporating some allies and friends of mine. I’m ecstatic with it, man.
For someone who has never heard his music, can you describe your brother’s musical vibe?
He played raw, hard-core, straight-up blues, man. No cuttin’ corners. He was highly influenced by Albert King and Hendrix. So that’s how ‘Jimmy King’ came up – ‘Jimmy’ for Jimi Hendrix and ‘King’ for Albert King. But my brother was his own man and a powerhouse blues player. I grew up on his music. Songs like Baby Baby and You Shouldn’t Have Left Me, I’ve been listening to those on repeat since back in the day. They were party songs. They just went along with smoking weed and drinking.
What was your relationship like between the two of you? Did he ever do that classic ‘big brother’ thing of protecting you from the school bullies, for example?
Actually, he did, one time. There was somebody bothering me at school. It got pretty serious. I told my brother, and he came up there and made his point known, not to fuck with his brother no more – in a way that scared this guy half to death. I never had any problems no more.
Your guests on A Tribute To LJK range from titans like Buddy Guy to young guns like Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram. How did you choose them?
Buddy Guy is iconic. Just say his name and that’s enough. You don’t know about music if you don’t know who Buddy Guy is. This record is a full-circle moment, because Buddy and my brother had crossed paths, played on shows together. We tracked our solos for Somebody in two different cities, but it came across like we were in the room together.
Kingfish has gone on record to say he’s influenced by my brother. I love what he did on Rockin’ Horse Ride. That’s a titty-bar sorta song. But all the guitar parts on this record are banging to me, man. I really like the guitar work that me, Joe Bonamassa and Josh Smith did on It Takes A Whole Lotta Money. We really gave ’em something to talk about there.
Do you think Manuel’s death was a factor in your life going off the rails?
No, because I was already in a tumultuous state before that happened. It may have added to it. But I was already deep into a dark world, finding comfort in things that weren’t good for me. At the end of the day, it was a slow grind to a quick death. But thank God I survived, and I stand here now, fifty years old.
Jail must have been really tough. What advice would you give someone for getting through a jail sentence?
Stay to yourself. Be quiet. Don’t engage. Don’t act like you’re bigger than who you are – unless you got a rank or status. Just do your time and go home – if you have a go-home date. Unless you’ve been there, man, it’s hard to describe. You go into prison and it’s a different life. And if you’re not ready, prepare to be curled up in a corner somewhere.
It’s no place for any human being. It’s definitely no place for a black man, to be honest with you about it. With that being said, I survived my encounter with the penal institution, and it gave me an insight on life that sat me down for a minute and told me I needed to re-evaluate things. I do believe that it was a purpose served, to stop me doing something far worse to myself. So I think that everything happens for a reason.
What emotions went through you while working on this new album?
A little bit of everything. Thinking about my brother and him not here. But happy that I’m able to make a project that brings memory to him. Excitement. Happiness. Sadness. It overcame me here and there, but I held it together, because I knew there was a job that needed to be done. I’m sure I’ll see my brother again. And not only him. I got other family members that’s passed on too. And I believe I’ll see them again. I’m sure of it.
Mark Tremonti and Dave Navarro are just two who say you’re the best guitarist out there. Do you see what all the fuss is about?
That’s a hard question, man. I take it as the highest compliment. I put a lot of years and hard work into my craft, man, and for people to have that mindset about me is larger-than-life for me. I turn on YouTube or Instagram and I see, in my opinion, some of the baddest players in the world, doing some stuff that is completely mindboggling. My mind is flipped upside-down by the stuff I’m seeing.
But at the end of the day, when the question gets asked who do they think is the baddest motherfucker in the world, they still say: “Eric Gales.” That’s huge for me, man.
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