Music Scene: McClinton likes doing it his w

Music Scene: McClinton likes doing it his w
Apr 30, 2010
By Jay N. Miller
Stuttgart Daily Leader

Twelve record labels later, Texas soulman Delbert McClinton is as relaxed and happy as ever. That’s because he subscribes to the adage that living well is the best revenge.

“You know the thing with most of those other labels?” McClinton said. “Every record company but one of them went out of business while I was on them. The only one that didn’t, was the only one that I wish did. That kind of scufflin’ is bad luck. But what the heck. It’s so much better today.”

A professional musician since 1962, McClinton played harmonica on the Beatles’ first hit single, “Love Me Do.” His best-selling tune on the pop charts was 1980’s “Givin’ It Up For Your Love,” which peaked at No. 8. The following year, “Shotgun Rider,” from the same album, also nudged onto the pop charts. Along the way, McClinton became one of those cult favorites revered by people in the music business, but never attracting a wide audience. John Belushi was a big fan, and McClinton’s “B Movie Boxcar Blues” was on the first Blues Brothers album. With the good came the bad – McClinton was also hit with a $280,000 tax problem. Things began to turn for the better when he met his future wife, then-NBC News producer Wendy Goldstein. She managed his career back into the black.

In 1991, he won a Grammy for his duet with Bonnie Raitt on “Good Man, Good Woman.” In 1992, he had his duet with Tanya Tucker on “Tell Me About It” reach No. 4 on the country charts. McClinton’s 2006 album “The Cost of Living,” won that year’s Grammy as Best Contemporary Blues Album.

McClinton's most recent album, “Acquired Taste” (New West Records), hit No. 1 on the U.S. blues charts last year. The album was McClinton’s 25th, not counting at least 11 compilation albums. His witty, down-home lyrics are in full force and he enlisted an all-star cast of collaborators that included longtime band member Gary Nicholson, Guy Clark, Benmont Tench from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Al Anderson of NRBQ fame and Tom Hambridge.

“It’s wonderful to write with people the caliber of these guys,” said McClinton from his Nashville, Tenn., home. “And an even bigger factor is that they are all good friends – I like to write with guys I can hang out with.”

Like a lot of musicians from Texas, McClinton’s music is a seamless melange of rock, R&B, blues and country. It is hard to pin him down to one category, but his music can turn any venue into a roadhouse.

The latest album follows that whatever-feels-right formula.

The rollicking rocker “Mama’s Little Baby” depicts a girl who’s grown up too fast followed by the sweet love song “Starting a Rumor.” The song “I Need to Know” ranks among the hardest-rocking tunes McClinton has ever done, while the tangled romantic tale of “People Just Love to Talk” comes with a jazz flavor.

McClinton, 69, said he wrote “I Need to Know” years ago for the late Sam Myers. McClinton gave Myers the song then forgot all about it.

“When we were putting this last album together I came across it, and neither Gary [Nicholson] or I could remember ever doing it ... so we resurrected it.

“I felt like I’d found a $100 bill.”

Possibly the biggest surprise on “Acquired Taste” is “She’s Not There Anymore” (which Hambridge had a hand in writing) a laid back samba. McClinton’s music has long toyed with South of the Border elements, but this tune is totally a Latin groove, which McClinton credits to pianist Kevin McKendree.

“He was fooling around with something Cuban, and I thought it sounded so cool. I said let’s make that a song. He did it quite by accident, and the song was born entirely of spontaneity in the studio.”

McClinton takes that kind of open-minded approach in his live shows, too. The set list could go anywhere – this is a man who likes to keep it loose.

“We usually know our first three songs,” McClinton said, “and then from there, I’ll wing it and try to react to the audience. It’s more fun that way, and we like to have fun when we play.”