Old blues fans raised on the Chicago variety practiced by the likes of Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, and young Jimi Hendrix will be dumbfounded by this new kid from Detroit, Cetan Clawson, an axe-wielding wunderkind who owes the burgeoning popularity of his hotdogging act--which includes playing guitar with his teeth--to a generation that's played too much "Guitar Hero."
   Raised on pop-punk and the likes of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Clawson himself plays the real guitar, of course. And he has no right to sound so awesome at the young age of 21. Yet he does, and here we are: Before him, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Jonny Lang, Eric Johnson, and to a lesser extent, John Mayer were young heirs to the blues throne but never quite caught on. But acts coming out of the Motor City—from John Lee Hooker to the MC5 to Ted Nugent to the White Stripes—always seem to have a gritty authenticity and powerful rockin' presence. And let's not forget early Grand Funk Railroad--you hear more than a little of 'em in Cetan's power trio...
   While Shepherd, Lang, and Johnson had to put their imprimatur on their particular shades of blues with modern digital polish, the clean sound that comes with, Clawson is all about the ham-fisted bombast. His guitar pyrotechnics are taken straight from the Jimi Hendrix book--half of which, anyone who's seen Buddy Guy live immediately recognizes, was cribbed straight from Guy anyway.
   Clawson doesn't try to hide what he's doing; he's got two faithful Hendrix covers, "Killing Floor" and "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" right there on the album. Add to that Clawson's reliance on the lo-fi ethos of sloppy blues punks like Spencer, which gives his music an authentically retro feel. That and his taking advice from Chris Layton, the Double Trouble drummer and Clawson mentor who produced White Heat as well as played on two tracks. The sound's very Double Trouble in places, not uncoincidentally, with that raw-yet-searing quality where the lows punch you in the gut, the highs cut through, and the mids are seemingly muted so as not to get int the way. The topper? White Heat was made in 2006, when he was 17, and released regionally. Universal, understanding that this kid's gonna be money, is reissuing it this summer on a national scale...
  There are countless Jimmy Hendrix imitators, but few come close to the original. With Fender Strats, Marshall full stacks, fuzz pedals and wicked chops, Cetan Clawson illustrates he is a young guitar slinger whose style can hang with that of the late great.

   The classic blues rocker from Detroit is only in his early 20s but demonstrates a mastery of the blues rock style with blazing riffs that squeal and soar through almost nostalgic musical territory. His live performances are far from boring as he plays his axe unconventionally with his teeth and behind his back and head. Like Hendrix, Clawson will roll around the floor while playing and bash his guitar against the stage to get waves of noise blaring through his amp...