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The Ark
12/16/2009 8:00 PM at SOLD OUT - Delbert McClinton
316 S. Main St., Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104
Cost: $50
Delbert McClinton grew up singing and playing in the gutbucket clubs of Fort Worth, and in a sense he’s never left. He still has a voice that will roar through the noise of a barroom or through any kind of mental clutter you might bring to one of his concerts. McClinton and his band backed the absolute royalty of deep blues as they came through town -- Jimmy Reed, Sonny Boy Williamson, Bobby "Blue" Bland, and the incomparable Howlin’ Wolf--and all that McClinton saw and heard, he absorbed and passes along in his own music. (And he gave John Lennon some pointers on the harmonica, to boot.) Delbert’s recent album"Cost of Living" earned Grammy nominations for both Best Contemporary Blues Album and Best Male Country Vocal, which shows the futility of trying to put a label on his music--it’s just raw, passionate American honky-tonk singing at its best. He comes to Michigan with a new one, "Acquired Taste," which he calls a juke joint blend of country soul, infused with blues, rock, and jazz; it’s already hit the number-one spot on Billboard’s blues album chart.
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