Biography

For Delbert McClinton, performing live is what it's all about. And it always has been. As a master harmonica player and vocalist he has become one of the world's most electrifying live performers and, while he's at it, obliterated any distinction between blues, rock n' roll, soul and country music. His band is so red-hot, they regularly drive audiences into a complete frenzy. Fitting then that his new album was recorded live, capturing an extraordinary performance at The Bergen Blues Festival in Norway earlier this year.

The result is Delbert's first ever 2-CD concert set, featuring 19 songs spanning his entire career, from his blues origins through his Grammy winning album Nothing Personal and it's follow-up, 2002's Room To Breathe. This recording was not originally intended to be an album. But when the tape from the Norwegian radio performance was played back, everyone present knew that it was a keeper. According to Delbert, "We'd recorded several shows but this one came out the best. The folks in Bergen had great equipment, great engineers and, as it so happened, we had a really great night. It sounds live and I like that. The band is over-the-top on it!" The set was mixed by renowned producer/engineer Don Smith (The Rolling Stones, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers). Many of Delbert's best-known live staples are featured including "Giving It Up For Your Love" (a Top 10 hit from 1980), "Old Weakness," "Leap Of Faith," "B-Movie Boxcar Blues" (which the Blues Brothers learned from him), "I Wanna Love You," and "Livin' It Down." Also featured are "Rebecca, Rebecca," a pastiche of old blues songs Delbert has known and loved over the years; "Dreams To Remember," the Otis Redding gut-wrencher; and "Little Fine Healthy Thing" which dates back to Billy "The Kid" Emerson on Sun Records. It's the first time that these songs have been available in one collection - and on one label.

Delbert's formative years were spent as a member of The Straitjackets, the house band at a blues/rhythm and blues club on the outskirts of Ft. Worth, Texas. He was schooled by an almost incomprehensible list of legendary musicians who rolled through town. His band frequently backed the likes of Howlin' Wolf, Jimmy Reed, Sonny Boy Williamson and Bobby "Blue" Bland. Playing harmonica on Bruce Channel's 1962 hit single "Hey! Baby" lead to a concert tour of England. One of the opening acts was a new group called The Beatles and, as the story goes, Delbert gave a young John Lennon some pointers on the harp. All that Delbert has seen and heard has been absorbed and it informs his own music to this day.