Delbert McClinton
Michael Baryshnikov
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Delbert McClinton
The venerable Delbert McClinton is a legend among Texas roots music
aficionados, not only for his amazing longevity, but for his ability to combine
country, blues, soul, and rock & roll as if there were no distinctions between
any of them in the best time-honored Texas tradition. A formidable harmonica
player long before he recorded as a singer, McClinton's career began in the
late '50s, yet it took him nearly two decades to evolve into a bona fide solo
artist. A critics' darling and favorite of his peers, McClinton never really
became a household name, but his resurgence in the '90s helped him earn more
widespread respect from both the public at large and the Grammy committee.
Delbert McClinton was born in Lubbock, TX, on November 4, 1940, and grew up in
Fort Worth. Discovering the blues in his teenage years, McClinton quickly
became an accomplished harmonica player and found plenty of work on the local
club scene, where musicians often made their living by playing completely
different styles of music on different nights of the week. His most prominent
early gig was with the Straitjackets, the house band at a blues/R&B club; it
gave McClinton the opportunity to play harp behind blues legends like Howlin'
Wolf, Jimmy Reed, Sonny Boy Williamson II, and Bobby "Blue" Bland. In 1960,
McClinton's cover of Williamson's "Wake Up Baby" made him the first white
artist to have a record played on the local blues station KNOK. McClinton's
harmonica was prominently featured on Fort Worth native Bruce Channel's 1962
number one smash "Hey! Baby"; brought along for Channel's tour of England,
McClinton wound up giving harp lessons to a young John Lennon. Upon returning
to the States, McClinton founded a group called the Rondells (sometimes listed
as the Ron-Dels), which had a minor chart single in 1965 with "If You Really
Want Me to, I'll Go." Although the Rondells recorded for several different
labels, wider success eluded them and McClinton spent much of the '60s making
the rounds of the Texas club and roadhouse circuit, where his reputation kept
growing steadily.
In 1972, McClinton moved to Los Angeles, where he teamed up with Fort Worth
singer/songwriter Glen Clark as Delbert & Glen. Signed to the small Atlantic
affiliate Clean Records, Delbert & Glen recorded two albums in a mostly
country-rock vein, 1972's Delbert & Glen and 1973's Subject to Change. Neither
sold well and McClinton returned to Texas in 1974, where he was able to land a
solo deal with ABC on the strength of his emerging songwriting talent. His
first solo album, Victim of Life's Circumstances, was released in 1975;
although he was marketed as part of the emerging progressive country movement,
McClinton's music was too indebted to blues and R&B to neatly fit that tag.
Genuine Cowhide (1976) and Love Rustler (1977) followed to highly positive
reviews, if not much commercial attention, and other artists started to mine
McClinton's catalog for material; in 1978, Emmylou Harris took his "Two More
Bottles of Wine" all the way to the top of the country charts. A switch to
Capricorn produced two albums, 1978's Second Wind and 1979's Keeper of the
Flame; the former featured his original version of "B Movie Boxcar Blues,"
later a part of the Blues Brothers repertoire. When Capricorn folded, he moved
to the Muscle Shoals Sound imprint and his 1980 label debut, The Jealous Kind,
gave him his first Top 40 single in "Givin' It Up for Your Love," which hit on
both the pop and country charts.
Unfortunately, Muscle Shoals Sound folded not long after McClinton's follow-up,
1981's Plain From the Heart, and he subsequently took a long hiatus from
recording, concentrating instead on live performances. His next prominent
appearance was an acclaimed vocal turn on guitarist Roy Buchanan's 1986 album
Dancing on the Edge; that guest appearance helped land him a deal with
Alligator. In 1989, McClinton issued the comeback album Live From Austin, which
earned him his first Grammy nomination (for Best Contemporary Blues Album). He
signed with Curb in 1990, debuting that year with I'm With You, and moved to
Nashville, where he soon became a much sought-after songwriter (often in tandem
with new partner Gary Nicholson) in the contemporary country field. Over the
next few years, McClinton placed material with stars like Wynonna, Vince Gill,
Lee Roy Parnell, and Martina McBride, among others. His biggest break, though,
came when he was tapped for a duet with Bonnie Raitt on 1991's Luck of the
Draw, the follow-up to her much-lauded comeback Nick of Time. The result, "Good
Man, Good Woman," brought McClinton his first Grammy for Best Rock Vocal, Duo
or Group, which suddenly raised his profile tenfold. He capitalized with 1992's
Never Been Rocked Enough, which featured not only his duet with Raitt, but also
guest appearances from Tom Petty and Melissa Etheridge, and his biggest hit
single since 1980, "Every Time I Roll the Dice." Later that year, he hit the
country charts with another duet, this time with Tanya Tucker on "Tell Me About
It." The song later appeared on McClinton's next album, 1993's simply titled
Delbert McClinton.
Despite enjoying the greatest commercial success of his career, McClinton's
relationship with Curb was beginning to sour. His next two albums were released
to comparatively little attention and he finally extricated himself from his
contract to sign with Rising Tide, a small label associated with Universal.
1997's One of the Fortunate Few was designed to restore McClinton to his
early-'90s stature, featuring an array of guest stars, including Vince Gill,
Patty Loveless, Lyle Lovett, Pam Tillis, B.B. King, John Prine, and Mavis
Staples. It was still definitely McClinton's show, however, and as such it
received mostly complimentary reviews; it also sold more than 250,000 copies
before Rising Tide went belly-up. McClinton next returned in 2001 on the
Austin, TX-based New West imprint with another acclaimed effort, Nothing
Personal. It proved to be one of the most popular recordings of his career,
gaining substantial airplay on Americana radio and ending up one of the year's
biggest hits on Billboard's blues chart; it also won him another Grammy for
Best Contemporary Blues Album. The impressive Cost of Living was released in
2005 on New West Records.
(Ó)Steve Huey, All Music Guide
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Rest begards...oh, sorry, best regards, Michael
... Born under the bad sign...