This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Arts & Entertainment

Delbert McClinton @ Infinity Music Hall & Bistro

We are thrilled to have American blues rock and electric blues singer-songwriter and guitarist Delbert McClinton on the Infinity Stage. After more than four decades of making music, McClinton is breathing freely with the confidence and energy of an artist who knows that he has mastered his game. Still basking in the glow of a new Grammy® Award, he has followed up what The Wall Street Journal declared his “best recording ever” -- 2001's Nothing Personal -- with a set that displays even greater muscle, smarts, charm and soul.

McClinton cut a number of local and regional singles before hitting the national charts in 1962 playing harmonica on Bruce Channel's now classic “Hey! Baby.” On a subsequent package tour of England, Delbert showed some of his harp licks to the rhythm guitarist for a young band at the bottom of the bill. The lessons he gave John Lennon were later heard hit singles by The Beatles.

In the early 1970s, McClinton and his Ft. Worth pal Glen Clark headed out to Los Angeles, where they cut two then obscure but now prized albums for Atlantic Records as Delbert & Glen. Returning to Texas, he landed a deal with ABC Records. With the release of his 1975 solo debut, Victim of Life's Circumstances, McClinton firmly stamped his Ft. Worth-bred blend of blues, country and blue-eyed soul onto the pop musical landscape. A succession of influential and critically acclaimed albums followed, along with coups like appearing on “Saturday Night Live” in its heyday -- an acknowledgement of the pages torn from Delbert's play book by Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi when they formed The Blues Brothers. He scored hits like “Giving It Up For Your Love” and “Sandy Beaches,” won a Grammy with Bonnie Raitt for their “Good Man/Good Woman” duet, and over the years has enjoyed covers of his songs by Emmylou Harris, The Blues Brothers, Vince Gill, Wynonna, Lee Roy Parnell, Martina McBride, Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, among others.

Tightening radio formats may have offered fewer opportunities for his expansive musical approach, yet McClinton solidified his loyal following with his relentless touring and his annual Delbert McClinton & Friends Sandy Beaches Cruise every January in the Caribbean.

Then last year, when Delbert “came roaring out of the gate on Nothing Personal,” as Rolling Stone put it, his stature as one of the living icons of genuine American music returned to the forefront. The album debuted on five Billboard charts: Hot 200 Albums, Blues, Country, Independent and Internet Sales. What's the secret behind his newfound success? “Life is better than it's ever been for me,” McClinton explains.

The splash made by Nothing Personal has given McClinton “a great confidence” that makes Room To Breathe sound like it could be a personal best. But with both his characteristic modesty as well as the moxie of a man on top of his game, Delbert shies away from claiming his latest as his greatest. “I think that it is a perfect record to follow up Nothing Personal with,” he notes. “I'm not sure I've made the best record yet that I will ever make. And that in and of itself is a great feeling, because as long as I've been doing this, I still every day feel like I can do better. And that's pretty amazing to me, because most people either burn out or stop doing it all the time by now. So far I have not lost the inspiration; it's getting even better for me. I am the luckiest man you know.”

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?