Seth James – Lessons
Qualified Records
12 songs – 38 minutes
What is it about Texas that produces so many great musicians? With no disrespect intended to any other state, the sheer number of top drawer musicians that hail from the Lone Star state dwarves those produced by anywhere else. From country stars such as Waylon Jennings, George Strait, Willie Nelson and Bob Wills, jazz musicians such as Herb Ellis, Ornette Coleman and Larry Coryell, pop stars like Beyoncé, Barry White and Usher, rock stars like Janis Joplin, Billy Gibbons, Eric Johnson and Roy Orbison to blues legends from Blind Lemon Jefferson and Blind Willie Johnson through Lightnin’ Hopkins, Mance Lipscomb, T-Bone Walker, Johnny Guitar Watson and Pee Wee Crayton, to more modern masters like Albert Collins, Freddie King, the Vaughan brothers, Lou Ann Barton and Gatemouth Brown. And with superb younger musicians like Hugo Rodriguez and Randy Wall coming through, the Texan Magical Musical Dust shows no sign of running out.
The other great element of Texas music is the mashing of different musical genres to create something distinctly original, all-American and yet also entirely Texan. Think Doug Sahm. Think Lyle Lovett. Think Delbert McClinton, whose blend of blues, country, R&B, soul, rock and funk caused Rolling Stone magazine to dub him “the founding father of Americana.” Delbert retired from touring at the age of 80 in 2021 and released his latest studio album, Outdated Emotion, in 2022. His legacy however remains undiminished.
Texan troubadour Seth James has now released Lessons, an 11 track tribute to Delbert, recording a delightful mix of some of McClinton’s better-known songs with one or two lesser-known gems. For this project, James linked up with keyboardist, guitarist, producer and engineer Kevin McKendree, who worked with Delbert for over 25 years, together with other McClinton band alumni, drummer Lynn Williams and bassist Steve Mackey. He also brought on board Rob McNelley on guitar, Vinnie Ciesielski, John Hinchey and Jim Hoke on horns and backing vocalists Nick Jay and Alice Spencer. Together, they perfectly capture the greasy, funky, deeply emotional feel of McClinton’s best bands.
After a poetic solo voice reading of “The Glamour Of Life” which acts as a ready reminder of McClinton’s stunning appreciation of language, the album kicks into “Honky Tonkin’ (I Guess I Done Me Some)” from Delbert’s 1975 album, Victim Of Life’s Circumstances, with McKendree’s engineering skills producing a significantly more beefed up sound than the original. James’s voice fits McClinton’s music perfectly and the band nail the required sound on every track. James’s ability to utterly inhabit the deprecating self-awareness of the protagonist in “Lesson In The Pain Of Love” is one of many highlights on Lessons. Most of the songs are played quite close to the original arrangements, but that does not diminish them. Rather, it helps to remind us of just what a brilliant songwriter McClinton is.
So there are some 24 karat classics on Lessons, such as “Maybe Someday Baby”, “B Movie Boxcar Blues”, “Victim Of Life’s Circumstances” and “Morgan City Fool”, which may be known even to a casual McClinton listener. There are also however a number of tracks that only a diehard Delbert fan will know, such as the piano-driven “Ruby Louise” or the shuffle of “Real Good Itch”, both from his 1975 debut album.
Delbert McClinton is an American treasure and Lessons is a superb explanation of why. Buy this album and be reminded of a genius of a very singular songwriter.
