Bio - Delbert McClinton

Born November 4, 1940 in Lubbock, Texas, Delbert started playing guitar as a teenager and by age 19 was leading The Straitjackets, house band at Jack's, a tough Fort Worth black club. Inspired by Jimmy Reed, he learned to play harmonica around 1960, lessons provided by Sonny Boy Williamson, who also turned him on to pot. McClinton soon found himself backing up many of the major blues artists who regularly visited Jack's. Think of it -- before he was even old enough to vote -- or legally drink -- Delbert had led the backing band for such giants as Howling Wolf, Lightning Hopkins, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Williamson, Reed and Big Joe Turner!

Despite his early start McClinton has had more sheer bad luck in his recording career than thirteen boxcars full of three-legged black cats passing under a bridge of ladders on Friday the 13th. After getting rave critical reviews for his Clean Records collaborations with Glen Clark (the first of which was co-produced by T-Bone Burnett and featured cover art by Larry Rivers!), Clean went bust. McClinton went to ABC Records but that imprint eventually was bought and absorbed by MCA, destroying any momentum he had built up with his superb mid-70s releases there: “Victim of Life's Circumstances”, “Genuine Cowhide” and “Love Rustler”. Undaunted, our hero moved to Capricorn, arriving just in time to issue “Second Wind” and “Keeper Of The Flame” before that label went belly up.

He stopped next to Muscle Shoals Sound, a Capitol Records subsidiary, where he almost immediately hit with "Givin' It Up For Your Love". The follow-up, "Shotgun Rider", was rising on the charts when Muscle Shoals Sound capsized, again leaving McClinton victimized and labelless.

Still undaunted, the hard-edged soul shouter continued to make exceptional recordings, first for Alligator, then Curb and MCA before inking with Rising Tide and resuming the pattern of signing with labels just before they collapsed. Clearly, if Delbert expected to make a living from his recordings he was looking at some pretty empty pantries.
However, as most of us know, as great as they are, Delbert McClinton's recordings have not earned him an international reputation as one of the finest soul artists and roadhouse rockers extant. It's his live shows that have enchanted, excited and enthralled hundreds of thousands of folks, beginning way back there in Texas in the late '50s and continuing right up to the present. Catch one of those shows and you're going to enjoy yourself because Delbert always has a cooking band featuring a fine horn section and he himself works his hiney off to make sure you get your money's worth. You'll also notice a high percentage of women present, many more than usual without a date, drawn as much by Delbert's GQ-handsome features as by the driving, rocking sounds from the bandstand.

But the music world hasn't dealt Delbert only misfortune. Some of the songs he has written have taken on a life of their own to become major successes for other artists, a list that includes Emmylou Harris' #1 hit on his "Two More Bottles of Wine" and the fame and celebrity attached to "B Movie Box Car Blues", a staple of The Blues Brothers live shows and their smash hit film. He's also found success as a duet partner, earning a Grammy Award in 1991 for his collaboration with Bonnie Raitt on "Good Man, Good Woman" from her breakthrough release, “Luck of the Draw”. McClinton also gained a Finalist nod at the 1994 Country Music Association Awards for his "Tell Me About It" duet with Tanya Tucker. Additional McClinton songs have been cut by such stars as Waylon Jennings, Dr. Hook and Doug Sahm.

There should be some kind of award to give to talented and tireless artists like Delbert McClinton who make exemplary music for forty years but who somehow miss out on the share of fame and fortune their extraordinary abilities should have earned them. In Delbert's case, there should be a special proviso attached for sheer persistence and for never quitting. He may sing about "Givin' It Up For Your Love" in countless honky-tonks, crowded bars and high-toned lounges coast-to-coast but Delbert McClinton has never given up his love of music nor his ability to create great sounds that draw from rock, R'n'B, country, blues, rockabilly and even folk sources. This, my friends, is the voice of a master; listen and enjoy these early recordings!

~John Lomax III, September 1998