Delbert McClinton: Delbert McClinton Live : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

At sixty-three, Delbert McClinton is an elder statesman of Texas music, a blues-and-roots giant who played harmonica with legends such as Howlin' Wolf, taught John Lennon to blow harp, wrote songs for country stars like Vince Gill and dueted with Bonnie Raitt. Like many of his ilk, the Lubbock-born McClinton's true magic is in his live show, as evidenced by his Grammy winning 1989 album, Live From Austin. His latest, titled simply Live, is his second from-the-stage release, recorded at the Bergen Blues Festival in Norway, and it's a perfect snapshot of a sweaty, roadhouse-rockin' night. Sure, McClinton has been playing some of these songs for years -- a handful, like Otis Redding's moving "I've Got Dreams to Remember" and a Blues Brothers' favorite McClinton original, "B-Movie Box Car Blues," even appeared on the last live record. But McClinton's soulful, scratchy vocals and bluesy harp play nicely off of Rob McNelley's stinging guitar solos, while Kevin McKendree's fingers hit the piano like a rainstorm. Together, the septet sounds like the house band, no matter whose house they're in.