Delbert McClinton: Cost of Living

Delbert McClinton Cost of Living New West 6079

Lone Star troubadour and appealing songwriter McClinton delivers the goods on his fourth New West project. His southern-soul styled, prismatic singing rides engagingly above and, even more effectively, alongside a tight, first-call studio band. The songs are as characteristically diverse as the hard-bitten, B-movie blues "Down into Mexico" (that recalls the Grateful Dead's classic "Me and My Uncle"), a moody, Earl Bostic sax-shaded love-struck ballad "Your Memory, Me and the Blues" and the punchy, Texas rock-a-billy of the lively "Dead Wrong," with McClinton appealingly channeling Dylan on the latter.

Other singular selections, all of which McClinton had a hand in writing (with buddies like Tom Hambridge, Al Anderson and Gary Nicholson) veer from the rock 'n' rolling, Cajun fiddle garnished, "Two Step Too" and a bright, Panhandle roadhouse honky-tonker titled, what else, "I Had a Real Good Time" to the sneering opener "One of the Fortunate Few" and the hard to classify but great, harmonica helped "The Part I Like Best." The set's sole cover is a pared down reworking of Jimmy Reed's bottom-of-the-bottle blues "I'll Change My Style" while the dimensional closer, a hot and sticky ballad titled "Alright By Me," has that elegant, but slightly funky Dr. John feel to it.

In the old days, McClinton used to play a mean Blue Monday Night harmonica with the likes of bluesmen like Howlin' Wolf Bobby "Blue" Bland and B.B. King, Fort Worth's Bruce Channel and the Beatles. On-the-job training like that and a lot of imagination results in gritty music like this. Recommended.

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