Another Bottle Of Wine With Delbert McClinton

What put Delbert McClinton on the map (says Stinky) was the song he wrote after that divorcee (the one who accompanied Delbert from Texas to Laurel Canyon) up and left him “sweepin’ out a warehouse in West LA.” “Two More Bottles Of Wine” became Emmylou Harris’s third #1 hit, and a country music staple.

Delbert had a #8 hit with fellow Texan Jerry Lynn Williams‘ “Giving It Up For Your Love”. Delbert's solo albums are consistently impressive, but none more than 1980's The Jealous Kind, which features "Giving It Up" and a performance of the title track which rivals Ray Charles' version. Most of the songs on Volume 1 are from this period. Delbert toured almost nonstop for the next ten years. There was a glaringly obvious Peruvian Marching Powder break during the (otherwise impressive) show I caught around 1985.

McClinton moved to Nashville and continued to write hits for others, while his own albums topped the blues charts. His most recent Grammy was a duet with Bonnie Raitt on “Good Man, Good Woman”.  Another duet with Tanya Tucker was a Top 5 hit. Duets with Iris DeMent and Kacey Jones are included in today's Best of Delbert McClinton, Vol. 2.

Delbert retired during the COVID pandemic, with the exception of his annual Sandy Beaches cruise — which is scheduled to set sail in 2024 with guests The Mavericks, Marcia Ball, Paul Thorn, The Band Of Heathens, Lee Roy Parnell, and more! His biography Delbert McClinton: One Of The Fortunate Few was published in 2017.