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The Delbert McClinton Project
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Photo by Bob Seaman 2019
A work in progress
Everything has come together to tell the story of an American Legend. Grammy award-winning blues legend Delbert McClinton kicks off his 80th birthday celebration in November, and begins the next chapter of his career. I have been lucky enough to tell his story. The first edition of his biography was released in 2017. The second edition with new material and interviews was released in 2021.
Delbert McClinton: One Of The Fortunate Few (2021 - Paperback) Texas A&M University Press
Much has happened with Delbert McClinton since the first edition of One Of The Fortunate Few was released in 2017. When the first edition was released, Rolling Stone called him “The Godfather of Americana Music,” and in 2019, he received the Americana Music Association Lifetime Achievement Award. Earlier this year, he was awarded the 2020 Grammy® for Best Traditional Blues Album with Tall, Dark, & Handsome (Hot Shot Records/Thirty Tigers), a new album of original songs he wrote or co-wrote that climbed charts around the world.
The second edition of Delbert McClinton: One Of The Fortunate Few includes a new foreword, two new chapters and several updates. It will be released in the Fall of 2020, in celebration of Delbert’s 80th birthday. He looks forward to being back out on the road as soon as it is safe again. Meanwhile, he is practicing social distancing and writing new songs for the next project.
Don Imus was the self-proclaimed “Number One Delbert Fan of All Time.” Shortly before Imus passed away, he learned of McClinton’s Lifetime Achievement Award and the Grammy® nomination, and remarked, “Delbert is like a Timex watch....”
...He keeps on ticking.
_______________________________________
Delbert McClinton: One Of The Fortunate Few (2017 - Cloth) Texas A&M University Press
Influenced at a young age by classic country, Tejano, western swing, and the popular music of wartime America, blues musician Delbert McClinton grew up with a backstage pass to some of the most significant moments in American cultural and music history. From his birth on the high plains of West Texas during World War II to headlining sold-out cruises on chartered luxury ships well into his seventies, McClinton admits he has been “One of the Fortunate Few.”
This book chronicles McClinton’s path through a free-range childhood in Lubbock and Fort Worth; an early career in the desegregated roadhouses along Fort Worth’s Jacksboro Highway, where he led the house bands for Jimmy Reed, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, and others while making a name for himself as a regional player in the birth of rock and roll; headlining shows in England with a little-known Liverpool quartet called The Beatles; and heading back to Texas in time for the progressive movement, kicking off Austin’s burgeoning role in American music history.
Today, more than sixty years after he first stepped onto a stage, Delbert McClinton shows no signs of slowing down. He continues to play sold-out concert and dance halls, theaters, and festival events across the nation. An annual highlight for his fans is the Delbert McClinton Sandy Beaches Cruise, the longest-running music-themed luxury cruise in history at more than twenty-five years of operation. More than the story of a rags-to-riches musician, Delbert McClinton: One of the Fortunate Few offers readers a soundtrack to some of the most pivotal moments in the history of American popular music—all backed by a cooking rhythm section and featuring a hot harmonica lead.
_______________________________________
The Journal of Texas Music History, 2016:
"Delbert McClinton: One Of The Fortunate Few" - Diana Finlay Hendricks
Everything has come together to tell the story of an American Legend. Grammy award-winning blues legend Delbert McClinton kicks off his 80th birthday celebration in November, and begins the next chapter of his career. I have been lucky enough to tell his story. The first edition of his biography was released in 2017. The second edition with new material and interviews was released in 2021.
Delbert McClinton: One Of The Fortunate Few (2021 - Paperback) Texas A&M University Press
Much has happened with Delbert McClinton since the first edition of One Of The Fortunate Few was released in 2017. When the first edition was released, Rolling Stone called him “The Godfather of Americana Music,” and in 2019, he received the Americana Music Association Lifetime Achievement Award. Earlier this year, he was awarded the 2020 Grammy® for Best Traditional Blues Album with Tall, Dark, & Handsome (Hot Shot Records/Thirty Tigers), a new album of original songs he wrote or co-wrote that climbed charts around the world.
The second edition of Delbert McClinton: One Of The Fortunate Few includes a new foreword, two new chapters and several updates. It will be released in the Fall of 2020, in celebration of Delbert’s 80th birthday. He looks forward to being back out on the road as soon as it is safe again. Meanwhile, he is practicing social distancing and writing new songs for the next project.
Don Imus was the self-proclaimed “Number One Delbert Fan of All Time.” Shortly before Imus passed away, he learned of McClinton’s Lifetime Achievement Award and the Grammy® nomination, and remarked, “Delbert is like a Timex watch....”
...He keeps on ticking.
_______________________________________
Delbert McClinton: One Of The Fortunate Few (2017 - Cloth) Texas A&M University Press
Influenced at a young age by classic country, Tejano, western swing, and the popular music of wartime America, blues musician Delbert McClinton grew up with a backstage pass to some of the most significant moments in American cultural and music history. From his birth on the high plains of West Texas during World War II to headlining sold-out cruises on chartered luxury ships well into his seventies, McClinton admits he has been “One of the Fortunate Few.”
This book chronicles McClinton’s path through a free-range childhood in Lubbock and Fort Worth; an early career in the desegregated roadhouses along Fort Worth’s Jacksboro Highway, where he led the house bands for Jimmy Reed, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, and others while making a name for himself as a regional player in the birth of rock and roll; headlining shows in England with a little-known Liverpool quartet called The Beatles; and heading back to Texas in time for the progressive movement, kicking off Austin’s burgeoning role in American music history.
Today, more than sixty years after he first stepped onto a stage, Delbert McClinton shows no signs of slowing down. He continues to play sold-out concert and dance halls, theaters, and festival events across the nation. An annual highlight for his fans is the Delbert McClinton Sandy Beaches Cruise, the longest-running music-themed luxury cruise in history at more than twenty-five years of operation. More than the story of a rags-to-riches musician, Delbert McClinton: One of the Fortunate Few offers readers a soundtrack to some of the most pivotal moments in the history of American popular music—all backed by a cooking rhythm section and featuring a hot harmonica lead.
_______________________________________
The Journal of Texas Music History, 2016:
"Delbert McClinton: One Of The Fortunate Few" - Diana Finlay Hendricks
2020 Official Bio
by Diana Hendricks
Multi-Grammy Award winner Delbert McClinton is “One of the Fortunate Few,” who has managed to live his dreams for more than six decades. The stars have aligned for Delbert. Those stars may have leaned toward the blues, but Delbert has managed to keep them on the bright side. See more.
Multi-Grammy Award winner Delbert McClinton is “One of the Fortunate Few,” who has managed to live his dreams for more than six decades. The stars have aligned for Delbert. Those stars may have leaned toward the blues, but Delbert has managed to keep them on the bright side. See more.