Watch the hit video for Lonestar Blues!

(New West) Delbert McClinton has been making music for four decades now, and has become a legend on the Texas roots music scene, not only for his longevity, but his amazing ability at combining country, rock, soul and blues as if they were indistinguishable, making for classic "roadhouse" music, and has gained the utmost respect among his peers.

Delbert was born in Lubbock Texas, and grew up in Fort Worth. In his teens he discovered blues music and quickly became an accomplished harp player, who's played behind such blues legends as Howlin' Wolf, Jimmy Reed and Bobby Blue Bland. In 1960 his cover of Sonny Boy Williamson's "Wake Up Baby" made him the first white artist to be played on blues station KNOK. His harmonica playing was featured on Bruce Channel's 1962 #1 hit "Hey! Baby" and Bruce took Delbert on tour with him to England. While there, Delbert wound up giving harp lessons to a young John Lennon. After being mainly a backing musician, and kicking around the Texas club/roadhouse circuit during the 60's, he didn't really come into his own as a solo artist until two decades later.

However, he was plagued by bad record deal after bad record deal. He'd release an album or two, and the label would wind up folding before he could achieve a breakthrough, although he did find success as a songwriter. Emmylou Harris took his "Two More Bottles Of Wine" to the top of the chart, and "B Movie Boxcar Blues" was picked up by The Blues Brothers. After 1981, he took a break from recording and concentrated on his live performances. Delbert next surfaced in 1986 on Roy Buchanan's Dancing On The Edge album. This landed Delbert a deal with Alligator Records, where he issued his comeback album Live From Austin, which earned him his first Grammy nomination.

In 1990, he signed with Curb Records, moved to Nashville, where he teamed up with frequent collaborator, Gary Nicholson, and soon became a highly sought after songwriter. He had his songs recorded by such artists as Wynonna, Vince Gill, Lee Roy Parnell and Martina McBride, among others. His biggest breakthrough though, was his duet with Bonnie Raitt on "Good Man, Good Woman," which won him his first Grammy, and increased his profile tenfold. His next album, 1992's Never Been Rocked Enough featured duets with Bonnie Raitt, Tom Petty and Melissa Etheridge, and later on that year, topped the country charts with "Tell Me About It," a duet with Tanya Tucker, which appeared on his following album Delbert McClinton.

However, despite his commercial success, his relationship with Curb was souring, and his next two albums met with little label backing or promotion, and went virtually unnoticed. Delbert extricated himself from the label, and signed with Rising Tide, a subsidiary of Universal. There he released One Of The Fortunate Few, which met with much critical acclaim as being his strongest effort to date, and included guest vocal appearances by Vince Gill, Patty Loveless, Lyle Lovett, Pam Tillis, Lee Roy Parnell, John Prine, BB King, and Mavis Staple. One Of The Fortunate Few was also gaining commercial momentum, particularly on the strength of the single and video for "Sending Me Angels," a collaboration with Lee Roy Parnell and Vince Gill. The album had reached sales of 250,000, and things were looking like this was going to finally be Delbert's breakthrough to the big time, when through a series of mergers, Rising Tide went belly up, and with no label to back it, One Of The Fortunate Few, very unfortunately, wound up withering on the vine just as it was taking off.

Thoroughly disgusted and fed up with record labels, Delbert went off to regroup. He recorded a new album he bankrolled himself, and then signed with a small Austin based label, New West to distribute it. Delbert's self-bankrolled project, Nothing Personal was released in 2001, and both he and the album met with great critical acclaim. Nothing Personal was heralded as his greatest accomplishment ever, and it won him the Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album.

Fresh off his triumph, and when no one thought Delbert could possibly outdo the stellar Nothing Personal, here he comes roaring back with his latest effort, Room To Breathe. At this point in one's career, most other artists slow down, coast, or retire. Not Delbert, he just keeps getting stronger, and like a fine wine, just keeps getting better with age. Room To Breathe equals, if not surpasses Nothing Personal, and is full of confidence, energy and muscle. His "whiskey and smoke"  voice wraps around every note, and he sings every lyric with the authority and conviction only an experienced road warrior can.

Room to Breathe once again lays more heavily on the soul/ blues side of the tracks, from the house-shaking opener "Same Kind Of Crazy," the Jerry Lee Lewis piano pounding "Blues About You Baby," and the jump blues of "Money Honey" to the funky R&B grooves of "Smooth Talk" and "Won't Be Me." "Jungle Room" is a swampy, smoky slow burn, "The Rub" is a slinky and sexy, and "Ain't Lost Nothin' " is a loose, straightforward mid-tempo blues gem, with some very tasty harp work.

A Delbert album wouldn't be complete without a gorgeous, aching, heartbreak ballad, and he's got that covered with "I Don't Want To Love You." The smooth as silk blues ballad, "Everything I Know About The Blues," is a classic that would make BB King proud, and one day he just might cover it. His ode to "New York City" is swinging Chicago style blues, complete with horns and 3B pulsating throughout. 

Delbert doesn't neglect his Texas country roots either. "Lonestar Blues" is a raucous, riotous, tongue in cheek tale of woe about a guy that just can't catch a break, no matter how hard he tries, complete with fiddle and steel. It includes such attempts at getting ahead that go awry, as entering a rodeo, drawing the baddest bull on the circuit, and being in the middle of a great ride when he gets disqualified after the bull up and drops dead before the ride is over, and getting a job as a bouncer at Billy Bob's and on his first night, winds up in the middle of a brawl, getting hit in the head with a Harley chain- and his ears are still ringing. Adding to the rowdy fun, is an all-star backing chorus, that includes such luminaries as Steve Earle, Butch Hancock, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely, Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell, and Billy Joe Shaver.

Room to Breathe isn't a country album, outside of the track "Lonestar Blues," but it's an outstanding album from one of the very best, but sadly most underappreciated and overlooked Texas roots artists that music has ever produced. Starting with One Of The Fortunate Few, he began achieving some widespread recognition. With Nothing Personal, he further upped his recognition factor, and proved he is one artist that only gets stronger with age. Room To Breathe is the reinforcement that Delbert can deliver the goods- powerfully and consistently. Hopefully now, the greatly talented and amazing Delbert McClinton will finally receive the commercial success and recognition that's been very long overdue him.

AnnMarie Harrington Take Country Back September 2002