Monday, January 31, 2000
McClinton rocks sold-out concert
BY CHRIS VARIAS
Enquirer contributor
Cult heroes aren't supposed to sell out 1,500 seat rooms, but that was exactly what happened when singer Delbert McClinton played Chameleons Night Club in Fort Mitchell Friday night.
Because Mr. McClinton has always been the type of musician whose influence exceeded his commercial pull, the big turnout was a surprise. He's a cult favorite with a career full of near-misses.
The English harmonica lesson exemplifies that point. It was Mr. McClinton who played harmonica on Bruce Channel's 1962 hit “Hey Baby.” Later, when Mr. Channel and his band toured England to support the song as part of a package that included the Beatles, John Lennon asked Mr. McClinton to teach him the “Hey Baby” licks. Mr. Lennon applied what he learned to a song that would become one of the most famous harmonica showpieces in rock, “Love Me Do.”
And so for the next 31/2-plus decades, Mr. McClinton — “the red-eyed king of blue-eyed soul,” as he was introduced at Chameleons — toiled onward in semi-celebrity. Along the way he forged a reputation as a great live performer, and true to form he put on another great show Friday.
Part of Mr. McClinton's commercial shortcomings results from an inability to be categorized as a singer. At different times he has been called a blues singer, a country singer, and a soul singer, and really he's all three and more. The 13/4-hour show began on his rocking side, with a cover of Chuck Berry's “I'm Talkin' 'bout You,” and wandered stylistically through Texas honky-tonk, Memphis rhythm & blues, and bedroom soul.
He's still getting mileage out of his 1997 and most-recent studio album One of the Fortunate Few. That album provided some of the night's best tunes, including “Monkey Around,” “Lie No Better,” “Sending Me Angels,” and “Old Weakness (Coming on Strong).” In fact, his version of the latter was as strong as the great Patty Loveless'.
He was backed by a young, anonymous six-man band that included a two-piece brass section. They were good, but nobody needed to see them play three instrumentals in a row in the middle of the show while Mr. McClinton took a breather backstage. That was the only mark against an otherwise inspired show.
Not counting “I'm Talkin' 'bout You,” the best covers were ballads: Otis Redding's “I've Got Dreams to Remember” and “Have a Little Faith in Me,” written by another singer for whom there is no radio format, John Hyatt.
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